So, ya wanna be the life of the party? Well, walk in, sit down, plug in the amp and start strumming on your very own electric shovel guitar! Everyone will be sitting around you singing in no time. I saw this guy on YouTube playing one and I thought f'er sure this was bull. Well, I eat crow today. Took me a couple days to gather everything and an evening to build. And it sounds pretty cool to boot! Hope you find time to build one.

Step 1: Parts Collecting

Well, you're gonna need some usual guitar parts.

Pickup jack
Tuning keys
Amp jack
String guide
Bridge
Strings
Strap
Misc knick knacks

And of course, a shovel!

Step 2: Build

From here, everyone is different. I work in a garage, so I used some misc clamps, a hinge and even my old lunch spoon! You can use whatever you wish.

Starting at the business end, cut end of spoon off and drill 1/8" hole. In blade of spoon, drill three small holes. Then in tip of shovel, drill another and bolt spoon on blade of shovel.

Drill 1/4" hole in corner of blade for audio jack.

Drill two more holes further up blade and bolt on old cupboard hinge. Cut grooves in hinge to hold strings straight.

Use gear clamp and small plate to hold pickup at neck. It has to be within 1/2" of strings to pick up vibrations.

At other end of handle, install a second gear clamp and cut three more grooves.

In handle sides, drill 3/8" holes to be able to install tuning keys. I chose to use three but I've seen 4 also.

Lace strings through spoon and up to keys.

Flip her all over and wire pickup to audio jack and fasten to shovel.

Finally, grab an old seatbelt and bolt on to use as strap and you got your very own shovel guitar!