A Custom Guitar & Breast Cancer

I’ve been ruminating about a project I proposed the other day to Katie, Victoria’s daughter. Katie is staging a car show in October to raise money for her participation in the Breast Cancer 3-Day, which requires a $3,000 registration fee. You have to admire someone who’s willing to pay $3,000 for the privilege of walking 60 miles in 3 days.  That’s a woman who wears her convictions on her sleeve.
Anyway, I had the idea of maybe putting together a custom guitar for Katie to raffle at the car show. We’d get her friend, Melissa, to paint the body, I’d donate the parts and assemble the guitar, and we’d have a high ticket item that could be raffled for potentially big money. Not to mention the fact that it will be a unique, one-of-a-kind work of art. There won’t be another guitar like it in the entire world.
Well, we’re moving right along on that idea. Melissa has agreed to paint the body. The guitar player in my band, J. Michael Hester, has offered to donate a guitar neck. With all that and my pickups (which are the original pickups that came with my Stratocaster back in 1988 – which means they’re vintage and sound very sweet), we’re off an running. I’m going to go down and talk to a local music store, Stevie B’s, today about possibly donating a guitar set up and any possible wiring that might be needed.
In short, this project has legs.
We won’t know what the guitar will look like until Melissa paints the body (the image I’ve included is just a random image – I imagine Melissa’s art will be a lot more colorful), but we know it’ll be a Strat style guitar. We’re going to include a certificate of authenticity that lists the names of signatures of everyone involved in the project. Hopefully this’ll be enough to lend the guitar a certain air of desirability.
I’m actually beginning to wonder if the guitar should be auctioned instead of raffled. Honestly, I worry about some kid plopping down $5 and winning a raffle for a guitar he’ll just turn around and pawn a week later so he can get a new Wii console. Plus, if the guitar doesn’t sell during the event, Katie could always put it up for auction on eBay, and God only knows what kind of money that might potentially bring in.
Anyway, I’m looking forward to this. It’s going to be a fun project, and it’s definitely for a good cause. If this guitar can help raise the profile of the issue of breast cancer, and help Katie fulfill her obligations to participate in the Breast Cancer 3-Day, then I’d say my first guitar build will definitely be something I can be proud of.