So, today's Canada Day; and to celebrate there's always a big shindig held in the nation's capital city of Ottawa, where a bunch of speaching and music playing ensues. At this year's celebration there was a special guest; Canadian luthier George Rizanyl's Six String Nation Guitar will be played on stage. What makes this guitar so special are the materials that were used to construct it. Example; bridge pins made out of Canadian hockey player Paul Henderson's hockey stick, Narwhal tusk, and one from Wayne Gretsky's stick. Every material in the instrument is from a uniquely Canadian material.
From the Canadian Press;
"•THE NECK: Decking from the Bluenose II; Papineau Manor (built by Louis-Joseph Papineau who led the Lower Canada Rebellion); a bagel shibba from Montreal; oak from St. Boniface Museum (in the building where Louis Riel went to school).
•INSIDE: A piece from Fan Tan Alley (Canada’s first Chinatown in Victoria); Olympic medallist Nancy Greene’s childhood skis; Pierre Trudeau’s canoe paddle.
•MAPLE LEAF PICK GUARD: Part of cowboy John Ware’s cabin; part of basketball inventor John Naismith’s house; an inset of a wooden nickel made out of the third Maid of the Mist built in 1885; red ochre stain from Newfoundland; Paul Henderson’s stick; Wayne Gretzky’s stick; a seat from the Montreal Forum.
•BRIDGEPINS: Henderson and Gretzky’s sticks; slate from a slave chapel in St. Armand, Que.
•THE HEAD: Decorated with a diamond-shaped inset of B.C. jade.
•FIRST FRET: Stone from the monument to Shu-kwe-wee-tam/Almightyvoice (Saskatchewan aboriginal hero); raw silver from Cobalt, Ont.; a piece of the oldest rock in the world (Acasta gneiss, found at Great Bear Lake, believed to be nearly 4 billion years old).
•THIRD FRET: Decorated with labradorite; moose shin; copper from the roof of the library of Parliament
•NINTH FRET: Decorated with moose antler from Pick River First Nation on Lake Superior; blue labradorite from Nain, N.L.; a gold dot from Rocket Richard’s Stanley Cup ring of 1955-56."
