Macabre Guitar/Luthiery Question

[Bugsgalore]

Ok......this might be a little freaky but I got to thinking about it and now I have to know. Hopefully it doesn't offend anyone.

 

So, this weekend my wife and I were talking about wills, life insurance, and who'd take the kids if we were both to perish etc. Naturally the subject of memorial service/burial plans came up and we both decided we wanted to be cremated and spread here there and everywhere....

 

Then we got to thinking about headstones and the like and I thought, "gee.....a headstone costs around 3 k and up"....I could buy/commission a really killer handbuilt for that.....

 

And that thought led too "how could one incorporate cremated remains into a guitar???" Into the finish (as a pore filler?)? Or mixed with something to make a grey/black inlay ( for the rossette?)? Could you find a luthier who would even consider it????

 

But hey, if Hunter S. Thompson can be shot out of a cannon.....why couldn't I be built into a really nice acoustic?

 

Any thougts on feasibility and/or relative sanity of this?

 

Cheers,

 

Matt

[knockwood]

I think there was a thread here about this once. Idea for business... Have your loved ones made into guitars...

Do I think there's a luthier who'd do it?

No.

[JasmineTea]

What's that picher shaped thing they put ashes in called?

[knockwood]

Originally posted by JasmineTea What's that picher shaped thing they put ashes in called?

 

 

urn.

[guit30]

Never use laminate woods for this!!!!

[tim Mcknight]

These may give you some ideas:

[Bugsgalore]

Tim,

Thanks for the ideas. Just out of curiosity (I don't plan on going quite yet!!) as a luthier, would you consider building a "memorial guitar" like this? Or would you find this to be an overly creepy. Feel free to PM me a reply if you would rather.

On a separate note, I will be starting my first guitar in the next couple of weeks (a stew mac kit). A good friend of mine is grieving the loss of her father pretty badly. He was an incredible musician (as is she) and music was the strongest pillar in their relationship. She travels a lot and has been spreading his ashes around.....I've thought about building a guitar for her (proabbly not this one) and for reasons I can't go into (they invovle custody of his D28) I think a "memorial" guitar would make it easier for her to move on..... so I have a more technical curiosity in this question as well.

Cheers,

Matt.

[JasmineTea]

Originally posted by knockwood urn.

Ok, so just put the ashes in a guitar and call it an urn. Write something meaningful on it, put it in a stand in the corner.

 

Or, mix the ashes into the stain, like in the movie "The Red Violin", the dude mixes his dead wifes blood into the stain, colors a violin with it.

[knockwood]

I think I'm gonna stick with just wood and other more or less regular guitar stuff. I have no particular judgement if some dude wants to make uncle Morty into a dreadnaught, but it just ain't my thang.

Myself, though, when I buy it I may have myself stuffed and propped up in the livingroom just to freak out my relatives on Thanksgiving.

[tamolina]

I suppose you could carve a bone nut and saddle from the dearly departed's femur or something. Jeez, this thread is creeping me out...

[Bugsgalore]

Originally posted by tamolina I suppose you could carve a bone nut and saddle from the dearly departed's femur or something. Jeez, this thread is creeping me out...

 

 

Yeah....that might be taking it a little too far......plus I'm guessing the law might have something to say about um...."harvesting" a femur.

 

I apologize for the creepy thread.....curiosity got the better of me....as usual.

 

Cheers,

 

Matt.

[MadSkillzMan]

Originally posted by tamolina I suppose you could carve a bone nut and saddle from the dearly departed's femur or something. Jeez, this thread is creeping me out...

 

 

I honestly thought thats what it was gonna be, and thatd be my initial idea

 

 

+1 to the law on harvesting bone..i think itd be a bit harder to do human bone, ever see the inside of one? compared to whale/cammel bone?

 

Id do the Nut/bone, ameture luthier i am lol.

 

Hell, you could design a beutiful inlay (the rose vines, dragon etc etc) and use the ashes to fill it, or more bone

 

I got it!

 

Decorative Amp chassis, hollowed out tubes. Fill the tubes with the ashes. Make all knobs go to 11, and off to the side where you would plug iin, put the name, quote etc

 

Strangely im not creeped out by this..

[smokiee]

put the ashes into a small pot, mix with dirt and plant a spruce/cedar whatever.. in a 100 years or so.. wallaaa.... you've got yoursel a tree that grew out of your ashes and make a guitar...

then your granchildren will say... "my grandfather is watching me playing" or "sorry grandpa.. I've sold you on eBay"

disclaimer: not to be taken seriously... hehehh..

[tim Mcknight]

Originally posted by Bugsgalore Tim, as a luthier, would you consider building a "memorial guitar" like this? Or would you find this to be an overly creepy. Matt.

 

 

Welllllllll, maybe you should drop me an email and we could discuss this off-line.

 

It would be very easy to do for your friend. Look at the flowerpot [urn] pics I posted. You see the "dirt" which is actually abalone pearl in the mouth of the flowerpot [urn]? That is an area where you could mix some ashes with epoxy and substitue that area with Uncle Matt's ashes. Granted it is a small area and you will not fit all of Uncle Matt into that area but it could be an idea to present to your friend.

[JasmineTea]

You guys are nuts.

[Queequeg]

Originally posted by knockwood I think there was a thread here about this once. Idea for business... Have your loved ones made into guitars... No.

 

How about my ex-wife?

Oh. I have to wait until she dies?

Never mind. I don't think it would respond to my touch, any way...

[knockwood]

Originally posted by Queequeg How about my ex-wife? Oh. I have to wait until she dies? Never mind. I don't think it would respond to my touch, any way...

 

 

No, but I'm thinking gits made of ex-wives would have pretty good volume...

[Queequeg]

not well-balanced and too much high-end.
excessively showy bling & very tempermental.
slope-shouldered and a fat neck
I might do the elixir & cotton shirt thing just to watch it explode.

[Bugsgalore]

Thanks for all your replies. Shows some pretty good humor for a strange post....that's why I like this forum so much.

Death can be a pretty touchy subject....especially in our culture.....where we seem to mostly live in denial of it.

What blows me away is how much gets spent on funerals/memorials etc...... And heck, so long as you are going to drop (or have someone drop for you) major duckets....why not support something you like? Maybe that's scholarships for kids, handbuilt guitars, or a big chunk of granite........


Tim,

Your urn/flowerpot/inlay idea sounds like a good one....and mixing ashes with epoxy was one of the first ideas I had. I also thought about is as a pore filler for french polish (instead of pumice?). I would only expect a very small quantity of the ashes would be able to go into the guitar.......I'll contact you via your website if any of this becomes a reality....

By the way, your guitars look beautiful, and I'd love to play one someday!


Cheers,

Matt.