The Story of the Fordite Guitar- an instrument made out of car paint

07 Jun 2021 by Jef | 5,0 / 5,0 | Approximate reading time: 2 Minutes

Songbirds Foundation and Warrior Guitars MotorCity Fordite Guitars  ·  Source: YouTube/Songbirds Foundation

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Made from a byproduct of the motor industry, these Fordite Guitars are a collaboration between Songbirds Foundation and Warrior Guitars. Each guitar has a one-of-a-kind finish. And this new mini-documentary explains how these unique instruments came about.

Fordite Guitars

Warrior Guitars, a family run business based in Rossville, GA, have teamed up with Songbirds Foundation to create this seriously impressive looking Fordite or Motor City Agate T-Style guitar. Fordite is basically hundreds of layers of automotive paint that is left over from spraying cars on a production line. This is where the name Fordite, as in Ford cars, comes from. Although I quite like the Motor City Agate phrase as well. In the past, the material has been used to make jewellery. But now Warrior Guitars have worked out a way to use it in guitar construction.

Songbirds Foundation MotorCity Fordite Guitar

Motor City Agate 

From the outside layer, this Motor City Agate looks a little dull. But work through that top layer and it reveals a myriad of colours, all in unique patterns. These are formed by the hundreds of layers of paint, which have baked into place over time on the tracks that the cars in the factory move around on. Warrior Guitars then slice this Fordite up carefully. They even book-match pieces, just like with flamed maple. And after polishing it up, it reveals these insanely complex patterns.

Motor City Agate being book-matched

Songbirds Foundation Mini-Documentary

Songbirds Foundation has produced a mini-documentary that shows the whole process and describes how the Fordite became a useable substance for making guitars. It’s both fascinating and super odd, all at the same time. The Songbirds Foundation itself delivers educational programming, helps preserve music history, hosts enriching events, and provides resources to emerging artists. I’ve put their site links below, so make sure you check them out, as they are doing a lot of positive things for musicians in eastern Tennessee.

Andy Wood taking this Motor City Agate guitar through its paces

Motor City Collection

You can see this Motor City Collection of Fordite guitars in the mini-documentary. You also get to hear Andy Wood take them through their paces, which in itself is a great watch, as he is a killer player with a great tone and sweet phrasing.

Some guitars have whole tops made of Fordite, while others with pickguards and headstocks using the material. All the instruments are made at Warrior Guitars. They also make some other very tasty guitars, so be sure to check out their site.

More Information

• Songbirds Foundation
• Warrior Guitars
• Songbirds Foundation Instagram
• Warrior Guitars Instagram
• Andy Woods Instagram

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