TOLEDO, Ohio — Did you see a guitar made from old motorcycle parts at Acoustics for Autism last weekend? Do you want to know who made it?
His name is Randy Neal and he makes all kinds of metal art. We got to stop by Randy’s workshop to meet the man behind the masterpiece.
Randy went to welding school after high school and then welded professionally for five or six years. He then went into law enforcement which he did until he retired. But even then welding was part of his life.
“And always even when I was doing that, I still tinkered around with helping people welding stuff… and then after I retired I enjoyed welding so I decided I would try to make some items out of different types of steel”
Welding is an art form that Randy loves, but it is not without mistakes. Randy showed us a whole pile of things that did not pan out. He explained that for every item that did work many did not.
But a project that he has found to be very enjoyable is making guitars out of old motorcycle parts.
“Each one is different. You get a variety of parts and you go through the parts and try to put them together to make a guitar”
Randy gets much of the materials he uses from people’s scrap metal. He has a person who gives him horseshoes, others give him motorcycle parts, he also uses farm implements to make lawn ornaments. Despite all these pieces of metal being second-hand, Randy finds value in them.
"The people that give me the motorcycle parts, their scrap, there’s no value to them, but it’s fun to just get that what their scrap is and keep it alive and make it something.”
Randy takes what some view as junk and creates beautiful works of art. But these works of art are not just for him, he uses them to help others. Randy has donated his guitars to benefit Acoustics for Autism and also to benefit a group focused on Down Syndrome.
"It’s a challenge and I really enjoy whenever I donate something and see someone really take an interest in it. I’ve been very fortunate, and I’ve been blessed in so many ways that if you can help someone else out, do it. Everything has value and I guess people are the same way and everybody has value.”
One of Randy’s metal guitars takes roughly 25 man-hours to build and runs between $400 to $700. If you would like to see more of Randy’s work, he’s on Instagram @ren_studio1.