Edmonton music collector rebuilds 2 electric guitars with 1,200 pencil crayons
Bryan Rosychuk rebuilt these instruments from spare parts he found at Goodwill stores around Alberta
Using a rainbow of colour including white stripes and deep purple, Bryan Rosychuk rebuilt a pair of guitars using more than a thousand pencil crayons.
Rosychuk, a retired elementary-school teacher, is a longtime guitar collector who has repaired several of the instruments with items found at Goodwill stores.
When a friend told him it was possible to build a guitar out of pencil crayons, he began collecting them, amassing 1,200 in just over a year.
His inspiration comes out of his passion for living sustainably.
"It's something I could do locally with the big global picture in mind of helping the Earth and that's what Goodwill does," Rosychuk said.
The guitars were made by cutting the pencil crayons down, putting them in a mould and pouring acrylic around them to create the shape of his instrument. After the acrylic hardened, he added a neck and pickup to create functioning electric guitars.
Built into the colourful guitars is the Goodwill logo and a rainbow to honour the retail outlet's commitment to supporting LGBTQ people.
A former teacher for students with complex needs, Rosychuk wanted to build the guitar for Goodwill because of the non-profit's efforts to help people with disabilities find employment.
When Rosychuk saw students from L.Y. Cairns, an Edmonton school specializing in complex-needs education, working at Goodwill, he felt his efforts had been rewarded.
"I saw all these kids working from L.Y. Cairns with their Goodwill vests on and helping out here, it just came full circle for me," Rosychuk said.
To show off the riffs of his handiwork on Wednesday, Rosychuk played a reworked version of the traditional folk classic Midnight Special, popularized by Creedence Clearwater Revival, titled Goodwill Special.