License plate guitars for O'Leary Orthodontics

I created a collection of three license plate guitars for O’Leary Orthodontics in South Carolina. 

Brian and Kim O’Leary commissioned me to create the collection to represent their lives. Brian is an orthodontist from Virginia and requested a Hokies-style guitar. He studied at West Virginia, which is reflected on the telecaster style guitar, which says Ortho down the neck. The family now lives in South Carolina. The acoustic, which says O'Leary down the neck, features the names of his loved ones and colors that represent his Irish heritage. The family photo in the center really sets the piece off nicely against the South Carolina Palm tree tags. 

Gift for a Civil War buff from Nevada and New York

I recently had the pleasure of working with two daughters who commissioned this personalized gift for their father, a Civil War buff from Nevada and New York. During the interview process, Jamie and Michelle said their dad loved music and has played guitar all his life. He was originally from New York, and now lives in Las Vegas where he runs his business, JR Flooring, which is prominently featured on the guitar. 

I used colorful tags from Nevada and New York, wrote their last name down the neck, and featured the names of his loved ones around the body of the guitar. Civil War is displayed on the bridge. Michelle and Jamie sent me the photo that appears in the center, which shows their dad at one of his gigs. As always, it is fun to get to know my clients by creating their life stories through my highly personalized guitar art.

Holiday gift tells son's life story

I worked with a mother and father to create a personalized holiday gift for their son. They requested a Gibson ES-335. The guitar features tags from Ohio, North and South Carolina, North Dakota, New York and Germany -- all places the family has lived.  They asked for Air Force sayings, which are featured throughout the piece, to reflect theirtime in the military.

Here are some kind words from his parents:

"We just wanted to let you know that Derek really enjoyed his guitar. We think it turned out awesome. Thank you for doing an outstanding job and caring enough to put Derek’s life history into a piece of art that he will cherish forever."

J and D, South Carolina

Here are their son's thoughts on the piece:

"My parents commissioned a beautiful piece of guitar art from you.

I absolutely love this piece!  It is a really cool and beautiful way to have an artist provide a personal touch to my living space.  Every time I look at it, I have happy and fond memories.  I can't thank you enough for working with my parents to create this piece for me.

Thank you so much!

- Derek S.

Family's American experience featured in guitar art

Several years ago I met a family at a Chapel Hill art show. This year they commissioned me to create a license plate guitar that features details of their three-year stay in America. They will return to France in a few months, and wanted me to help them remember all the states they visited in the U.S. and their favorite spots in each. We used the red, white and blue to pay tribute to the American flag.

In New York it was the Chrysler building, in Washington, DC it was the Lincoln Memorial. They enjoyed Key West in Florida, Venice Beach in California, Charleston, South Carolina, and the national parks in Arizona and Utah.

Their family name, Playe, appears on the neck, and their names are on the bridge. Their childrens' names are around the guitar's body, and Bertrand's birthdate date is on the keys.

I love being challenged by my clients, who continue to come up with new ways to use my artwork to pay tribute to what they find special. Keep the ideas flowing!

Auburn / Opryland Mash-up

My client is an architect in Tennesse who wanted me to combine his love for the Auburn Tigers, with his career achievements. He completed the renovation on the Ryman auditorium in Nashville, he's worked at Opryland, he's a Titans and Nashville Sounds fan, as well as the Bradshaw High School Bruins. He also wanted me to include his birthday, which you can see on the keys. Pay close attention to the top left tuning key. It's a Weimaraner dog - he's a fan and requested it be featured on his piece. I combined all of these interests in a Les Paul license plate guitar that featues vintage Tennessee and Alabama plates. 

Guitar Art Reflects Passions of Restaurant Owner and Patrons

My client, Justin, owns several popular restaurants in Montana. He wanted 4 custom license plate guitars to represent the passions his patrons. Justin is a big Toby Keith fan so we had our first piece set.

Than he stated he wanted to represent all the college students who come to the restaurant. The Cat Griz football guitar was born.

For the next piece, his employees came up with the idea to have all the high school teams from Billings Montana displayed around the outside body with the Billings logo in the center hole bringing them all together.

The last piece is an acoustic style that pays tribute to the Yellowstone River, one of the great fly-fishing spots in Montana. The colors on this piece are amazing - almost as beautiful as this state.

I would like to personally thank Justin and all of his employees who helped to make this beautiful collection of Montana-themed license plate guitars possible.

A Great Collection of License Plates

My clients, Pam and Glen, are from the New England area, and saved some of the most colorful license plates over the years. They asked me to create license plate guitar art using their tags.

This uniqueness of this handcrafted guitar art is due to Glen’s passion for hunting down some of the neatest sports tags and symbols of the New England region.

In just one piece, it tells their story in such a colorful and creative way.

There are so many details to spot.

Around the outside body are references to family members and places of interest. Their wedding date and initials are displayed on the keys.

I have to thank my clients, Pam and Glen, for having the vision to see the guitar art that could be created from their license plates. I also want to thank them for allowing me tell the story of their New England heritage.

You and Me - Dave Matthews = Friendship

This License Plate Guitar Art tells the story of friendship.

When I first spoke to Bob he told me he wanted a piece that would showcase his personal connection with one of his clients. They had been to a Dave Matthews concert at the Alpine Valley in Wisconsin.

"That's where we really started connecting as friends, and it remains one of the strongest connectors we have," Bob said. It always comes back to music with us."

With Bob’s input, I added his client's personal information to create an amazing personalized gift.

What makes this guitar art special is its features:

• Where they met in Maine.
• Their wedding date and their children’s names.
• The states they've lived in are featured on the body.
• Around the right side are some of their favorite Dave Matthews songs, "41," "You and Me."

Thanks Bob for helping create this amazing gift.

License Plate Guitar Art for Rick Hendrick's Birthday

I created this license plate guitar art as a birthday gift for Rick Hendrick, owner and founder of the Hendrick Automotive Group. Here's how it happened.

A few weeks back, I had the pleasure of being on American Real for MAVTV. The Charlotte-based production team of Kevin Mooney and Chip Zayak, shot the piece. They made it a terrific experience. 

During my interview, they asked me which piece was my favorite. While I've got a few, the first to come to mind was the license plate guitar I made for Brad Paisley that featured tags from his cars over the years.

As it turned out, they were shooting a piece with Brad Paisley the next day for AmeriCarna, a show that will air in January 2014.

It wasn't long before I received a call from the office of NASCAR great Ray Evernham, asking me to create a gift for Mr. Hendrick for his birthday. Mr. Evernham told me Brad Paisley raved about the piece I created for him. All I can say is man, did that feel good.

I interviewed Mr. Evernham and set about creating a piece that features the logo of the Americarna show. There are other details, like the "Mr. H" that appears on the bridge, that makes this one very special gift Mr. Hendrick.

Stay Tuned for More License Plate Guitar Art

License Plate Guitar Art Combines Love for Pearl Jam and FL Marlins

I met my client at Artsplosure, an art fair in Raleigh, and came to me with the idea to create a telecaster featuring Pearl Jam's hit, Just Breathe. Look closely at the detail. The volume and tone control knobs feature the logos from the camps he went to as a kid. The keys spell out his daughter's name, Madi. and her birth year, '04. A very cool piece. It's great to make these pieces that feature my client's input. 

License plate guitar art combines client's passion for Pearl Jam and the FL Marlins. 

The decorative Miami piece is offset by the FL plates on this license plate guitar art.

License Plate Guitar Art - Bruce Springsteen - "The Boss"

I recently did a show called Artisphere in South Carolina. I met a client who came up with the idea for a Bruce Springsteen guitar. He commissioned this piece. His vision was to stay off the Born in the USA theme. The yellow and blue New Jersey plates play so well off each other. Thanks Jim

License Plate Guitar Artwork Receives Award

What's the use of getting an award for your work if you can't proudly show it off? Here's a photo of the ribbon I won at the Artsplosure Art Show in Raleigh in May. The Merit Award was one of only 3 awards handed out by the show judges. I am honored to be a recipient. Thanks for allowing me to share my news with you.​