Strings Attached

Brett Stewart builds guitars for charity and friends By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

Brett Stewart has played guitar for 30 years. He part of the guitar. Then there’s a 50-year-old Detroit hadn’t considered exploring the way they work Pistons magnet. The personalization is one of a kind. until the pandemic hit and his events company There’s not a guitar like this anywhere in the world, was put on hold. and it’s mine.”

The Anthem resident, who runs Adventure Fitness, Reavie calls Stewart a “master craftsman.” has since built guitars for charities and celebrities. “He adapts and overcomes,” he adds. “We collabo

“I stumbled upon a guitar that was really, really rate on my 5Ks. He’s the organizer. He created the mud cheap,” he says. “It needed a lot of work and I only runs. I’ve learned earlier this year that with COVID, he had $50 invested in it, so why not rip it apart. I starthad to cancel everything. He does these races around ed cutting it up and replacing ‘this’ and swapping the country and lost all of his events. ‘that.’ The funny part was, I knew enough about “Being the forward-thinking, creative man he is, he guitars to make them look good, sound good and started building guitars. He’s a true talent. I love his play good.” attention to detail.”

Recently, he created a Michigan-themed guitar for The partnership between Reavie and Stewart is perpolice officer Sean Reavie, who lives in 85085. fect. Reavie heads up Put on the Cape: A Foundation

“I try to give a little piece of that person and their for Hope, which helps abused children. background,” he says, “I put a lot of Michigan into it. Every other week, Stewart creates a guitar to aucIronically, my first three guitars were all about Michition for charity, including Put on the Cape. He’s also gan.” worked with Don’t Be a Chump! Check for a Lump!

Reavie’s guitar boasts a 1967 Michigan license plate, and Boulder Creek High School. The school’s guitar representing the year he was born. Stewart bought a raised $750 for its graduation/prom that was scheduled seat from the now-partially demolished Pontiac Silfor June 27. verdome and used the No. 12 tab from it to celebrate “Every build that I’m doing is crazier than the one the day Reavie was born. before it,” Stewart says with a laugh. “Right now, I’m

A Detroit Red Wings promotional puck is under the chopping up Stratocasters in red, white and blue and pickups and inserted in the body of the guitar. putting them together. They start at $500.” “When you flip the guitar over, you can see the bottom of it,” Reavie says. “It rests perfectly in the center Fellow Michigander of the Old English D, which is the most prominent Comedian John Heffron is a good

friend of Stewart. The one-time radio host doesn’t play guitar but was impressed by his friend’s handiwork.

“I have a 1970 motorcycle license plate on it for the year he was born,” Stewart says. “I did some other interesting things. He went to Eastern Michigan University, and I sprayed a really subtle logo on to it that says ‘E93,’ the year he graduated from EMU.

“I try to throw in little pieces of the person we’re building it for. Sean saw what I did with it and really wanted the Pure Michigan guitar. It’s all Detroit all the time.”

Unlike Heffron, Reavie plays the guitar, specifically in the blues genre. In the 1970s, his mom brought home an album that fea- tured this “insane, layered sound with boom- ing guitars.”

“It lifted me out of my seat,” he says. “It was ‘Born to Run’ (by Bruce Springsteen). We were used to disco, ABBA and the Carpenters. Then you hear ‘Born to Run.’

“My neighbor played guitar, and I wanted to learn how to play guitar and the three basic chords. Then the first undeniable truth about music hit me—this is really hard. I tossed the guitar in my closet until the ’80s came and I heard ‘Back in Black’ by AC/DC. Angus Young had that sinister, snarling guitar.”

His father insisted Reavie turn off AC/DC. The youngster’s response?

“I imagine grandpa said to turn off Elvis,” he recalls. “My dad said, ‘You just validated you’re my kid,’ and turned it back on. He’s my role model and hero. He couldn’t argue with that.”

In college, he learned he couldn’t read mu- sic and couldn’t concentrate. In 2006, his life changed dramatically. The bottom fell out of the Michigan economy. Reavie lost his busi- ness, he moved back in with his parents and decided to later move to Phoenix.

“Thirteen years later, I still have that Les Paul,” he says. “This year, I was seriously in- jured in the line of duty. I was off work for three months. I took lessons from a YouTube instructor. It’s so nice to play, especially now with COVID and everything that’s happen- ing. With my profession, there’s a lot of angst and stress. That goes away with the guitar when I plug it in.”

Brett Stewart, in black, of Anthem and Sean Reavie, in blue, of North Phoenix collaborated on a Pure Michigan guitar to celebrate Reavie’s birthplace. The Pure Michigan guitar features a Detroit Pistons magnet, a Michigan license plate, a Detroit Red Wings promotional puck and a seat plate from the Pontiac Silverdome. Stewart took up guitar building during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fireside’s Reavie plays guitar to relieve the stress of his job as a police officer. (Photos by Pablo Robles)