PHOTO BY ADRIAN ALLEYNE Enlarge Image

(From left) Kildonan-East Collegiate guitar club members Ryan Francis, Paul Asselstine, Joey Inglis, and Joe Bailey with some of the club’s first creations.

Teachers and students from Kildonan East Collegiate are rocking a new club.

The East Kildonan school recently started its own guitar-making club. Club members are able to make their own electric guitars during lunch and after school.

The club’s first creation was a guitar which paid tribute to hockey and the Winnipeg Jets’ return, and was mostly crafted by two teachers involved in the group.

Students dubbed it the Chipman, a tribute to True North Sports and Entertainment chairman Mark Chipman.

Chipman was so impressed upon learning about the guitar that he signed it for club members. Since then, there have been discussions about how the NHL club’s charitable wing, the Jets Foundation, and the KEC guitar club can work together on future projects.

The group is already planning to build another special guitar that will be auctioned off at the Jets Gala Dinner at MTS Centre in September.

Ryan Francis, a guidance counsellor at the school and one of the founders of the club, said the next official project for the club will be to create a special hockey stick guitar for Chipman.

"We always thought with everything he did for the city, it would be good to honour him," Francis said.

Group co-founder Paul Asselstine said the aim of the non-credit club is to provide students with a unique opportunity to learn the art of building a guitar.

"We’re going to show them how to build the guitars, and then give them to kids who don’t have instruments," said Asselstine, an auto body teacher at the school who has been building guitars for 10 years.

The club currently has six students, but organizers hope to see that number increase in the future.

Francis and Asselstine are hoping community members who have unused guitars will donate them to the club for parts.

"Whether they buy the kit or use a donated guitar, the students are still taking it apart and putting it back together," Francis said.

Student Joey Inglis doesn’t know how to play guitar, but that didn’t stop him from joining the club.

"I don’t know how to play yet, but I’m remodelling my own guitar," he said.

Asselstine said the club offers participants more than just a chance to build their own guitars.

"We’ve got kids involved, and we have a charity, everyone is getting involved," he said.

Anyone interested in donating a guitar to the club can call Francis or Asselstine at 667-2960 or email rfrancis@retsd.mb.ca.

facebook.com/TheHeraldWpg
Twitter: @HeraldWPG

adrian.alleyne@canstarnews.com