Six Strings, One Nation

Here's a guitar that symbolizes a whole nation.

At the behest of Canadian radio host Jowi Taylor, luthier George Rizsanyi built it from 63 pieces of wood, metal, bone and stone -- all artifacts that represent a great deal of Canada's history. It's called the Six-String Nation (double-click the pic for a better look at the detail) and Taylor has been trotting it around the country since it was finished in 2006, getting noted Canadians, like Gordon Lightfoot, as well as ordinary ones, to play it.

In a vast and diverse country sometimes polarized by its French and British ancestry, this guitar ties everything together. Incorporated into into it are items like wood from Jack London's cabin, ivory from a mastadon, a piece of Pierre Trudeau's canoe paddle, a slice from the door of a bush pilot's plane. There also are bits from a walarus tusk, a dance hall floor in Alberta, a moose shin, a ski used by an Olympic champion and a piece of a French frigate scuttled in 1760.

One of the pieces that generates the most interest is the bit of gold taken from the championship ring of hockey icon Maurice "Rocket" Richard. It's used on the marker for fret No. 9, which was Richard's jersey number. There's more hockey history incorporated -- a part of a Wayne Gretzky stick.

The top piece probably has the most emotional draw. It's from a 300-year-old rare albino sitka spruce in British Columbia that was considered sacred to the Indians. In 1997 the tree was cut down by a misguided anti-logging protester and laid untouched until the Haida Indians donated a piece for the guitar.