Rural Missouri - July 2022 - 25

He moved back to his hometown of Maysville and when
his son was in high school jazz band playing electric
bass guitar, he was intrigued.
" I figured if I built that banjo I could build a bass, "
he says. " Time went on and I built a few for friends
and acquaintances. Then when my oldest grandson
was turning 13 years old, he was interested in learning
to play. So I built him an electric guitar. I've got
five grandkids and they all got instruments for their
13th birthday. "
More than a decade ago he discovered cigar
box guitars and thought the unconventional 3- and
4-string guitars would be fun to build. They were popular
and a good seller at the time, so he gave it a try.
" For me it's just a hobby, so it's not like I got rich
doing it, " he says. " I enjoy myself and it pays for itself. "
Kelly builds his guitars in his basement shop,
which is chock-full of all the tools - purchased and
handmade by Kelly - to do the job. He says he spends
about two hours per day working in the shop. At that
rate, they take about eight weeks to finish. Kelly works
on one instrument at a time, until it comes time to
finish the instrument and it needs time to sit.
He's made more than 160 cigar box guitars
and ukuleles.
Kelly mostly uses walnut for the sides of
the instruments, as he can get it locally at
Miller's Rustic Sawmill in King City. All the
knowledge he's needed for the projects has
come from his experience and YouTube. He
posts pictures of his works in progress on
social media, specifically his Instagram page.
" That's so people know how complex this
process is. It's not like you just go in the
basement and wham, bam there it is. It's
a lot of different disciplines. There's basic
woodworking, finishing and bending
the wood on the heat, which explains the
burns on my arms, " he says with a laugh.
" If any of them are electric, then you've got
Left: Kelly Stillfield has built cigar box guitars and ukuleles for more
than a decade. Below: Kelly pushes a future ukulele side through a
sander. Right: The artist spends about two hours per day in his shop.
Above: Kelly created the custom-made, tiki-themed electric ukulele
for a customer to display on their boat.
the electrical end to it too. "
He has since switched his focus to making ukuleles
and has made more than two dozen of them, including
a few very unique pieces. Other than the Prince ukulele,
he's built a tiki-themed ukulele for a customer who
lives on a houseboat. The client wanted a design wood
burned into the instrument, so Kelly found someone
in Cameron to do that. It included surfboard-shaped
bases for the pickup covers with a Caribbean drink
rhyme inscribed: " One of sour, two of sweet, three of
strong, four of weak. "
Kelly's passion for building might be most evident in
the one big difference between him and his customers.
Kelly can strum his guitars and ukes, but hasn't mastered
playing them. That first banjo might still be with
him because of nostalgia or a lack of buyers. " I'm lefthanded
so I built it to be played by someone who's lefthanded, "
he says. " I never learned to play. So that was a
big mistake because almost nobody can play it now. "
He's perfectly content with his artistic passion being
the musical vessel. " Building and playing are both
challenging, but they are completely different, " he
says. " When I started I thought, 'well it's only got three
strings. It's easy.' And it is easy for somebody that's got
the aptitude for it. But, I've just got more aptitude for
building them than playing. And I enjoy it. "
Kelly's obvious passion for his one-of-a-kind
creations manifests itself whenever he doesn't
get his few hours per day in the basement.
" If for one reason or another I don't get
my shop time, I get antsy, " he says. " It's like
therapy for me. I get
weird. It's like I need
to be down there. I'm
happy making them. "
Maysville
For more information
on Kelly and his instruments,
follow him on
Facebook or Instagram.
JULY 2022 | RURALMISSOURI.COOP 25
http://www.RURALMISSOURI.COOP
Rural Missouri - July 2022

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