From Whiskey River by Willie Nelson in the 1970s to Metallica's Grammy-winning cover of Whiskey in the Jar, the golden nectar has inspired much creativity among musicians over the years. And now Big D Guitars is cementing that relationship with a Telecaster-shaped instrument built from barrels once home to Jim Beam and Wild Turkey.
Four flavors of hand-made T-Style guitars are on offer, each made using barrel tops from different Kentucky distilleries – Jim Beam, Wild Turkey, Marker's Mark and Knob Creek – for a cool, unique look and possibly even a hint of whiskey as you play. Indeed, Big D founder Derek Lenard says that the smell of whiskey fills the air as he runs the aged wood through his workshop saw.
The barrel tops are sanded and dried and then glued onto an oak core, which is said to add strength to the build. The back of the guitar is made from reclaimed barnyard lumber, while the 25.5-inch scale neck is aged white oak, with white clay dot markers on the fingerboard. Chrome hardware has been given aging treatment to give the finished guitar a vintage look, and a classic sound is promised from the hand-made, scatter-wound neck and bridge pickups.
The Barrel Top Custom T-Style Guitar isn't the first example we've seen of makers using whiskey barrels to construct music gear, Fender wrapped a special edition Blues Junior amp in barrel wood back in 2016 and Lowden fashioned an acoustic from barrels and bog wood a year later. The T-Style guitars are available now for US$2,950 apiece.
Source: Big D Guitars
