This would be the first time I’m blogging about a LAMP, but it’s also the first time I’ve been able to present an idea – and see it actually become reality!

My old halogen ceiling-spot from IKEA, broke about a year ago. I was searching everywhere for something new and cool, and just couldn’t find anything that I liked. I’ve always been a sucker for “tacky” things, stuff that  nobody else has.

And the idea that I had, was a ceiling lamp in the shape of a guitar – and a few details such as a LED-strip that lit up the back of the guitar (=the ceiling) and smaller lights in the guitar neck. And a few other things.

No matter how much I Googled or searched on eBay, there just was nothihng there quite as I imagined it.So I started sketching on it instead.

[The first sketch….]

Last winter I went with my friends to Manchester to see the Steel Panther/Motley Crue/Def Leppard show at MAN arena. On the train to Manchester, I showed my drawing to Hemmi and Christoffer – both of them electricians. I explained what I wanted the lamp to look like and what features I would hope for it to have. I wanted to know if it was even possible.

They got so excited and so involved in the whole thing, that they decided to give it a go.

It was explained to me that I would only be able to use LED-lights as those were the only kind of light-source that didn’t produce heat. Otherwise it would be a problem as the guitar is made of wood.

As soon as we got back to Sweden, I started looking for a cool guitar to transform into a lamp – and finally found a piece of crap guitar for a bargain price. It was probably not playable, but it suited my purposes perfectly. It was a flames-guitar, great for the visual effect even when it wasn’t on.

Then I intended to go to a carpenter with the lamp to have holes, the exact size, drilled for the spotlights without risking to ruin the guitar.

But one of the guys’ dad had a special drill that they could borrow, so they told me they could do that too.

Then there was the problem with the truss rod – in the guitar neck. There is this metal thing in there to prevent the wood from bending, and that was another thing that had to be solved.

I remember we were browsing videos on YouTube one evening to find a tutorial on how to get that thing out. Some of the home-made tutorials were quite amusing. :)

Well – I’m not sure HOW they did it in the end, but they got the truss thing out – and the guitar was ready for the smaller LED-lights.

The cool thing was that all the electronics that were in the guitar for…well – guitarplaying, could be taken out and replaced by the electronics needed for the lamp.

[In the making…]

Small holes were drilled in the neck for the mini-LED’s (it was hell trying to find small Christmas lights in the spring, when the project had progressed to THAT) the 3 spotlights were already mounted and the “icing on the cake” was the LED-strip on the back that could change colors, programming to static or blinking lights that would give this really cool effect if you operated the lamp without the spotlights on.

The whole thing is hanging from black chains that I got in a hardware store.

Well, everything was pretty easy to find – spotlights, Christmas lights (okay, that was tricky but only because it was out of season) LED strip, chains, screws, guitar….

But none of this would have been possible without the knowledge of an electrician (or two – in this case) and the time and effort that they put into it.

Without THAT, this lamp would have remained an IDEA. This time I was lucky to know somebody who could make the idea come true.

And a year later – here it is! It’s now hanging from my ceiling like a religious symbol for a music nerd – it just couldn’t have been more perfect!!

A HUGE thank you to the guys for making this possible! I love my guitar lamp!