A guitarist whose dad was their biggest supporter has had his old man’s ashes secreted into the neck of his guitar so that - even from beyond the grave – his father will never miss a gig.
The musician in question is Mark Wood, who plays in the Hull-based metal band Impurist. His dad, Keith, taught Mark how to play guitar and used to travel miles to see his son play before he died of a heart attack in December 2022. "He just used to rock up at gigs and we'd just have a beer and a catch up," Wood told the BBC.
After some time passed Wood had the idea of working some of his father’s ashes into the neck of his Telecaster. He roped in a friend, Sam Orr, from Cheshire, who was able to do this for him.
"At first, I was just wondering how it would work, then the more I thought about it and did a few test runs on a spare guitar neck I had, I realised it wouldn't be too difficult to complete it," said Orr.
Mark was there when Orr performed the careful operation. “We put some music on in the background and had a couple of beers and made a thing of it," he said. “Sam did the work while the shop was shut and was so caring and careful and really respectful."
The first song that Mark played on the newly recalibrated Tele was Stranglehold by Ted Nugent, one of his old man’s favourites - "He always asked me to play that as a kid."
"I wish dad was still here,” he guitarist continued. “But doing this makes me feel like he's always going to be here with me and you have always got your memories. This way he will still be with me at all the shows and this has given me a sense of closure."
