MUSKEGON, Mich. — Some people enjoy reading or playing sports as their hobby, but for a man in Muskegon, his passion is guitars. He doesn’t actually play them, but he certainly knows a thing or two about building them. His most recent project was a rare find from Muskegon Lake.
There’s nothing like the sweet sound of an electric guitar. However, before it can be played by musicians, it's created from scratch by people like Glenn Perry.
His love for building these instruments started at just 14 years old. He says he was a huge fan of the band Queen, and found out the guitar player from the group had built his own guitar. So he took on the challenge himself.
He started as a teen, but never finished it until 40 years later. Perry says it’s the one guitar he’s created that will never be for sale. Shockingly enough, he’s never actually learned to play the guitar himself.
“That doesn't make any sense at all, but I just enjoy the woodworking,” said Perry.
Building and repairing guitars has become a passion project for Perry. When he’s not working his full-time job as a cook, he’s in his shop off South Getty Street making magic.
“I just do it, I go to work, get up in the morning at 4:00am and I go into my day jobs,” said Perry. “ I get out of my day job, I race home, change my clothes, then I come here and work until I can't work anymore.”
His latest project was a rare find from another shop owner upstairs. She found a wood burl washed up on the shore of Muskegon Lake, and gave it to Perry. He says it took a couple of years to completely dry. Once it did, he realized he had a unique treasure.
“I had no idea what I had, and it turned out to be white pine,” explained Perry.
He says it was from the old logging days in Muskegon, which was between 1860-1880, meaning the wood burl sat at the bottom of Muskegon Lake for hundreds of years.
Perry took that white pine and created a beautiful electric guitar. He’s selling it for $2,200 and is hoping its home will be right here in Michigan. He’s also hoping the owner won’t just let the guitar sit in a corner, but will actually strum its chords and make some rockin’ music.
“You don't really know what you've got until you finally put strings on it, and then you hear it for the first time, it turns out to be an amazing thing,” said Perry.
If you’re interested in the guitar or want to check out his business, you can do so here.
