Eighty-eight-year-old Lorne Collie has been making musical instruments for more than three decades, creations that dazzle for their unique materials as much as their sound. There's a hefty bass guitar and a cello made of moose antlers, a baseball bat violin, ukuleles made of cookie tins, and guitars fashioned from pitch forks, a shovel, and a rake. His personal favourites? A frying pan mandolin and a banjo made of a motorcycle tire rim, covered by stretched deerskin painted by his late wife.
Instruments made by Lorne Collie out of cookie tins are shown at his son's home in Hope, B.C. in this undated handout photo.
(Submitted by James Collie to The Canadian Press) "When people wanted to buy them, I always said No," Collie said from his home outside the tiny and remote Manitoba community of Hilbre, about 230 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg. "I wasn't hurting for money, but what I was afraid of is that if I started selling them, I would be working myself to death to try to keep up to the orders." Collie said he once turned down an offer of $35,000 for a moose antler electric guitar.
Now things have changed. "That was the policy back then," he said. "I'm 88 now and not as spry and lively as I used to be.
" With the help of his son James who lives in Hope, B.C., Collie is hoping to sell some of his collection.
The electric bass guitar is on sale for $8,000, and the cello for $6,500. Collie said he needs the funds to upgrade his older model electric car to one with better range and.
