ROCKPORT—Musician/artist Jon Friese’s cigar field guitar artwork exhibit continues to be up on the Rockport Public Library in case you haven’t caught it but, and it’s value a walk-through earlier than it comes down on the finish of this month.
These uncommon items of practical artwork date again to the Civil Struggle, in line with Friese. In the course of the early days of the pandemic, he bought impressed after viewing one being performed on YouTube, and it spurred a need to go discover a cigar field and make one in all his personal.
“I used to be all the time taken with constructing guitars,” he mentioned. “I constructed one with my grandfather again in sixth grade.”
To begin, he started sourcing stunning classic packing containers wherever he might at yard gross sales and thrift shops. Customizing every field, he constructed out the digital work in them and inserted pick-ups, circuitry, and quantity and tone controls. He has made lots of of cigar field guitars, amplifiers, and mixtures of each, referred to as “amplitars” since 2020. He additionally sources uncommon sweet packing containers and makes guitars out of them as nicely.
Friese’s pandemic passion has changed into a money-making facet hustle since then, having offered 143 amps and 127 guitars to individuals everywhere in the world.
“It’s been a lot enjoyable; progressing and every one simply will get higher and higher,” he mentioned, “I study just a little extra after making every one.”
Friese comes by his passion naturally, having all the time been taken with music and devices. Within the Nineteen Seventies, he was only a rock n’ roll child dwelling the life as a drummer in a number of bands. In 1975, he landed a warehouse job on the largest music retailer in Miami in 1972 referred to as Ace Music, which was just a few doorways down from a number of music studios of main rock bands who had been about to start out their world excursions.
Well-known musicians reminiscent of The Rolling Stones and The Eagles used to wander into Ace on a regular basis, typically to lease an uncommon instrument, different instances, to shoot the breeze, as they knew the music retailer was the place they’d discover their “individuals.” A few of these photographs with Friese and numerous rock stars may also be seen at this Rockport Public Library exhibit.
“I used to be working within the warehouse one time when Glenn Frey and Joe Walsh from The Eagles got here in,” he mentioned. “We had about 250 Fender Stratocasters they usually needed to undergo each one in all them. So I spent the afternoon exhibiting them every one and chatting with them.”
The library hosted Friese on November 18 for just a little meet and greet in order that the general public might bodily deal with the guitars and amps and play with them. “I simply sat and jammed with individuals all day,” he mentioned, “It was a lot enjoyable.”
All the guitars, amps, and amplitars on exhibit can be found for buy instantly by way of Jon Friese (207-660-7470 or jfriese954@yahoo.com) and likewise through his store on Etsy.
Kay Stephens could be reached at information@penbaypilot.com
