Kevin Kastning (born in Wichita, Kansas) is an American guitarist, composer and musical instrument inventor. He plays the 36-string Double Contraguitar, 30-string Double Contraguitar, 30-string Contra-Alto guitar, 24-string Double Subcontraguitar, 18-string Contraguitar, 17-string Hybrid Extended Classical guitar, 15-string Extended Classical guitar, twelve-string guitar, six-string guitar, fretless guitar, 12-string extended baritone guitar, 6-string bass-baritone guitar, alto guitar, the 14-string contraguitar, the 16-string contraguitar, the 17-string contraguitar, 12-string soprano guitar, mandolin, piano, and bass.

Kastning's father was a musician, and Kevin began on trumpet at age 7. By age 11 he had his first guitar. He attended Wichita East High School during which time he was in the school orchestra and jazz ensemble as well as in several bands. Kastning attended Wichita State University between 1980 and 1984, graduating with a Bachelor of Music. While there he studied composition under the tutelage of Pulitzer Prize winning composer, Walter Mays. In 1985, Kastning moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where he pursued graduate studies at Berklee College of Music for 2 years. At Berklee, Kastning studied with Walter Beasley and John la Porta while being privately tutored by guitar legend Pat Metheny. Between the years of 1985 and 1990 he played in numerous jazz chamber groups, playing at clubs throughout the greater Boston and Hartford area are as well as in his own jazz ensemble, the Kevin Kastning Unit, which released a self-titled album in 1988. The Kevin Kastning Unit included Carl Clements on tenor and soprano saxophone with which Kastning has maintained a working relationship.

Since that time, Kastning has made numerous notable collaborative contemporary classical guitar recordings, which are largely improvised. Kastning plays a number of guitar family instruments of his own imagining on his albums including a 36-string Double Contraguitar, a 30-string Contra-Soprano guitar, 6-string bass-baritone guitar, a 12-string extended baritone guitar, a 12-string alto guitar, and 14-string, 16-string, and 17-string Contraguitars. His music consistently receives strong reviews in the experimental acoustic music community and other modern abstract traditions. Irish painter, Ken Browne's March 2011 exhibition 'Odyssey II' at the Origin Art Gallery (Dublin) featured abstract paintings based on Kastning's music.

Kastning has invented a number of guitar family instruments which extend the traditional range of the guitar into new territory.

Kastning is an artist endorser for Martin Guitars as a Martin Artist, Santa Cruz Guitar Company, Daniel Roberts Stringworks, Anvil Cases, Emerald Guitars, Godin Guitars, Enhanced Audio, Bricasti Design, Kelsone, Peluso, John Pearse Strings, Cervantes Classical Guitars, Microtech Gefell Microphones, G7 Performance Capos, ToneRite, Hipshot, and K&K Sound.

In 1990 Kastning was invited by colleague and fellow guitarist to form the KastningSiegfried Duet Project, and over the next several years they wrote and recorded 5 albums of acoustic, experimental classical guitar compositions which were all released on the label, Greydisc. The KastningSiefried Duet Project is ongoing although Kastning has moved away from performing and recording composed music and favors instead improvisation in the recording studio.

In 2006 Kastning began a long term collaboration with Hungarian guitarist, Sandor Szabo. Together they have released multiple albums, on the Greydisc label, each of which is completely improvised, or composed in real time within the studio. Each album was recorded in a single day and each track represents a one time recording without overdubs or multiple takes. Szabo and Kastning toured Hungary in 2009 with guitarist, Dominic Miller, who is well known for playing with Sting (musician).

In 2009, Kastning met British electric guitarist Mark Wingfield and proceeded the following year to record an ambient, electro-acoustic album of improvised guitar duets with Wingfield which was released on Greydisc Records. In 2012 Kastning and Wingfield released a second album of wholly improvised ambient duets entitled "An Illustrated Silenece".