Salvage Sounds are a family run “alternative luthier” based in Worthing on the South Coast of the United Kingdom. We specialise in the creation of non-conventional stringed instruments centred around re-purposed parts and upcycled materials. Whether it be an old cigar box, empty coffee tins, a set of aged comics, the registration plate of a long-scrapped vehicle, or a wooden pencil case – our designs are often quirky and unusual, yet always functional, playable musical art pieces… Art that creates art.
Each instrument is deliberately simplified, with less strings than their standard equivalents, so that the enjoyment of playing can be accessible to all ages and abilities. The production process is similarly stripped-down. There are no workshops or heavy-duty machinery involved in the manufacture of our instruments. Save for the use of a basic electric drill, each is made almost entirely using only remedial hand tools: saws, files, hammer and chisel… and lots of sandpaper.
Birch wooden plectrums, individually cut and finished by hand.
Since developing this passion, we find we now look on the world differently and often catch ourselves scouring the edges of pavements for discarded nuts, bolts, screws and bottle-caps that might be incorporated into one of our creations. Or looking in the window of every Charity Shop we pass for wooden boxes that may have the chance to become reborn as a ukulele.
From 2 to 4 strings – and everything in between(!)… we are Salvage Sounds.
Opening at Colonnade House – Creative Hub Tuesday 31st October 10am – 5pm.