Cory Farley Custom Playable Guitar

Built to Be Heard

The Cory Farley Guitar began with a simple commission and complete creative freedom.

Niko’s Red Mill Tavern in Woodstock, Illinois commissioned Dana to create a custom guitar specifically for musician Cory Farley. There was no rigid design brief or list of required features. Dana was simply asked to make Cory a badass custom guitar.

That freedom opened the door for a piece that could fully embody the spirit of MetalWood Garage.

At the center of the guitar is a piece of wood that had been sitting in the shop of professional luthier Dan Bowman for more than 20 years. Lodged inside the wood was a bullet. Rather than seeing it as a flaw, Dana and Dan recognized it as part of the material’s history. It was unusual, imperfect, and already carried a story of its own. It belonged in this guitar.

The bullet remains visible within the finished instrument, preserving a detail that could never be recreated or planned.

Around that wooden core, Dana built an industrial body from chain, gears, springs, bearings, spark plugs, steel, and salvaged mechanical hardware. The motorcycle chain traces the guitar’s silhouette while sprockets, fasteners, and other working parts fill the body with movement and texture. A circular saw blade forms one of its boldest visual elements, and Cory Farley’s name is fabricated directly into the artwork.

Nothing about the guitar was designed to look polished or conventional. Every scratch, weld, mechanical component, and unexpected detail contributes to its identity.

But this was never intended to be only a guitar-shaped sculpture.

It had to be a real instrument.

The finished piece needed to feel right in Cory’s hands, remain properly balanced, and perform onstage while carrying the unmistakable character of a MetalWood Garage creation. That required two very different forms of craftsmanship to work together: Dana’s instinct for sculpture and transformation, and Dan’s knowledge of how a guitar must be built to play.

The result is a one-of-a-kind instrument shaped by creative freedom, collaboration, and materials that already had lives before they reached the workbench.

Part sculpture. Part machine. Part musical instrument.

The Cory Farley Guitar was not simply made to be displayed. It was built to be heard.

Bringing the Vision to Life

MetalWood Garage’s playable guitars would not be possible without the help of Dan Bowman of Bowman Guitars.

A professional luthier with more than 30 years of experience, Dan’s craftsmanship, knowledge, and willingness to explore Dana’s unconventional ideas have been invaluable. His experience allows Dana to push beyond what a guitar is expected to look like without losing what it must be able to do.

For the Cory Farley Guitar, Dan contributed more than technical expertise. He brought forward the remarkable piece of wood he had kept in his shop for over two decades, complete with the bullet still lodged inside it. Recognizing that its history fit the personality of the project, Dana and Dan made that imperfection part of the finished story.

Dana brings the salvaged materials, metal fabrication, mechanical character, and artistic vision. Dan brings the precision required to transform that vision into a functional musical instrument.

Together, they bridge the distance between the welding table and the stage.