NORTH BRANCH, NY — Cigar box guitars—made from cigar boxes, as the name suggests, or almost any other kind of box that serves as a resonator— have served generations of musicians. Some of them simply couldn’t afford to buy a regular guitar and some went on to become famous, including music legends Jimmy Hendrix and Paul McCartney, said Mike “Katfish” Karash at his recent workshops at the Old North Branch Inn. Most folks who play them don’t make it that far but simply enjoy playing or making the instruments.

Katfish and his wife Suki came at the invite of the inn’s owner Victoria Lesser, who met the Karashes on a visit to Florida and was impressed with their talents.

On a hot Saturday, members of the local community gathered to the well-organized workshop where Katfish taught everything you ever wanted to know about cigar box guitars. He had prepared a take-home handout, and instructed the group step by step, interspersed with anecdotes about how he first started to build them. “I have kids and grandkids, and my grandfather used to build rocking chairs, and tables, and cradles, so when I grew up, I built tables, cradles, and rocking chairs for my grandchildren, until my kids said to me, there’s no more room, can you build something else?”

Turns out, the whole family is musical, so after investigating, Katfish started to build dulcimers, eventually graduating to cigar-box guitars.

Starting with the neck, the participants in the workshop used new pieces of wood that they sanded themselves, although it could have been a broomstick or even metal. Next Mike explained how to mark frets; then all about piezos and magnetic pickups, resonators, tuners and strings; how to tune and put it all together; and finally where to go for help. Websites like cigarboxnation.com, where cigar box-guitar enthusiasts meet, give many detailed links, as well as listing places where to go to meet other cigar-box guitar enthusiasts.

Suki gave a guided tour of the many different cigar box guitars Katfish has built that were on display in the spacious movie theater/bowling alley/dining room of the historic inn.

“Every guitar has a name,” she explained. The name is often based on the materials the guitar is built from, like a pineapple bowl, a catfish-shaped piece of wood, or a hard hat.

Other intriguing materials Katfish has used to build the cigar-box guitars include a child’s crutch, a washboard, an ironing board, an automobile hubcap and a milk can. “Anything he can find lying around,” Suki added with a smile. Taking part in the workshop were Lucy, 11, and Asher Frank, 9, whose dad Jeremy brought them along. Lucy was sanding the neck and trying not to sneeze from the resulting dust, and Asher watched with interest while their dad gave a helping hand.

“We’re playing in my brother’s wedding in October,” dad Jeremy said. Both kids already take guitar lessons. If building and learning to play the cigar box guitar goes according to plan, Lucy will use her instrument at the wedding to play with her dad. The family splits time between Philadelphia and North Branch. The kids said they had fun and were learning a lot.

Ramona Jan, who came from nearby Damascus across the river, explained, “I have a puppet business, and I thought I’ll come to learn this. Maybe I can use it in my puppeteer shows.” She noticed the care with which each detail of how to build the guitar was being taught at the workshop.

Friends Don and Sandy Straub from Binghamton sat listening and occasionally softly strumming their own cigar-box guitars in the background, providing examples of what they sound like. They came along to the workshop for support and for the musical jam that followed.