Kickstarter Pick: Beringer Guitar Museum Aims To Share Five Decades Of Instrument Making

"I'm happy to tell anybody anything that I know," guitar maker Ted Beringer once said. "Most of what I know I got by experience...and a lot of mistakes. I'm willing to help. There should be more of that in this world. Then we wouldn't be in the shape we're in."

That's the kind of positive, collaborative spirit that we gets our motors runnin' at 3rd Ward, so naturally we love virtually everything about the Beringer Guitar Museum. Though Beringer passed away in 2006, his grandson James Bolenbaugh wants to continue sharing his legacy through an online interactive museum showcasing his instruments and the stories behind them. Bolenbaugh has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for hosting and maintaining the online museum for the next ten years, and in exchange for a pledge you can score everything from early beta testing access to the museum to a solid gold guitar pick with your name engraved on it.

Here's Bolenbaugh on what sparked his grandfather's five decades of instrument making:

My grandfather, Ted Beringer, got the idea to build his first guitar in 1950 at the Hilltop Night Club in Billings MT, where he saw a man playing a new design of guitar from Fender called the Stratocaster. He asked to see it, and upon inspection said, "I could build one of these." I imagine his interest was peaked because the instrument was an electric guitar, and his business was Ted's Electric, an electric motor and power tool repair shop.

Beringer went on to build many more guitars and other stringed instruments, never using the same design twice. A few of his creations are below. Check out more on Facebook and help make the Beringer Guitar Museum a reality.

Meanwhile, any 3rd Ward members who want their campaigns featured on our official Kickstarter page, shoot us an email at: partners[at]3rdward.com

-- John Ruscher