Florida Man Turns Uncle’s Bones into Functional “Skelecaster” Guitar

We cover a lot of unusual and unconventional death-related topics here at Connecting Directors, but this is a new one. It seems a man from Tampa, Florida who goes by the name “Prince Midnight” and describes himself on Instagram as “Supreme ruler of the abyss. Mallet percussionist. Half daemon.” has transformed his deceased uncle into an electric guitar. 

Of course, we have questions. How did Prince Midnight end up with his uncle’s skeleton? What’s Prince Midnight’s real name? Should we share this craft on a “fun with skeletons” Pinterest board? And, the biggest question of all is just, why?? We might be able to answer a few of these questions with help from Prince Midnight’s Instagram account and other sources.

Repatriating Uncle Filip

According to Huffpost, Prince Midnight’s uncle Filip died in a motorcycle accident in Greece way back in 1996. Filip was only 28, but had already introduced his nephew to the world of rock music, forging a bond built on heavy metal.

Upon his death, the family donated Filip’s body to a local college, which used his skeleton for study for 20+ years. At that time, Filip’s family had to make a decision about what to do with the bones. In Greece, cremation is forbidden by the Orthodox church, which has led to a critical shortage of cemetery space. The scarce supply of plots and high demand resulted in cemeteries charging a premium for the privilege — up to $200,000 for a permanent plot or thousands for a three-year rental. Rather than pay these extravagant fees, Prince Midnight worked with a Greek funeral home to arrange the shipment of his uncle’s bones to America in January.

What to do, what to do?

So what does one do with a 24-year-old set of skeletal remains? If you’re Prince Midnight and said skeleton belonged to a metal head, you do what comes naturally: Turn the skeleton into a guitar using parts from an old Fender Telecaster.

He’s “too rickety”

Despite the college’s addition of a metal spine, Uncle Filip’s skeleton was just “too rickety” to “stay in tune,” so Prince Midnight welded the spine to a metal bar for stability.

Skeleton guitar accessories, Aisle 7

After a quick trip to the home improvement store for extra wires, Prince Midnight mounted the guitar’s output jack “on Filip’s iliac crest and lumbar vertebrae five.” Of course.

Ewww … that smell

Thanks to Prince Midnight, we learn that drilling through bones smells worse than soldering wires. Good to know, dude. We’ve always wondered about that.

Shredding in heaven … and on earth

And just like that, Uncle Filip’s skeleton is ready to shred (there’s even a YouTube video of the “skelecaster” in action). Prince Midnight told Huffpost that, unfortunately, Filip’s skull was too damaged to be added to the head of the guitar, but even so, he sounds and plays great! But the best last word goes to Instagrammer @erikveland who commented “I’d turn myself into a posthumous instrument, but I don’t have a musical bone in my body.” Well played, Erik. Well played.