Today we’d like to introduce you to Ken Pfalzgraf.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
i am Ken. I am a father and family man, public servant, elected official and hobbyist guitar builder. I am an arborist by trade, with a specialty in palm trees. My youngest child, Tami, was named Tamara, which is Hebrew word for Date Palm.
Tami was born with a rare genetic disorder, Cornelia de Lange Syndrome (CdLS). In addition to facing life long physical and cognitive challenges, Tami was non-verbal. When she was five years old, I was told that Tami would have the cognitive capacity of an eight-month old infant at adulthood, based on the standardized testing methodology used in public school systems. Knowing that she was non-verbal, had fine motor skill problems and used approximated sign language, I just knew that Tami’s ability to express her true potential had not been tapped. When I inquired as to what the opinion was based on, I was told “a lack of emerging math skills”. I knew that Tami responded to the beat of music and I reasoned that the notes and timing that make up music were the underpinnings of rhythm and that Tami responded to rhythm, I went about building a makeshift guitar out of a cigar box and a simple drum out of some wood and a license plate.
I set Tami in a chair, with the kick drum at her feet, turned on the camera and handed her the guitar. She immediately strummed the guitar and stomped her foot on the box simultaneously and with undeniable rhythm.
The movie was used in Tami’s educational setting to help others see the potential she held that could not be seen, especially if it was not being looked for.
The story spread and Tami’s love of listening to music on her device led to the discovery of blues artists who would play roots type instruments. One guitar after another came out of the shed- some made of coffee cans, others out of license plates and some out of discarded archtop catalog guitars from the 1930s and 1940s. We would find artists through the suggestions that came up on the computer, learn details about them, build highly personalized instruments and ship them to the unknowing artists with the hope that they would tell Tami’s story as they travelled show to show, town to town.
It was never thought that Tami would ever read or write. In addition to signing each guitar that went out, Tami would help in the construction of the guitars, sanding, painting and giving each instrument its first sound-check.
The story spread and now there are 30 of our guitars out there in the world, with the artists that play them telling the story of Tami, the non-verbal child.
Paul Mero Junkpile Guitars was born out of advocacy for a non-verbal child.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I do not play a guitar or read music, so the idea that I could build a guitar that would be useful to a musician, especially a touring musician, is a far-fetch. My guitars were always cool looking and, being highly personalized to a particular artist, were always popular from the perspective of being avant-garde wall hangings. The reality is that looking cool does not make for a guitar that someone will play, much less pay money for.
The world of guitar building is highly competitive. The garage builder, competes with specialty builders, big brand stores and even direct on-line sellers. $500 buys a lot of guitar these days.
Aside from looking cool, the guitar has to be durable, technically functional and competitively priced. I needed help in the technical aspects that make a guitar useful to a professional musician. Fortunately, I found a luthier with decades of experience. That was the biggest factor in my guitars getting better over time.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
There is a deeply meaningful purpose behind the work that goes into the guitars that come out of the shed. In a world where better is the enemy of good, we take pride in breathing new life into discounted and discarded objects.
The work begins with a focus on durability and longevity. Often, the process starts with a broken guitar that may be in parts. The structure of the guitar is restored and improved so that its basic playability is enhanced. Once that is done, the guitar is themed to the times when someone who could not afford a new instrument found one in the trash, was provided with a hand-me-down, or made one with whatever they had.
The guitars are full of mojo. Some guitars are stained with mud or tree sap and are often embellished with relics from places where the old blues players lived, worked or recorded. Finally, a combination of pieces, parts and scraps come together to give the guitar its unique identity.
There is always a wonderment about someone seeing one of the guitars for the first time. I see this combination of “I have never seen something like this” and “will this thing actually play?” Since I don’t play guitars myself, the answer to that question lies in the talents of the person who gets the guitar. Add on, that because the guitars are historically themed and typically highly personalized to the player, there is an automatic bond between the guitar and its player and the resulting music is often very unique. And uniqueness of purpose is why we are all here on this earth, right?
What matters most to you? Why?
Above all, it is important to me that the guitars I build are dependable and durable. The right guitar, in the right hands, can provide a unique bond between the player and their audience. When the guitar looks like something that was thrown away or never meant to be used to make music, the true talent of the artist is what remains. The dependability of the instrument is paramount to the trust and comfort an artist has in sharing their most unique self. If the instrument is there and ready, every time, Tami’s message continues to spread throughout the world.
Pricing:
- Upon request
Contact Info:
- Website: https://junkpileguitars.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paulmerojunkpileguitars/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kpcigarboxguitars
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@paulmerojunkpileguitars
- Other: The Story Behind Paul Mero Junkpile Guitars:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVeJyalAo2o&t=18s
Image Credits
All photos courtesy of Ken Pfalzgraf/Paul Mero Junkpile Guitars
