What is the story of the guitar played by Captain Teague (AKA Keiff) in in PotC At World’s End?
I’m talking about the actual guitar used in the movie, not the story of the guitar owned by Captain Teague in the books. It looks to have 10 peg holes, but only 6 pegs, and a 6-string nut so that once strung it would be played as a normal 6-string.
I find the whole thing amusing not only for the Depp/Richards connection, but because Richards often plays a 6-string with the low E missing.
I suspect that the guitar was specifically made for the movie. Does anyone know?
P.S. A school chum of mine is the one who wrote the book of the Pirate Code (Pirata Codex). His claim to fame is that Johnny Depp’s finger slides across his calligraphy for about 2 seconds of the movie.
According to Mark, my friend, the book was so heavy that they had trouble carrying it, so they used a chain saw to cut out most of the pages (i.e. his hard, but well paid, work) to make it easier to handle. Notice that when Teague opens it, most of the pages move as a solid block rather than sliding against each other as one would expect.
It looks to me like it’s supposed to be a Stradivarius guitar: The Hill and Rawlins are the only two surviving all these years intact. Note the lighter shade of wood on the three frets of the neck closest to the body of the guitar.
I checked the credits on IMDB and didn’t see a luthier listed.
Yes, those are 5-string (doubled) and the sound hole is very similar. Somebody put some serious time into making that–it’s too bad there isn’t any info about it. At least none that I can find.
“…no one knows exactly how many guitars Stradivari made during his lifetime, we do know that there are only five left in the world and only one is playable. In particular, the Sabionari Stradivarius Guitar is the only known guitar that is still being used by world-renowned classical musicians…”
I’ll take the Stradivarius’ website at their word about there being 5 left and one playable. My sources said two intact and 1 non-intact. [shrug] Sorry for the error.
No worries, mate. You put me on the trail and I’ve been digging all I can. I have asked Disney who built it and where it went–if they reply I’ll update.
