Jonathan Berg makes and repairs musical instruments. He has created something magical from an oak plank salvaged from the fire at Notre Dame.
From Radio Canada
As a rocker, he was inspired by AC/DC’s "Highway to Hell" and Led Zeppelin’s "Stairway to Heaven." I had never considered them as religious songs before, but it turns out they were singing about Heaven and Hell. Duh.
The longevity of the cathedral has relied on the high quality materials used in the construction. Around a thousand oaks were used to rebuild the roof, but aside from the fire, the original beams had survided in great shape for centuries.
Berg created a one-of-a-kind guitar from one of those original planks.
The body of the guitar displays some of the wear and tear of centuries of candle smoke and heavy-breathing parisioners, but is decorated with swirling, in-laid lines reminiscent of the famous stained-glass Rose Window. The back of the guitar shows an engraved excerpt from a love poem by Théophile Gautier, written in 1838: "The cathedral gleams like an enamel jewel!"
The instrument itself is an electric, built to be blasted at full volume. Jimmy Page and Angus Young would approve. lmc
www.berg-guitares.com
This article is taken from Living & Painting in France, my monthly newsletter about life in rural Brittany as an ex=pat painter. Sign up here. It’s free!