A palpable wave of relief washed over Dan Vincent, a Powell River guitar luthier, when he received word that his missing guitar was finally in the hands of long-time friend Lorne Musclow.
“You can go buy wood off the internet and it’s really nice, but if you can build something that has a story behind it, and have it sound spectacular at the same time, it’s way more interesting,” said Vincent.
Vincent built the guitar, putting more than 100 hours into it, for Lorne, who planned to give it as a gift to his grandson Michael, a well-known Okanagan musician.
“I am thrilled beyond belief,” said Michael after hearing the news that it was on its way. “The sentimental value behind this guitar goes beyond any words I could use; it also looks and sounds perfect.”
The custom-built guitar, called the West Coaster due to its connection to Desolation Sound, was delivered Friday, April 1, more than two weeks late.
“I was told it would take four days to deliver,” said Vincent, “when it didn’t show I up I started to get nervous, then after a week I got really nervous.”
The blonde acoustic guitar is made from a combination of BC wood, including sitka spruce, yellow cedar, quilt maple and gumwood.
“This was a very fun and interesting guitar to build,” said Vincent. “I’ve built a few very nice sounding guitars and this was right up in the top of the pile.”
The cedar used for the guitar had been in Musclow’s family for over 70 years. As a child, his family moved from Powell River to Cortes Island. In 1945, the family built a house on two salvaged logs that Lorne’s father recovered from the beach, said Vincent. Later, when the family moved the house, Lorne’s father milled the logs; Lorne has held onto the wood since, he said.
“That wood has already been in that family for more than 70 years,” said Vincent, “now as a guitar it will be for another 80.”
Musclow originally sent some red cedar for the guitar’s top, but Vincent said it would not be suitable, so he found the spruce, which had also washed up at Galley Bay on Cortes Island, near where the family homesteaded.
After the guitar did not show up on time, Vincent contacted Canada Post to find out what happened. Vincent said he “had reserved judgement,” but was worried when a Canada Post investigator suggested it may have been stolen.
That led Vincent to post his story to social media, requesting friends on the Lower Sunshine Coast keep watch for the unique instrument.
Vincent added that he was pleased by the amount of attention the missing guitar received online.
Vincent said as a result of the Canada Post investigation, he learned the large, odd-sized parcel had been taken off the postal system’s conveyor and placed to the side for manual processing, where it was overlooked.
Vincent added that the experience has not soured his view of the national postal system. He explained that staff at the Powell River post office “really went to bat for me.”
