We’ve seen some pretty unique guitars over the years, but YouTube luthier Burls Art has taken on the challenge of creating a guitar out of recycled ocean plastic, and the result is a pretty impressive instrument resembling a bit of the environment it once called home.
In the video below, the journey starts off with a diving trip out to the ocean where the guitar builder and members of the 4ocean organization collect their plastics found typically toward the ocean floor. From there, the material is then sorted out into respective types of plastic, with the luthier choosing to use primarily plastics from buckets and other HTPE materials for his new guitar.
As detailed in the video, the body is made from a cast of plastics that have already been whittled down into smaller pieces. From there, the selected plastics are melted down and placed within a workable cast to create the body.
As for the neck, it’s a bit of trial and error before utilizing some of the straws and bottle caps found on the diving journey to add some artistic flare to the look. And to finish things out, he eventually adds a pair of pickups to the ocean-blue hued instrument.
“This was easily the most challenging build I’ve done so far,” Burls Art says. “But it was a fun project where I got to use different methods I haven’t tried yet, and overall I think it came out looking pretty good.”
Get a closer look at the stages of the project below and see the guitarist play a bit of Corinne Bailey Rae’s “Put Your Records On” on the instrument as well in his Instagram post.
You can check out more of Burls Art’s guitar creations via his YouTube channel and learn more about the 4oceans ocean cleanup projects here.
Burls Art’s Mission to Create Guitar Out of Ocean Plastic
The Most Bizarre Guitars of All Time
We’ve scoured the internet to bring you this list of the most bizarre guitars of all time.
