By David Gedge
THE NEW SOUND OF MOTOWN
Detroit Firehouse Stories
Wallace Detroit Guitars
Wallace Detroit Guitars, a Detroit-
based guitar company that builds unique
and timeless instruments using reclaimed
wood from local landmarks, announced a
limited edition Firehouse Series, available
54 illinoisentertainer.com may
2017
now. The instruments are crafted with
original wood from the former Detroit Fire
Department Headquarters, located at 250
West Larned Street in the Motor City.
Salvaged pine and maple from the
building’s floorboards will allow Wallace
Detroit Guitars to build ten of its flagship
single-cutaway guitars and two guitars
with a brand new offset body shape. The
new guitars are available now to coincide
with the launch of Wallace Detroit Guitars’
new website (wallacedetroitguitars.com).
“Our goal with these guitars is to preserve
the history of the city we love while hon-
oring its tradition of superior craftsman-
ship,” says Wallace Detroit Guitars owner
Mark Wallace, told IE. “Detroit is a com-
munity of people who know how to make
stuff, and our company is cut from that
same cloth. The firehouse served our city
with honor for many years, and we are
pleased to be able to preserve its history in
this truly unique limited edition of instru-
ments.”
For Wallace, these instruments mirror
the revitalization of their beloved city,
which is welcoming new ideas and cre-
ativity while continuing to draw from its
rich past. “I’m trying to take something
that was once great but has been and cast
aside and transforming it into something
new and vital,” he says. “It’s an exciting
time for the city of Detroit because there
are a lot of other businesses and organiza-
tions working from that same ideology.
There’s really an energy building up.”
The firehouse building, located in
downtown Detroit, stands on a site that
has been in use by fire departments con-
tinuously since about 1840. The existing
structure was built in 1929 after a design
by Hans Gehrke, a leading Detroit archi-
tect during the pre-war era. Four large
arches with massive red doors are the cen-
terpieces of its iconic four-story brick and
terra cotta façade. It was among the first
firehouses in the city designed without
accommodations for horses, which had
been retired from service. After years of
service as a fire station, the building would
go on to serve as the long-time Detroit Fire
Department headquarters until 2013.
Wallace was alerted to the cache of his-
toric wood from the firehouse through his
relationship with the Architectural Salvage
Warehouse of Detroit, a non-profit organi-
zation that helps in the deconstruction of
historic buildings in the city. “They care
about the city just us as much as we do, so
we’re always happy to support them in
their efforts, which include providing jobs
and training to locals as well as protecting
historical resources,” says Wallace.
The first guitars released from the fire-
house wood will be a pair made of pine
and featuring a brand new offset body.
Eye-catching and comfortable to wear, the
smoothly rounded dual ‘horns’ cut a clas-
sic profile on-stage or in the studio. “Pine
is a lighter, softer wood with more air
inside of it as compared to common guitar
lumbers like ash or poplar,” says Wallace.
“That allows it to resonate a bit more for a
nice prolonged tone.” Pine has only begun
to see wide use in guitar making within
the last ten years, so these guitars present a
unique opportunity to own a pine guitar
with the sound and feel of vintage wood.
Wallace Detroit Guitars was also able to
salvage enough maple from the firehouse
to build an edition of ten single-cutaway
guitars, the company’s signature body
shape. Each wood is hand-finished with a
hand-rubbed oil finish that preserves the
wood’s natural look and protects it for