JAM SESSION: John Lowe, owner of Xanadu Music and Books on Central Avenue, demonstrates the one-man-band sound of one of his Lowebows, or cigar-box guitars. He sells them in the store and at concerts. -- Photograph By Andrew Ashby

When John and Beverly Lowe started Xanadu Music and Books at the corner of Winchester and Old Germantown roads in Hickory Hill in 1987, they only sold books. Then, they started selling musical instruments and merchandise. Now, after having moved to 2200 Central Ave. in 2000, they've added cigar box guitars.

John started building the guitars in 1999 after making a pickup, which is magnet wrapped in wire to pick up sounds on a guitar. John's friend, Jay Kurgis, was a fine arts student at Ole Miss and had made a single-string instrument.

"He wanted a single-string pickup and there are none available on the commercial market," John said.

A 'one-man band'

John played one of Kurgis' instruments at a show and really liked the sound of it.

So he decided to add another string, attaching it to the cigar box with a hose clamp. John started calling the instruments "Lowebows," partly because of his last name and partly because they resemble Diddly Bow guitars, which were one-stringed instruments used in early Mississippi Delta music.

Then, local musician Richard Johnston came in the store and was intrigued by the instruments, but wanted one with three strings.

So John made the first of the "neck-through" models, in which the guitar's neck goes into the cigar box instead of being clamped on. He then made a cigar-box guitar with two necks. This model, which he calls the Purgatory Hill Harp, is what Johnston primarily plays now.

"It was a major breakthrough because it enabled you to play the bass parts as well as the guitar parts," Lowe said. "With the addition of foot drums, it became a one-man band."

The Lowebows have been getting some attention.

Johnston, who recently was featured in the documentary, "Richard Johnston: Hill Country Troubadour," endorsed the instrument. Local recording artists The North Mississippi All-Stars also recently played one of the cigar-box guitars on NBC's "Last Call with Carson Daly."

Nuts and bolts

The cigar-box guitar doesn't have many parts. In consists of a cigar box, a neck, strings and homemade pickups.

For the neck, John uses mostly red oak, but also maple and mahogany. He gets the cigar boxes from a cigar store in Memphis. The rest of the components can be anything from hose clamps to bottle caps.

"It's various kinds of found-object art," John said. "I don't have the manufacturing capacity for a lot of this stuff, so I use objects you can find in hardware stores or wherever."

John can make a one-string cigar box guitar in a day. Those start off at $140 and can be set up as a guitar or bass, depending on the size of the strings musicians use. Multiple-string guitar box guitars can take two to three days to make. Some of the double-neck guitars can sell for up to $700.

Everyone has their own style of playing the instrument, but John plays it similar to a banjo or Dobro, which players pick with their hands. John uses his thumb to sound the bass notes and his fingers to pick the other strings.

"That's what gives you the illusion of two individuals playing," John said. "You're not just using a pick, you're using your thumb and your hand."

John also uses the single-string cigar box to teach slide guitar to beginners, instead of using a regular six-string guitar.

"They're very good teaching instruments," he said. "Often in the Delta and in Appalachia, the one-string was the first instrument kids were given to start honing their skills. B.B. King, Charlie Christian, they all started out with just a porch string or a primitive one-string cigar box instrument."

Music-making safety net

In addition to selling the instruments, John uses them at various concerts and festivals with the Johnny Lowebow One-Man Band. One of the coming festivals is the Cigar Box Festival May 20 in Huntsville, Ala., which will feature cigar-box guitar players only.

John sells his Lowebows at concerts in addition to his store.

"It really helps as a performer to have merchandise in addition to just your performance fee," John said. "You need CDs, you need T-shirts and I'm lucky enough to have instruments."

The Lowebows have gone from a sidebar to a solid sales item at Xanadu.

"A large percentage of my business now is being a builder, as opposed to just a reseller of books and a music store," John said.

It's also helped the store stay in business because it's an instrument not available in many places.

"So much of retail has been displaced by the Internet and large retailers," John said. "This kind of gives us a safety net."