Upcycling Progress Report – Succulent Garden

As elaborated in my previous post, I am creating a succulent garden centered around upcycled music equipment and accessories and displaying a 70s aesthetic. After experimenting with molding records, I realized that full 12″ EP/LPs would be too large to comfortably fit inside any hole I could bore in the fretboard. I reached out to friends and stopped by my local record store to collect damaged 45rpm records, which are typically 7″ in diameter. I also spent a lot of time speaking with different machinists and workshop employees at the ITLL and Idea Forge to determine how I may be able to cut through the guitar neck, as it is a composite of steel and maple wood. They offered some helpful advice which I am eager to implement when I begin construction.

I also determined more particular measurements for the lengths of each section and determined what size holes would need to be drilled for the guitar string supports. My next steps will be to create a mold for the records and begin experimenting with different forms that might fit my design aesthetic, as well as drilling the string support holes and separating the neck into three portions using a series of bandsaws. I will also need to remove some of the frets, for which I’ve developed a technique involving water, a rag, tape, and a soldering iron. Now that all of my materials are secured, I am excited to continue the process of constructing my artifact!