Eighty-eight-year-old Lorne Collie has been making musical instruments for more than three decades, creations that dazzle for their unique materials as much as their sound.

There91裸聊视频檚 a hefty bass guitar and a cello made of moose antlers, a baseball bat violin, ukuleles made of cookie tins, and guitars fashioned from pitch forks, a shovel, and a rake.

His personal favourites? A frying pan mandolin and a banjo made of a motorcycle tire rim, covered by stretched deerskin painted by his late wife.

91裸聊视频淲hen people wanted to buy them, I always said No,91裸聊视频� Collie said from his home outside the tiny and remote Manitoba community of Hilbre, about 230 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.

91裸聊视频淚 wasn91裸聊视频檛 hurting for money, but what I was afraid of is that if I started selling them, I would be working myself to death to try to keep up to the orders.91裸聊视频�

Collie said he once turned down an offer of $35,000 for a moose antler electric guitar.

Now things have changed.

91裸聊视频淭hat was the policy back then,91裸聊视频� he said. 91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檓 88 now and not as spry and lively as I used to be.91裸聊视频�

With the help of his son James who lives in Hope, B.C., Collie is hoping to sell some of his collection. The electric bass guitar is on sale for $8,000, and the cello for $6,500.

Collie said he needs the funds to upgrade his older model electric car to one with better range and speed, so he can see his large family.

91裸聊视频淚 would like to and I do quite a bit of travelling. My wife has passed on and I91裸聊视频檓 alone. I91裸聊视频檝e got 25 great grandchildren and they91裸聊视频檙e all in Alberta and B.C.,91裸聊视频� Collie said. 91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檝e got lots of reasons to drive.91裸聊视频�

Collie said he first put the antler instruments up for sale this summer, but while there were a few inquiries from Vancouver 91裸聊视频渘obody came out to see them.91裸聊视频�

91裸聊视频淵ou really have to see them to appreciate them,91裸聊视频� he said.

Collie91裸聊视频檚 instrument building began with a near-death experience that forced him to retire from his trade as a machinist.

He said he was 91裸聊视频渨orking tremendous, long hours at a high stress91裸聊视频� job in the late 1980s, when he collapsed with a brain aneurysm that put him in a coma for more than a week.

91裸聊视频淭hat was supposed to have killed me,91裸聊视频� he said. 91裸聊视频淭hey wrote me off as dead.91裸聊视频�

Collie said he woke up with a clear head, and after a friend challenged him to 91裸聊视频減ut strings on a shovel,91裸聊视频� he began making instruments from other odd, kitschy implements.

He said he walked into his workshop one day, saw a broken guitar on a workbench and a moose antler on another and 91裸聊视频済ot the idea of putting them together.91裸聊视频�

Friends on a nearby First Nations reserve and a brother-in-law who maintains a trapline found the antlers and gave them to him.

The first antler instrument, a guitar, 91裸聊视频渢urned out very, very good.91裸聊视频�

The antler doesn91裸聊视频檛 warp and it91裸聊视频檚 very strong, Collie said, adding that he91裸聊视频檚 had success with most materials, other than an ill-fated attempt at making a lap steel guitar from a snowshoe.

The moose antler bass guitar weighs nearly eight kilograms, he said, but it91裸聊视频檚 91裸聊视频渙ne of the most comfortable91裸聊视频� instruments he91裸聊视频檚 made.

91裸聊视频淎nd it sounds good, just like a good solid-body electric guitar,91裸聊视频� Collie said.

Collie isn91裸聊视频檛 done yet with his unique instruments. He said he also wants to make a Celtic harp, but he needs 91裸聊视频渇airly large antler with quite a deep curve in it.91裸聊视频�

91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檓 not much of a musician,91裸聊视频� he said. 91裸聊视频淚 can play any of them good enough to know if they91裸聊视频檙e working, but I91裸聊视频檓 not a performer.91裸聊视频�

He likes the idea of a group of musicians getting together to do a 91裸聊视频渢alent show91裸聊视频� with his creations, but if he can sell the antler bass and cello, he91裸聊视频檇 be happy 91裸聊视频渏ust to know they91裸聊视频檙e being enjoyed.91裸聊视频�

91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檝e been making stuff my entire life,91裸聊视频� he said. 91裸聊视频淚 was born for making things, that91裸聊视频檚 for sure.91裸聊视频�