“There are a lot of guitars reaching the end of their playable lives – we want to make them useful again”: Re-Tuned turns old acoustic guitars into Bluetooth speakers

An Australian inventor is helping make the guitar industry greener with Re-Tuned, a Bluetooth speaker conversation kit that turns unplayed acoustic guitars into unique and sustainable speaker systems.

Circular economy product development business Found:ling Reusery, based out of Victoria has latched onto an idea that, now it’s out in the open, seems crazy that no-one had previously thought of it.

The Re-Tuned clips into the soundhole of acoustic guitars to transform them into speakers, helping give long-forgotten instruments a second life, and sparing them from the scrapheap. Considering nearly two million guitars are sold annually in the US, there is a huge scope for many of those – or the instruments they replace – ending up in landfill.

There have been some great circular innovations in recent years, from recycled guitar picks and D’Addario’s used string recycling service.

Fender has even used Disneyland-salvaged wood to build Stratocasters, Telecasters, and bass guitars, while a Waste Bucket Sparkle finish made clever use of leftover paint.

This, however, is a clever change of tact to help increase the guitar industry’s sustainability levels and create an eye-catching design piece in living rooms, bedrooms, and beyond.

The kit will work with nearly all full-sized acoustics – and many 3/4-size builds, too. It’s designed to slide into the sound hole and fasten into place via built-in clamps. Of course, you’ll need to remove the strings first and remember to plug it in. And that’s it.

The kit includes a pre-assembled amplifier module featuring a 20W output from its effective 2.5” high-quality speaker. A cover plate is also included, as is a power supply.

“Re-Tuned sets out to be the most sustainable Bluetooth speaker kit on the market,” says an official statement. “Not only is the kit designed to make use of old unused guitars by turning them into the speaker’s acoustic chamber, they are also constructed in the most sustainable fashion possible.”

Re-Tuned has launched on the crowd-funding platform Kickstarter. If it reaches its desired $12,500 goal then every part of the speaker kit made from plastic will come from recycled milk bottle caps, sourced from Australia.

“With over 1.8 million acoustic guitars sold in the USA alone every year, there are a lot of guitars reaching the end of their playable lives,” the statement continues. “We want to make just a few of them useful again.”

Re-Tuned is currently in pre-production, with pre-orders open now.

Visit the Re-Tuned Kickstarter page to learn more.

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