From Jimi Hendrix to Prince to Kurt Cobain, guitarists of every genre have taken pride in their custom, one-of-a-kind instruments. Metal musician Prince Midnight is no exception.
The Tampa based artist created one guitar that is truly unlike any other, using the bones of his beloved Uncle Filip to craft his new “Skelecaster.”
As HuffPost reports, Midnight created the instrument using a leftover Fender Telecaster with the remains of his late uncle, who introduced him to the metal in the ‘90s.
Filip tragically passed away in 1996 after getting into a motorcycle accident in Greece. The 28-year-old’s body was then donated to a local college before eventually being put into a family cemetery, setting off a chain of events that would prompt Midnight to create the Skelecaster.
“After 20 years, he ended up in a cemetery my family had to pay rent on. Like, literally in a wooden box,” he told HuffPost. “It’s a big problem in Greece because the Orthodox religion doesn’t want people cremated.”
Instead of continuing to pay rent on the plot, Midnight had the bones flown to Florida from Greece. He opted out of burying his uncle in the states — instead turning the late metal head into a unique creation.
The Florida musician welded his uncle’s spine to a metal bar in order to attach it to the neck of the guitar. The rib cage serves as the guitar’s body, and Midnight inserted a cord jack into Uncle Filip’s hip bone, which is the base of the new instrument.
Altogether the whole thing is pretty hardcore to say the least.
“The skeleton belonged to my beloved Uncle Filip,” Midnight Prince wrote, sharing a YouTube video of himself playing the instrument. “He was a metal head and guitar player in life, and now he continues to shred in death!”
