Brett Stewart builds guitars for charity and friends By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
B
rett Stewart has played guitar for 30 years. He hadn’t considered exploring the way they work until the pandemic hit and his events company was put on hold. The Anthem resident, who runs Adventure Fitness, has since built guitars for charities and celebrities. “I stumbled upon a guitar that was really, really cheap,” he says. “It needed a lot of work and I only had $50 invested in it, so why not rip it apart. I started cutting it up and replacing ‘this’ and swapping ‘that.’ The funny part was, I knew enough about guitars to make them look good, sound good and play good.” Recently, he created a Michigan-themed guitar for police officer Sean Reavie, who lives in 85085. “I try to give a little piece of that person and their background,” he says, “I put a lot of Michigan into it. Ironically, my first three guitars were all about Michigan.” Reavie’s guitar boasts a 1967 Michigan license plate, representing the year he was born. Stewart bought a seat from the now-partially demolished Pontiac Silverdome and used the No. 12 tab from it to celebrate the day Reavie was born. A Detroit Red Wings promotional puck is under the pickups and inserted in the body of the guitar. “When you flip the guitar over, you can see the bottom of it,” Reavie says. “It rests perfectly in the center of the Old English D, which is the most prominent
18
85085 | JULY 2020
part of the guitar. Then there’s a 50-year-old Detroit Pistons magnet. The personalization is one of a kind. There’s not a guitar like this anywhere in the world, and it’s mine.” Reavie calls Stewart a “master craftsman.” “He adapts and overcomes,” he adds. “We collaborate on my 5Ks. He’s the organizer. He created the mud runs. I’ve learned earlier this year that with COVID, he had to cancel everything. He does these races around the country and lost all of his events. “Being the forward-thinking, creative man he is, he started building guitars. He’s a true talent. I love his attention to detail.” The partnership between Reavie and Stewart is perfect. Reavie heads up Put on the Cape: A Foundation for Hope, which helps abused children. Every other week, Stewart creates a guitar to auction for charity, including Put on the Cape. He’s also worked with Don’t Be a Chump! Check for a Lump! and Boulder Creek High School. The school’s guitar raised $750 for its graduation/prom that was scheduled for June 27. “Every build that I’m doing is crazier than the one before it,” Stewart says with a laugh. “Right now, I’m chopping up Stratocasters in red, white and blue and putting them together. They start at $500.”
Fellow Michigander
Comedian John Heffron is a good
