The value of a guitar is usually brought by the sounds and melodies it can create.
For Stamati Charalambidis, it’s the guitar itself that brings the value, especially when it was made out of pure glass.
Charalambidis began sculpting in his late teenage years, but the idea to create a functioning glass guitar came from his friend.
In the beginning of Charalambidis’s journey with making the guitar, he would go to a guitar shop and share his thoughts and questions on how the project could be done.
Despite the many doubts he was faced with regarding the logistical aspect of this creation, he was able to pull through with trial and error.
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One of the many challenges he encountered was getting the right balance of the guitar.
“With these, because the neck and the headstock have quite a bit more weight, it’s trying to find a good shape and length and strap points that would make it balanced,” said Charalambidis.
The delicate and fragile nature of glass made it extra difficult, Charalambidis explained, as one mistake is all that’s needed to completely restart the piece.
“With glass, it’s such an unforgiving material that there is no coming back from it,” he said.
After many months of hammering, polishing, and adjusting the guitar’s weight, the electric guitar was finally finished.
However, tragedy struck when it was stolen in 2019.
As time went on, Charalambidis forgot about the incident while simultaneously discontinuing making glass guitars.
Seven years after it was stolen, he got a phone call notifying him that the guitar was found in a pawn shop.
Charalambidis didn’t believe it at first, until he received a photo of the guitar, which reassured him that it was in fact the guitar he made.
Although the guitar did have scrapes and scratches, Charalambidis refused to polish it up as he believes, “that’s part of its journey.”
For Charalambidis, the lost years with his guitar are made up with the cool story he is now left with.
Finding his guitar seven years later.
-with files from Squire Barnes
Glass, acrylic guitars et all, are somewhat neat ideas…but they weigh far too much and are completely impractical.
Probably stole by a white guy with scabs all over his face. The usual suspect