Ragamuffin Studios — McCoysville, Pennsylvania
Built by hand.
Driven by craft.
Fueled by technology.
Technical design and fabrication for the arts, education, and entertainment — designed and built from the ground up in Pennsylvania's Juniata Valley.
About the Studio
Latest technology.
Traditional craft.
Ragamuffin Studios operates out of McCoysville, in Pennsylvania's Juniata Valley. The entire team is PA Dutch. The Fishers come from an Amish Mennonite background, where craftsmanship isn't a marketing word, it's a way of life. That heritage shows in every piece that leaves the shop. We use the latest technology alongside our machines as part of the creative process — modeling, testing, cutting, iterating. But technology is a tool here, never a substitute for craft or creativity. The finished work comes from plain hands.
Technology compresses the distance between idea and object. Traditional fabrication skills ensure the object is worth making. We bring 30 years of interactive development together with hands-on CNC fabrication, embedded systems design, and a working music venue — Ragamuffin Hall — as our proving ground.
When a project requires physical production, our manufacturing arm Ragamuffin Workshop carries it out. The Studios designs. The Workshop builds. From the design model to the hand-finished object — that's the through-line.
What We Do
Craftsmen. Technologists.
Artists. Musicians.
Craftsmen
CNC-machined components, custom metalwork, and precision-built hardware. From guitar bodies and brass hardware to custom MIDI controllers — if it requires both design thinking and a machine shop, we can build it. Every piece is functional art, made by hand in the Juniata Valley.
Technologists
Interactive entertainment and education systems, sensor-driven LED installations, embedded electronics, and venue infrastructure. Custom HTML5 interactives, accessible e-learning platforms, and microcontroller-based display systems for museums, science centers, and performance spaces.
Artists
Lighting design, AV systems, and facility integration for performance spaces, entertainment venues, and educational facilities. We design, build, and install. Ragamuffin Hall — a converted church in McCoysville, PA — is our ongoing demonstration of what functional art looks like at full scale.
Musicians
We build what we play. The Plaincaster guitar line, custom Universal Performance Foot Controllers, and purpose-built performance hardware — all designed by musicians for musicians. Decades of playing experience inform every decision, from string termination geometry to pickup placement.
Design → Fabrication → Production
The Plaincaster
The Plaincaster is the clearest example of how Ragamuffin Studios works. We designed the instrument — geometry, hardware, electronics, finish — from first principles, by a designer with nearly 50 years of playing experience. That design process included prototyping, CNC toolpath development, and hands-on fabrication at every stage.
Production is carried out by Ragamuffin Workshop, our manufacturing arm. Workshop runs the CNC, handles body routing and finishing, and builds each guitar to the specifications Studios developed. The result is an instrument that sounds and feels unlike anything off a factory floor — because every decision was made by someone who plays.
The first two Plaincasters were built from oak planks salvaged from Ragamuffin Hall. Brass hardware at string termination points for mass and sustain. Custom pickups wound by Jim Grandon. Hand-filed brass nut slots. Available by commission through Ragamuffin Workshop.
Selected Work
The work speaks.
The Team
Team built.
Every time.
Every Ragamuffin Studios project is team-built — a genuine collaboration, not a solo operation with helpers. Three people, three disciplines, one commitment: everything we make is functional art.
30 years building interactive entertainment and education systems for NASA, the Smithsonian, NCTM, and the Department of Defense. Lifelong guitarist with nearly 50 years behind the instrument. The driving force behind the studio's functional art philosophy — the idea that everything we build should perform as beautifully as it looks. Primary designer across the product line — but every project is three minds working together from concept through completion.
Expert carpenter and fabricator who can model anything in 3D and manifest it in wood or metal on the CNC. Joseph uses the latest modeling tools to validate every cut before it's made, then executes with the hand skills of a traditional craftsman. That intersection — modern technology and human craft — is what makes the work possible. Joseph's Amish Mennonite roots meant the functional art philosophy was second nature.
Award-winning songwriter and expert craftsman. Conrad runs the CNC at Ragamuffin Hall and rebuilt the stage from the original church altar platform. Builds many of his own instruments from raw materials and contributed significantly to the design of the Plaincaster line. Manages the Hall day-to-day — bookings, artist relations, and operations — and took naturally to the studio's functional art philosophy — his Amish Mennonite upbringing made that an easy fit.
Active Projects
Built here.
Open to the world.
Get In Touch
Let's build
something serious.
Whether you're commissioning a guitar, developing an interactive exhibit, or looking for an experienced learning experience engineer — we're interested in the right work.