UAB head and neck surgeon Kirk Withrow, MD, credits the making of cigar box guitars for spurring creativity and ingenuity in his work and personal life.

Before he tried his hand at the hobby during his residency about eight years ago, he’d only pursued a few special interests: rock climbing, flying, and playing the banjo. Since then, Withrow has learned to draw, make prints, design silkscreen t-shirts, repair a pickup truck, and engage in various additional avocations. Currently he’s working on his first novel – a biomedical thriller - and avidly practices kick boxing and jujitsu.

“I was a lot more boring before I made my first cigar box guitar. The experience of learning how to do it was really liberating for me. I realized that if I wanted to learn to do pretty much anything, I could do it. Maybe I’d need to research it a bit and there’d be a learning curve, and likely I’d make some mistakes along the way. But ultimately I’d be able to do it,” he says.

The cigar box experience only happened because one of Withrow’s patients during his residency was a cabinet maker who learned that Withrow was a musician. After the man recovered, he brought Withrow a cigar box guitar. “The funny thing is that I’d tried to get out of being on call that day but I couldn’t,” Withrow says. “It changed my life.”

The cabinet maker’s makeshift guitar fascinated Withrow and charmed him when he played it. Soon he decided to make one himself and then another and another, including a pint-size one for his son. Withrow also has acquired a number of other cigar box guitars over the years made by various friends with the same passion. “I’ve got a huge collection,” he says.

The do-it-yourself instrument can be made with less than a standard guitar’s five strings. Each cigar box guitar has its own sound. “One of the things about them is that certain songs sound better on one than another. Sometimes I even find a song I can’t play until I pick up the right guitar for it, and then I can play it no problem,” Withrow says.

Part of the fun of cigar box guitars is being able to impress others by playing instruments he’s made, Withrow says. He has played at Huntsville’s Annual Cigar Box Festival and other shows with his band as well as recorded and sold CDs of his cigar box music. He’s also sold a number of his cigar box guitars. “It’s no big deal to watch someone playing a regular guitar, especially at my talent level. But with a cigar box guitar, people really are excited to see and hear you because the instruments have such a distinctive look and sound,” he says.

Withrow makes time for cigar box guitar making and other avocations by not watching TV, getting up a little earlier, and consciously choosing to focus the majority of his efforts on just a few hobbies at any one time. “I used to rock climb a lot more, several times a week. Now it’s about once a month. I now get my exercise through kickboxing and jujitsu,” Withrow says.

He’s spending a lot of his time these days working on his first novel, which he thinks may become one in a series. “I’m going to take a break from writing after I finish this first one, however, and do something different for a while,” Withrow says.

His wife, Lisa, encourages his hobbies, but does let Withrow know when he needs to do his part to contribute to the upbringing of their two children, four and six years old. “She’s really great about it, and facilitates my interests. If it weren’t for her I wouldn’t have as much time to devote to all the things I enjoy doing. But she definitely lets me know when enough is enough,” Withrow says.

With a third child on the way, Withrow knows he will likely have less time for all his hobbies in the near future. But he plans to integrate his family life with his creative pursuits. He already has, including recording a CD, “Lullaby,” after his son was born. “I used some of his crib toys for the recording and it came out pretty interesting,” Withrow says. “I see my work and family not as limitations on my other interests but as contributors to them.”