Nicolas Delisle

In recent years, Nicolas Delisle has made new guitars from old barns, logs pulled from river bottoms and even window frames from his 1930s-era Montreal apartment. The craftsman specializes in turning reclaimed and salvaged wood into one-of-a-kind guitars he hand makes in the city’s Mile End neighbourhood. Using recycled materials is “part of the story of the instrument,” he said in a phone interview. “It’s just a richer history.” Delisle said hundred-year-old wood is often better quality than that used in modern construction, and it helps give each instrument a unique look and sound. …Delisle said while guitars are instruments, they’re also works of art in their own right, and he likens buying a guitar to buying a painting from one’s favourite artist.