Gallery: Canada''s National Guitar: the Voyageur

"The back and sides are made of spalted oak from the St. Boniface Museum in Winnipeg. The museum is Winnipeg's oldest building and has served as a convent, orphanage, hospital, school and senior's home."

"One of the primary considerations for the instrument was playability. Taylor and Riszanyi both wanted Voyageur to be playable by anyone, from well-calloused veterans to soft-fingered beginners. It sports many features common to high-end boutique guitars, such as a seven-piece neck, hand-scalloped bracing, wood bindings, and spectacular custom inlays."

"You can find photos of every piece of the guitar, and the people involved, plus the full story in the book Six String Nation. To purchase the book or get more information about Voyageur, visit sixstringnation.com. "

"Some remarkable music has been played on it by some of Canadaуs premier artists, including Stephen Fearing, Leslie Feist, Don Ross, Colin Linden, Kevin Breit, and Doug Cox, many of whom have performed concerts, festivals, radio broadcasts and fundraisers with Voyageur."

Stephen Fearing Performing at Canada Day 2006

"It took ten years to plan and gather materials, but once the actual construction process began, the guitar was completed in about six weeks, just in time for the opening ceremony of Canada Day 2006. Guitarist and songwriter Stephen Fearing did the musical honors, playing an unforgettable version of his song рThe Longest Road,с which Taylor had wished to be the first piece performed on the guitar back when the process was barely begun."

"In this unprecedented guitar you will find, among other things, pieces of one of Pierre Trudeauуs canoe paddles, a 3.96-billion-year-old piece of stone (Acasta gneiss), a piece of Wayne Gretzkyуs hockey stick, part of the handle of Joe Labobeуs championship oyster-shucking knife, a piece of gold from Rocket Richardуs Stanley Cup Ring 1955п56, a section of the bar from the restaurant on Prince Edward Island where the song рSnowbirdс was first performed by songwriter Gene Maclellan, and a piece of First Nation pipe stone."

"The Golden Spruce was at the heart of a conflict between native land rights and the interests of industry and government. One night in January of 1997, a logging scout named Grant Hadwin decided to end the dispute by cutting the tree down. The Haida called it their version of a drive-by shooting, and swore to let the tree return to nature. However, when they heard about Taylorуs project, they felt that putting a piece of the Golden Spruce into this instrument would ease their sorrow over the loss."

"рOne of my favorite moments ever with this guitar,с says Taylor, рwas at a little pizza restaurant in Guelph [Ontario] called Manhattanуs. University of Guelph professor and guitar enthusiast Doug Larson pulled together a fundraiser for the project and invited twenty-five musicians each to do a song on the guitar. The last player on the bill was Kevin Breit. He played this piece and thereуs one note he puts in, one note, and the entire room goes, тAhhh!у It was pure musicality, and to me that was...с"

"The top was cut from a 300-year-old tree known as the Golden Spruce that was sacred to the Haida, the First Nations community of the Queen Charlotte Islands, off the west coast of British Columbia."

"George Rizsanyi is a proponent of building guitars from local materials instead of importing woods from half a planet away. He had, in fact, built instruments incorporating woods from his own Ontario property. Taylor asked Rizsanyi if he thought he could build a guitar using pieces of wood from every province in Canada, and Rizsanyi replied, рIуd love to try.с"

"Jowi Taylor, the man behind the Voyageur, began with the idea of discovering or creating an object that would speak for all Canadians, for the First Nations, the French, the English and the immigrants; something democratic that every single person could embrace as their own."