Legend has it that an old carpenter from the East once had a young orphaned grandson whom he loved dearly. His grandson would often watch him form wood into the most beautiful of shapes and would say proudly, “One day, I want to be a carpenter just like you, baba.”

One cold night, the carpenter was awoken by a loud sound coming from his shed. Fearing thieves, he called for his grandson to hide as he picked up a mallet and slowly crept to his shed. As he opened the door to his shed, he saw his beloved grandson sprawled on the floor next to his saw and a piece of wood that had markings that looked like small hands had attempted to saw through it before the saw had slipped.

Overcome with grief, the carpenter blamed himself and fashioned a guitar out of the wood his grandson had attempted to saw. But because he blamed himself for his grandson’s death, he made the guitar so difficult to play that his fingers would bleed everytime he attempted to make a sound.

Over the years, he managed to master his instrument of pain and any other guitar that he tried after would simply glide through his hands.

Today, there is very little information available about this guitar other than its name which was given to it by the carpenter himself whom named it after his grandson: Kapok.