Video: “GATTAR” AK-47 Guitar Custom-Built While you Watch

Although this video isn’t new, it’s new to me. A friend tagged me on Facebook with the words, “This has both of your passions.” How right he was! I love me some guns and guitars.

Watch as inventive craftsman Jimmy DiResta transforms an electric guitar into a work of gun-lovers’ art. The process is shown from start to finish, sometimes in very high speed, which makes the band-saw work look even more impressive.

I thought I recognized DiResta when I saw him, so I went digging around. Sure enough, I discovered that he was one of the brothers featured on the short-lived TV series Dirty Money, in which the family’s livelihood depended on finding and procuring junk, which Jimmy then creatively transformed into cool stuff for resale at a flea market.

The key word here is “creative.” Highlights I recall are when he made the body of a standard Fender bass guitar into a big buzz saw blade and, of more interest to AllOutdoor readers, a trench-art-esque lamp made using an WWII artillery shell.

Back to the subject at hand: An uber-cool AK rifle guitar. This one has details that really set it apart, including a hand guard, tone and volume knobs on the butt stock, a front sight on the headstock, six more tunable strings with a separate pickup on the magazine, and a tremolo trigger. (For non-guitar-people, that means pulling the trigger has the same effect as a whammy bar.)

Word has it that the guitar was made for Wyclef Jean, who apparently wants to change the “youth gun culture.” Hmmmm.

For once, let’s not worry about the politics. Just enjoy the video and Jimmy DiResta’s impressive work.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.