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Bon Iver’s Auctioned Guitar Will Smell Like Whiskey

Bon Iver Bushmills Whiskey Guitar Auction

He’s brought us tattoo contestsfitness seminars, and New Age dreams. Now Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon is sending a custom-made whiskey-barrel guitar to auction in order to raise money for an arts program in his hometown. Also hailing from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, is master luthier Gordy Bischoff, who can be seen working on “The 1608” in the video clip above.

The unusual axe’s name, naturally, comes from the year that Bushmills Irish Whiskey claims to have been founded, as Bon Iver is neck-deep in an extensive promotional campaign with the distillers. Bischoff made “The 1608” out of white oak, an atypical material, and had sweetened the guitar case’s built-in humidor with a bit of the booze for smell’s sake.

The eBay auction, began on Monday and will run through Friday, November 2. At press time, it’d reached $7,100 with a total of 24 bids. The money will ultimately benefit the Confluence Community Arts Center. As Vernon explains, “Far too many of us artists from Eau Claire have had to leave because what we want to do with our life just isn’t possible here.”

Sometimes the good fight is fought with bottles in back rooms.