Yes. However, an electric cigar box guitar will definitely sound best when played through an amp.
Yes, if it has a piezo pickup like most of my acoustic cbgs. Piezo pickups are thin disks mounted inside the box that turn the physical vibrations into a signal that can be amplified by a standard guitar amplifier. Piezo pickups can produce plenty of volume and have a distinctive tone that you can adjust with your amp.
The best answer is tradition and simplicity. Many early cigar box guitars only had 1 string and were called diddly bows. 3 and 4 string "open" tunings are easy to play with a slide. Also, because there are fewer strings, there is less strain on the cigar box guitar neck which is typically not reinforced with a metal rod as are most 6-string guitars.
I'm a long time guitar player and I wanted to make a guitar from a kit or something like that. While searching options I stumbled across cigar box guitars. I looked at a few videos and thought "that looks cool." I had 7th-grade wood shop skills and a few basic tools so I gave it a try.
I made my first cigar box guitar in 2015 and I liked how it played. Next I made a cigar box ukulele and I was hooked! Within a few months I had about 20 cigar box guitars stacked up at home — not counting the many guitars that I had made and destroyed in the learning process. I opened my first online shop in 2016, and since then I've sold hundreds of cbgs.
An acoustic cbg takes me about 6-7 hours and an electric about 8 hours over 4-5 days because of glue joints that need to dry overnight. I've made hundreds of cbgs and there are a lot of skills and processes I've learned that make the job more efficient.
Absolutely, I've done that many times. You can start by sending me a photo of the box and its dimensions and I will let you know what is possible.
I ship in made-to-purpose cardboard boxes that my supplier says are made from recycled material. Cigar box guitars are light weight for the size of the box, and it is easy to stabilize the guitar in the box with a bit of filler paper. It works great!
At local cigar stores. All my boxes have all been used to display cigars. I buy lots of boxes and I have lots of extras in my shop.
No, that would not be healthy. Making guitars is healthy!