Blackjack Tenor Guitar
Salvaged ship materials / 2023 32" × 14" × 5"The back, sides, and neck of this tenor guitar are made from the keel of the 1910 Friendship sloop BLACKJACK, and the top is Sitka spruce from the mast of 1920 sailing yacht ADVENTURESS. Painting and gold leafing by Peacock Studios, Camden, ME.
Learn more about Zeke
- About
Zeke Leonard is an associate professor in the Syracuse University School of Design, member of the Environmental and Interior Design faculty, and Coordinator of the School of Design’s First Year Experience. His research involves the role social responsibility and environmental stewardship can play in contextually-relevant design and fabrication practices. Zeke regularly partners with community groups and organizations to find ways to put local resources to better use. He previously taught at RISD and NYU, and is a regular visiting instructor at institutions including the Haystack Mountain School of Craft and the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Zeke holds an MFA in Furniture Design from the Rhode Island School of Design and a BFA in Set Design from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
- Region
- Syracuse, NY
- Website
- www.zekeleonard.com
- Media
- Wood, steel
- Professional Status
- Assistant professor
Portfolio
Wrest-Plank Octavo Mandolin
2018 32" × 14" × 5"Made from the wrest-plank, or pin block, of a 1914 piano, the sound holes on this octavo mandolin are the holes that held the tuning pins in tension for 104 years
Fretless Tenor
Salvaged chestnut, spruce, and ivory / 2021 32" × 14" × 5"The back and sides of this fretless tenor guitar are old-growth chestnut salvaged from an early 20th c piano. The fingerboard is veneered with ivory from the keys of that piano.
Intonarumori
2013These Futurist “Noise Instruments” were invented by Luigi Russolo in 1913. I was commissioned to make them from the original Italian patent drawings.
Blackjack Tenor Guitar
Salvaged ship materials / 2023 32" × 14" × 5"The back, sides, and neck of this tenor guitar are made from the keel of the 1910 Friendship sloop BLACKJACK, and the top is Sitka spruce from the mast of 1920 sailing yacht ADVENTURESS. Painting and gold leafing by Peacock Studios, Camden, ME.
Scrap Pile Ukuleles
2019These were all built out of my scrap bins, and are all made from woods as varied as chectsnut taht has been recliamed from old pianos, to walnut, to poplar.
Bell-Shaped Tenor Guitar
Salvaged Spanish Walnut, Salvaged piano ivory and ebony / 2022 32" × 14" × 5"Based on a body shape that was sold by the Washburn Guitar Company in the 1930’s, the material for this guitar came from a derelict chest that was made in Spain in the 19th c. The inlay and fingerboard are ivory and ebony salvaged from pianos.