Guitar maker to visit museum

If you hold a guitar up to your ear, can you hear the ocean? Well, you might if it’s a Vance Peters guitar, handcrafted from rare blond curly koa wood native to Hawaii. You will have the opportunity to meet the Hampden-raised Peters at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 12, at the Maine Discovery Museum.

It’s a remarkable story that begins with a Bucksport pet shop boy who dared to dream. Up until Bangor’s American Folk Festival last summer, Vance Peters operated his Bucksport business, Vance’s Tropical Fish and Exotic Pets. The established business open for 30 years is now his woodshop, where he makes slack-key guitars.

Hawaiian slack-key guitars – ki ho’alu – are an acoustic guitar tradition. The term literally means “loosen the key,” referring to a solo-fingerpicked style unique to Hawaii.

Though Peters refers to it as “just a regular guitar,” the sound it produces is sought after by Hawaiian musicians such as Patrick Landeza and Grammy-nominated guitarist Cyril Pahinui.

All good things come to those who wait – this can suit the dual purpose of describing Vance Peters’ guitars and his life. In a day and age when products are mass-produced and mass-distributed, Vance Peters is taking his time crafting each one his guitars over about three months.

It’s a lesson that we appreciate, and Peters will demonstrate to our young audience that it’s not always about how fast things can get done. The process and the care that goes into a project can be even more important.

If you’ve ever had an impossible dream, meet Vance Peters and see for yourself that impossible dreams can definitely come true.

The program is free with the price of admission. For information, visit mainediscoverymuseum.org.