This couple makes guitars out of Batmobiles and shovels, and pert near anything else

Once a month, there's a booth at Findlay Market selling unconventional instruments crafted from cigar boxes, plastic toy models and even deer skulls.

The business, Don't Fret Guitars, began as a hobby. Then, owners Devin and Luna Cherry started selling their musical creations – which are real, working instruments – on Facebook and at art shows.

It started when Devin Cherry, a high school teacher, was coaching his school's science olympiad team in Kentucky. The team was prompted to build a fully functioning guitar, but the only real part they could use was the strings. While working on the project, Cherry became fascinated and has since turned it into an activity for himself and Luna.

"We really love to do the weird stuff," he said.

The basement of their West Price Hill home is filled with weird stuff. There are various tools and parts for crafting their guitars. There are several finished cigar box guitars and the duo's current projects and experiments. A guitar neck that they attempted to make by themselves sits in one corner. Cabinets brimming with washers, screws and bolts line the wall.

It's apparent from the size of the workshop that Don't Fret Guitars has become a huge part of the couple's life.

"I'll get into a hobby and then get obsessed with it," Devin Cherry said.

A hobby fit for a couple

Once Cherry discovered how to create the makeshift guitars, he brought the hobby to his wife early in the couple's relationship.

"I've always been very crafty," Cherry said. "It's kind of always been my escape, and it's something we can do together."

Luna Cherry was also crafty herself, creating paintings and other art and taking them to shows. Naturally, the couple started taking their guitars to shows as well.

The couple has pushed each other when making their guitars. For example, the first time Devin tried to create his own guitar neck was for a guitar he was making for Luna.

It's not just makeshift guitars – the couple collects hobbies.

The house is covered in the couple's fascinations. The Cherrys have nine animals, including dogs, cats and multiple reptiles. The wall lining their staircase is covered in fossils found by the couple. They have their own separate room for painting and action figures as well.

Guitars fit for a musician

Although unusual, the guitars are functional.

Their most popular items are their custom ukuleles which are smaller and cheaper and appeal to children. Their bounds have also gone out of the country, once selling a guitar to a man who took it all the way to Switzerland.

Don't Fret Guitar is popular with musicians as well. Soloist and Cincinnati native Erin Coburn has one, gifted to her by the couple.

Luna Cherry also uses the guitars herself, performing with them when she records her own music. Her best friend, Abby Vice, also a musician, thinks the hobby is cool and says it fits the couple well.

"Luna is very creative, artistically, and has always been interested in music as well," Vice said. "And Devin loves building things and getting creative too."

Vice was especially interested in how the guitars worked. The guitars are three-stringed, with a metal cylinder being used on the strings to perform the same capabilities as a normal guitar. She was also impressed by the installation of pickups on the guitars, which allow for them to be played louder.

The couple's next projects include a guitar made from a shovel and another with its body replaced by a toy Batmobile.

"If it can hold the tensions of the strings," Luna Cherry said, "it can be an instrument."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio couple makes guitars out of cigar boxes, shovels and Batmobiles