(Photos by Kris Todd) Stephan Graham, 17, is among the high school students currently displaying handcrafted wood items at Arts on Grand in Spencer. He took a moment recently to show how his plays. [Order this photo]

The 17-year-old son of Richard and Julie Graham, Spencer, began playing as an eighth grader who took lessons at school. As his musical interest has grown, Graham's acquired an electric Ibanez RG3 and a Ventura acoustic guitar.

"I still want another one," he confessed recently. "I figured maybe I could convince Dad to let me build one (for less money) than it would cost to buy one. He wouldn't go for (buying another one), so I convinced him to at least let me build the body."

Over a three-week timeframe this past semester in Gary Rustwick's Woods I class at Spencer High School, Graham built an electric guitar. Just as the class advanced his passion for the musical instrument, it also allowed the SHS junior to experiment with different woodworking techniques.

The striped electric guitar body he crafted is of walnut and birch woods. The shiny white pickguard, which hides all the electronics underneath, as well as the guitar's neck, which is constructed of maple wood, were bought on the Internet.

While Graham strung and tuned the guitar, with help from classmates who played it in the SHS shop, Hayden Theesfeld helped him to cover it with a protective wax coating before it was spray lacquered.

Although he still has "a little set up work" to do on it yet, Graham's last name is set to permanently mark the guitar on an engraved protective plate made of walnut on the instrument's back side.

The costs associated with building the electric guitar were "real minimal" for Graham due to his working out an agreement with First Baptist Church (FBC).

"The church paid for the neck and all the hardware," he explained. "We made the deal where I leave it at the church and I can just pick it up whenever I want to play around with it."

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Graham, along with other members of the FBC youth ministry program, often play together. Youth Pastor Jon Pausley, who occasionally jumps in to play guitar or sing, unofficially calls the musical ensemble -- which includes Graham, Scott McCord on guitar and vocals, Blake Clark on bass, Joe Glover on drums, Tyler Steinkamp on vocals, and FBC Youth Group Leader Bob Alexander on guitar and vocals -- "The Maestros."

The guitar, which is currently on display in a high school student woodworking exhibit at Arts on Grand, 408 N. Grand, through May 21, will soon be stationed in the church for others to use.

"Whoever comes up in the years down the road will be able to have an instrument to play. Whether they've got one at home or not, they'll have something to play," said Graham's mother, Julie.

Besides learning it's important to make a list of needed parts prior to assembling an electric guitar, Graham reported with a chuckle that he also learned to "make sure the planer's not set too thin before you stick your giant piece of wood in there, because it makes really bad noises."

The teenager, meanwhile, still has his sights set on convincing his father that he should be allowed to build another guitar for himself. Graham's seriously contemplating enrolling in a semester-long class being offered next year.

"I really want one," he said with a smile. "I'm thinking about going with the same type of wood pattern, but in a checkerboard."