Dennis Waring

[1] He wrote a history book on the Estey Organ Company titled Manufacturing the Muse: Estey Organs & Consumer Culture in Victorian America, based on his 1987 doctoral dissertation at Wesleyan University.

[3][4][5] In his research, Waring explored Estey organs and the role of musical instruments as "primary cultural indicators".

[6][7] In addition to playing clarinet, mountain dulcimer, fiddle, banjo and drums in several ensembles, he built traditional wooden instruments.

In the 1970s Waring began to explore making dulcimers and other instruments from corrugated cardboard and other household materials.

He taught others to do the same, wrote books on the subject, and began selling cardboard-instrument kits.