I had fun being interviewed by Outdoor Canada magazine about building my Sporting Guitars. This is the piece they published in the June edition of their magazine.

1. ERICCLEVELAND(CLEVELAND);JOHNCLEVELAND(GUITARS)
GUITARHERO
W
HAT DO CIGAR-BOX guitars have in common with fish-
ing lures? None other than John Cleveland, the mar-
keting director and national sales manager of spoon-
maker Dardevle by Eppinger. Combining his love of angling,
hunting and music with his DIY philosophy, the 65-year-old has built more than
55 one of a kind cigar-box guitars decorated with classic sporting motifs.
Cleveland says he first saw a cigar-box guitar when a friend brought one to an
outdoor show three years ago. “He had it set up with a pickup so he could plug
it into a portable amplifier,” the tackle industry insider recalls. “When he started
strumming, I just went, ‘Oh my god, this is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.’”
A big fan of rock and roll, Cleveland says he appreciates the role these guitars
played in the early blues era, and their connection to modern music. And with
that, he started making his own, which wasn’t a big stretch considering he’s been
making his own fly rods for 40 years and his own traditional hunting bows for
25. “If there’s something I can build as opposed to buy, I usually build it,” he says.
He gets the boxes from a local cigar shop in his hometown of Ann Arbour,
Michigan, and it takes him between six and eight hours spread over three days
to make one guitar. He typically festoons each one with a hunting- or fishing-
themed image and outfits it with a pickup so it can be played loudly. “Each one is
unique and sounds different,” he says. “It has its own character and voice. I don’t
DARDEVLE’S JOHN CLEVELAND AND HIS TUNEFUL HOBBY
BY BOB SEXTON
CHARACTER
even know what it’s going to sound like
until I tune it up.”
To date, Cleveland has sold all but a
dozen of his creations for an average of
US$150 apiece, shipping them all over
the States and into Canada. “They’re
meant to be played next to the fireplace
or a campfire while hanging out with
friends, or just sitting on your porch and
noodling around,” he says. Or, perhaps
best of all, strummed out on the water
or in the field. OC
CLEVELAND AND HIS
CIGAR-BOX CREATIONS
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HIS GUITARS,
PLEASE E-MAIL JOHN CLEVELAND AT
JCLEVELAND33@HOTMAIL.COM.
8
TURN LOW-LIGHT INTO
AN OPPORTUNITY.
C L A R I T Y I N A N Y C O N D I T I O N
PRIME
NITRO
FORGE
B U S H N E L L . C O M
Low-light and adverse weather can
affect your hunt—if you let them. But
our new line of optics are optimized
for superior low-light transmission and
feature our patented EXO Barrier™ lens
coating to repel rain, snow, dust and
debris—so you get more hunt time to
focus on what matters.
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