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Local Guides
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The Guelph Guitar Project
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by Tarah Walsh
October 2 – 8, 2008 |
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Many of us own something that has been passed down to us from
family members, an heirloom or historical memorabilia. We often
keep things; hold onto what may seem like random objects - a
letter, a ring, a photograph, in order to remind of us someone or
something from the past. We tend to value these things on a
personal level since they tell some part of our individual story.
However, it is rare that we posses one object which exists solely
to document and explain such stories. Fortunately The Guelph
Guitar does just that.
Starting in late April 2007, guitar maker Doug Larson decided
to build a guitar which would represent Guelph and the important
stories that lie within its community. By selecting specific pieces
of wood, bone, metal and shell Larson started to construct an
entity which not only serves as instrument but as a history lesson,
a story, a social narrative of this community.
Initially, Larson’s Guelph Guitar Project was inspired by a
small group of people including Jowi Taylor and George Rizsanyi.
Taylor and Rizsanyi had decided to build “The Six String Nation
Guitar”, a guitar built specifically from pieces of wood, bone,
stone, and other items from all across Canada. The idea was that
each of these individual pieces were to be representative of
Canadian history. Including a piece of Wayne Gretzky’s hockey
stick and a part of a doorframe from Parliament Hill, the guitar
was constructed using 63 pieces of Canadian history and heritage
from all across Canada. Since its completion, “The Six String
Nation Guitar” has toured Canada relentlessly and has been
played by over 5000 people.
In Spring of 2007, the Six String Nation Guitar was brought to
Guelph. Organized by Larson himself, this event took place at
Manhattans Bistro and showcased local artists such as Ambre
McLean, Kevin Breit, Kent MacMillan, Jeff Bird as well as Larson
himself. It also showcased a truly unique instrument and
encouraged Larson to hone is guitar making skills and delve into
a similar project although this one was to be specifically about
Guelph.
In earnest, The Guelph Guitar Project of Larson’s began at the
end of April 2007, but in fact he had already starting collecting
wood and other materials for guitar building much earlier.
Working as a professor in the department of Integrated Biology at
The University of Guelph, Larson had been collecting materials
from the campus of the University as well as from the City of
Guelph for many years. Although Larson didn’t have any idea that
it would be used for such a specific project at the time, the
earliest collected piece in the instrument (1977) is the back stripe
and side binding which is constructed of Black
Walnut rescued by Larson, the late Denis Stevens, and Gord
Miller (now the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario). The tree
- owned by Gord's uncle – “ had fallen in a storm and there's a
whole expensive story here about how to get free wood” says
Larson.
In contrast, the most recently collected and most centrally
important piece of wood in the design of The Guelph Guitar is the
spruce that was used to make the top of the instrument. A severe
April storm killed off one of the trees planted by William Brown in
1880. The tree was one of many in what Brown called "the
Arboretum" but which is now called Johnson Green (a common
meeting place and central grounds of The University of Guelph).
The Guelph Guitar also includes various pieces of interest
such as ancient cedar from the Niagara Escarpment, some Silurian
Limestone from Johnson Hall (one of The University of Guelph’s
oldest buildings), cow bone from the remains of a steak bought at
a local grocery store and a sample of yellow pine taken from the
mantle of Manhattans Bistro, a popular local restaurant and music
venue in the city of Guelph. All of these random materials serve to
document something; whether it’s the historical relevance of the
landscape or the current socialization of the city, this guitar
makes noise without even being stummed.
As well, there is also a subtle philosophy incorporated here,
about how we dispose of things and what is truly garbage. In this
consumer age, where as a society we buy so much, we also
dispose of so much. “I like using scraps” admits Larson, “things
that other people think are garbage. It might not be something
that can be used for what it was initially manufactured for but
that doesn’t mean it can’t be used for something. I have lamps in
my house that were once lawn mowers”. Not only does this
method of recycling and reusing help benefit the environment but
it can, if done creatively, pass along stories as well as our history.
In the coming months the Guelph Guitar Project will be
making public appearances around town. There will be a Guelph
Guitar Project Event called “Making History Sing” taking place at
The River Run Centre on Friday Oct 3rd, 2008, as well, The Guelph
Guitar will be available for viewing at “The Guelph Lecture – On
Being Canadian”, also at the River Run Centre on Friday November
7th, 2008.
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