Carencro Retiree Gerard Guidoni’s Bayou Cigar Box Guitars

Cajuns and Francophiles in Acadiana might see “BCBG” and take it as short-hand for the French catchphrase “bon chic bon genre” (“Good style, good class”). Anyone with a Ramones shirt or Blondie bob might read it quick and see an anagram for CBGB, the infamous New York City club that gave rise to those icons and a string of other hit bands in the 1970s. Neither misconception would be too wayward of an allusion to its true meaning, though.

In the hands — and drill and jigsaw — of Gerard Guidoni, BCBG is Bayou Cigar Box Guitars, the upstate New York native-turned Carencro retiree’s brand of carefully crafted homemade instruments.

“This isn’t a business really, it is a hobby that got out of control,” Guidoni says with a chuckle. “They started taking over the house, and that’s when I knew I had to start getting rid of them.”

After a decades-long career editing legal texts for Reuters and The New York Times, Guidoni, now 62, retired, and his wife, Sandra moved to New Orleans in 2017. They’d spent years escaping New York’s bitter winters and vacationing in the Big Easy. Finally, the food, the music and the friends they made pulled them to Louisiana permanently.

Eventually migrating just north of Lafayette, Guidoni drew on years of inspiring performances at blues festivals and the region’s love of stringed instruments, and he began making his own guitars.

“It’s a fun process, and I have the time to do it,” says the creative who sifts through outcast boxes at local cigar shops, with their gilded inlays and vivid colors, and he often buys them in bulk. “I want to keep them as simple as possible, as a throwback to what cigar box guitars originally were. I want them to look and sound good, of course, but beyond that, I don’t want to fancy them up too much.”

Unlike Fender or Gibson, classic guitar brands with signature sounds, each cigar box guitar is not only handmade, it is fashioned from upcycled boxes that can have a variety of differences and feature an array of eclectic guitar parts. The result is a tone and resonance that can sound as unrecognizably unique and curious as its player’s personality.

Three strings and a whole lot of noise, they are the definition of indie. A humble instrument and a reminder to make the best of what you’ve got, for generations, the guitars made out of cigar boxes and wood planks as sonic weapons of necessity, proliferated by the grit and ingenuity of players who could not afford the polished mass-produced store-bought instruments.

They are, in their own way, pieces of folk art.

“I appreciate that Gerard is keeping this tradition going,” says Jeannie Luckett, program director at the West Baton Rouge Museum, where Guidoni recently participated in the annual SugarFest. “His instruments are beautifully made and affordable and each has its own personality. Having Gerard set up near the stage where Kenny Neal and Lil Ray Neal were playing, festivalgoers could see how these instruments are made and hold them in their hands, and that just really added another layer of enrichment and interaction for our event.”

From Bo Diddley and Louisiana native Buddy Guy, to Jimi Hendrix, Jack White and Samantha Fish, there is always a titan of the blues or rock that is creatively sustaining the tradition of this humble instrument.

Now Guidoni is working on his first cigar box basses, and guitars for players with smaller hands, like children. But his only true goal for passion project is to keep enjoying it and let the music play on.

“I started playing harmonica and guitar because it was fun, not because I was an expert at it,” Guidoni says. “I think that’s a big part of what I’m doing making cigar box guitars. I think it should just be fun for people and super easy to pick up.”

BCBG can be found at a handful of Louisiana festivals each year, and on Facebook.

“I’d love it if at the next festival someone came up and said, ‘I bought one of your guitars, took it apart, changed some things, added this and that, and made my own,’” Guidoni says. “It’s about encouraging people to get involved, to make whatever music they want to make and to make their own instruments. That’s all I want.”

Q&A

If you could make a cigar box guitar for anyone famous, who would it be? Samantha Fish. I think just about every cigar box guitar builder has gifted her one, but she only plays her original.

What type of wood do you use for your necks? The necks are either oak or poplar. Poplar is easier to work with. Oak can take more wear and tear. I try to use repurposed objects as much as possible — nuts and bolts for bridges and, hinges for tailpieces, candle cups for the sound hole trim.  And, of course the boxes themselves.

I bet you’re friends now with all the cigar store guys. How does that go? They’re usually pretty happy to see me take boxes off their hands.  They’re just a pile of junk to them. The guys at Bailey’s Cigar Room in Carencro are great.  They’re really into the cigar box guitar thing and are very supportive.  They’re planning a cigar box guitar festival here in Lafayette in September in conjunction with Wildcat Brothers Distilling.