In 2002, after Brookes's beloved guitar was smashed by baggage handlers, the NPR commentator and musician set out to have a new one built. He also began to piece together this historical ode to the guitar. Writing about each painstaking step in the creation of his $3,000 instrument by a skilled luthier, he punctuates the narrative with great moments: The first acknowledged steel guitar player, for example, was Hawaiian Joseph Kekuku, an 11-year-old who, in 1885, picked up a steel bolt from a railroad track and slid it across his strings. "Part history, part love song," in Brookes's words, Guitar strikes just the right chords.
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