If youโve ever looked at a pile of coloured pencils and thought, โI could make a flying V out of that,โ then congratulations โ youโve probably been possessed by the creative spirit of Burls Art, the YouTube luthier whoโs making guitars out of everything but actual guitar wood. ๐คฏ
Since firing up his YouTube channel in 2018, this absolute legend has been flipping the bird to tradition and crafting fully playable guitars from the weirdest stuff you can imagine. And weโre not talking โlooks nice but sounds like a bin lid.โ No, these creations shred.
Letโs dive into the delicious madness. ๐ฅ
๐ธ The Builds That Broke the Internet (and Possibly His Back)
โ๏ธ The Coloured Pencil Guitar
The one that started it all. Burls glued 1,200 coloured pencils into a block, drenched it in resin, and carved out one of the most vibrant guitars youโll ever see. It looks like a bag of Skittles and sounds like a dream. Tidy, mun.
This rainbow-toned axe went mega viral, racking up millions of views and turning Burls into the Bob Ross of epoxy-laced luthiery.
๐ง Fun Fact: The pencil build is so iconic itโs been copied by dozens of other makers on YouTube and TikTok. But Burls did it first โ and best.
๐น The Skateboard Guitar
He took broken old decks, slapped them together, and carved a Tele-style beast from layers of scratched-up skater chaos. Every dent, scrape, and sticker tells a story.
You donโt just play this guitar โ you kickflip into your solos.
๐ง The Salt Guitar
50 pounds of table salt. Yes, really. Combined with resin, this build looked like a frozen glacier axe from some Norse metal fantasy. Weโre not even mad. Weโre just confused and impressed.
โSaltโs a weird material to work with,โ Burls admitted in his video, casually, like he didnโt just make a guitar out of seasoning.
๐ฐ The Newspaper Guitar
Because why not? Burls layered newspapers, glued and pressed them together until they became dense enough to carve. The result? A black-and-white axe that somehow manages to scream louder than a tabloid headline.
Honestly, it slaps. But in a weirdly informative way. ๐ข๐ธ
๐ฅ More Builds from the Depths of His Workshop
- ๐ฑ Pool balls & resin fusion guitar
- ๐ชต Tabletop leftovers turned fretboard gold
- ๐ข๏ธ Epoxy-cement monstrosities that shouldnโt work but absolutely do
- โ๏ธ Aluminium and metal guitars worthy of a Mad Max soundtrack
Basically, if itโs solid (ish), glueable, and can handle a truss rod, Burls has probably turned it into a fretboard.
๐น The YouTube Channel: ASMR Meets Mayhem
Thereโs something strangely soothing about watching him slice, sand, pour, and polish his way through madness. His videos mix calm narration with chaotic builds, and somehow it all works.
Power tools? Check. Time-lapses? Check. That moment where he goes โI donโt know if this will work but letโs try it anywayโ? Double check.
Heโs built a loyal following with over 2 million subscribers, and his top videos are sitting pretty with views in the tens of millions. Not bad for a guy with a hot glue gun and a dream.
๐ฅ Why It Works: Burls Isnโt Just a Builder โ Heโs a Storyteller
Every guitar has a story, and Burls Art is a master at telling it. Whether heโs making a guitar out of his childhood skateboard or crafting a resin beast because someone in the comments dared him to, itโs always personal.
Thereโs no corporate polish here โ just a bloke in his garage, probably covered in sawdust, doing it for the love of the craft (and maybe a little for the chaos).
โI just thought it would be cool,โ is basically his mission statement.
๐ค Burls Artโs Guitars = Pure Rock โnโ Roll Innovation
Letโs be honest: there are plenty of master luthiers out there making beautiful, classic instruments from mahogany and maple. But thereโs only one Burls Art turning school supplies and kitchen staples into full-blown six-string magic.
His builds are:
- ๐จ Visually jaw-dropping
- ๐ Sonically legit
- ๐คฏ Impossibly imaginative
- ๐ค 100% metal (even when theyโre made of paper)
๐ ๏ธ Want to Try It Yourself? Good Luck, Butt.
He makes it look easy. Itโs not.
Between the precision routing, hours of sanding, careful truss rod alignment, and the ungodly amount of resin involved… youโd better have patience and a decent shop vac.
But thatโs what makes watching Burls Art so lush. Heโs not just building guitars โ heโs inspiring chaos, one pencil at a time.
๐ค Final Riff: Why We Love Him
Burls Art embodies everything we love at The Riff Report:
- DIY spirit? โ
- Loud, proud creativity? โ
- Slightly unhinged? โ โ โ
His channel is a testament to imagination over limitation. Whether heโs pouring concrete into a Tele body mould or slicing up old VHS tapes for fret markers (seriously), heโs reminding us all that music can come from anywhere.
And thatโs something worth cranking the volume for. ๐๏ธ
๐บ Watch Burls Art on YouTube:
๐ฌ What Should He Build Next?
Let us know in the comments or shout it from the top of Yr Wyddfa with a megaphone. A guitar made of lava lamp goo? Cโmon, letโs manifest it.
Would a rock fan yell โYESS MUN!โ after reading this?
If not, hand me more pencils. Weโre going full Stratocaster.
