These musical instruments are made of trash
A Brooklyn artist creates instruments out of old shovels, whiskey bottles, and other forgotten curiosities

I am always looking for stories beyond the guitar for my storytelling site, Guitarkadia. When I discovered Ken Butler and his work, I knew I found a gem. His Brooklyn studio is filled with hundreds of his "hybrid instruments" created from discarded objects. Butler's philosophy of function versus non-function moves beyond the conceits of art and music — proof that one man's trash is another man's treasure. "No Strings Attached" draws upon material from the documentary on Butler that I'm producing for Guitarkadia. Watch it above.
Narratively is an online magazine devoted to original, in-depth and untold stories. Each week, Narratively explores a different theme and publishes just one story a day. It was one of TIME's 50 Best Websites of 2013.
More from Narratively...
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Tuberculosis is seeing a resurgence, and it's only going to get worse
Under the radar The spread of the deadly infection is buoyed by global unrest
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Sudoku hard: April 03, 2025
The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
Codeword: April 3, 2025
The Week's daily codeword puzzle
By The Week Staff Published