The Galaxy Lounge

Fun Stuff => Raw Talent => Topic started by: Swishahouse6 on October 24, 2013, 04:03:01 PM

Title: ‘Everything should be made from hemp’ – even guitars
Post by: Swishahouse6 on October 24, 2013, 04:03:01 PM

MONTREAL - Stewart Burrows spends most nights in pubs, playing cover tunes till 3 a.m., give or take, then driving back to the Châteauguay Valley. Waiting for him are his wife and three kids, and 20 heads of cattle from which he sells aged beef; $700 for 100 pounds.

“Playing music is how I pay the bills,” he says.

And he has a guitar workshop from where he makes ostensibly the world’s only true hemp guitar.

With partner Boyd Pellow, Burrows, 42, a guitarist, pianist, singer/songwriter and teacher of same, wanted to make a guitar from a sustainable material.

“Everything should be made from hemp,” he says.

So he and Pellow started a little business, Canadian Hemp Guitars in Hemmingford, fooling around with hemp and moulds and plastics for about five years to create an electric guitar similar in weight and feel to hardwood.

They sell for $1,150 to $2,000 and are built to order. Most of his inquiries come from out west — Calgary and B.C. to California — where hemp is associated strongly with its derivative, cannabis.

Smoking his guitars is not advised.

The company is a startup and sales are in the “low double digits,” but Burrows’s ambitions are small. He wants to make 150 to 200 instruments a year.

“You’re fighting against juggernauts,” he says. “It’s a tough sell. Most people will buy Fender or Gibson if they’re going to spend $1,500.”

Now they’re selling online, afraid that going into stores will mean they’ll “get lost in a sea of guitars.”

He and Pellow, a luthier by training, are counting on guitarists’ penchant for collecting and the novelty of a beautifully finished hemp guitar that’s made here at home.

“It’s responsive, built to spec and handmade,” he says.

And if that doesn’t work, well, Burrows can always fall back on making music, ranching and teaching.

“I’m a busy guy,” he says.

(http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/cms/binary/9027905.jpg)

http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Everything+should+made+from+hemp+even+guitars/9027904/story.html

Title: Re: ‘Everything should be made from hemp’ – even guitars
Post by: jones on October 24, 2013, 04:49:55 PM

If they can get their production up they should sell in stores.
  If these guys were better grounded in reality they would realize that
there is currently nothing quite like what they sell, No way would these
get lost in a store, even surrounded by other guitars. I bet buyer's would
actually go to the store, just to check them out! :weedspin

Title: Re: ‘Everything should be made from hemp’ – even guitars
Post by: JustSayin on October 24, 2013, 05:35:39 PM

Agreed Jones, and if I had the money I would not spend $1500 or more on a Fender or similar (besides I already have two Fenders already), go straight to a Paul Reed Smith or better yet one of these babies. I'm not a pro despite being able to shred pretty good so I can't justify spending that on just a hobby - although any hobby can add up financially... just don't have that kind of spare change to drop at one time on anything that doesn't fix my house or get me to work...

Title: Re: ‘Everything should be made from hemp’ – even guitars
Post by: tibeirious on October 25, 2013, 08:22:54 AM

very cool. Pricey, but different.