'Floodcaster' Comes Alive After Flood

In 1963, when Mark Meyer was only 16, he began building an electric guitar that he never imagined would take 47 years to complete. But Mark was young, a student at Jefferson High School in Cedar Rapids and a member of  the rock band, The Alternatives.

The Alternatives was a cover band, playing the likes of the day's hitmakers including The Beatles. The joke at the time was that, if you couldn't afford the original, you could afford The Alternatives. (See today's Ramblin' column in The Gazette.)

Mark, now 63, played rhythm guitar and sang for the band. He fell in love with the instruments, collecting many types of guitars and amplifiers through the years. He thought it would be fun to build his own guitar since both his grandfather, T. Harry Meyer, had a fully-equipped wood shop behind his house in the Time Check area at 313 F Ave. NW in Cedar Rapids. That was right next to Mark's house at 309, where he grew up and returned to later in life.

Mark lived in the low-lying house when rising water from the Cedar River threatened on June 11, 2008. At 6 a.m. that day Mark moved stuff to higher ground. "I carried my guitars up from the basement thinking they'd be safe," he said. "And I went to work."

Little did Mark know that it would be three weeks until he could return to the house. By then the water had filled the house and then receded, leaving behind layers of mud on everything it touched. Among the remains was the guitar he'd never finished.

Disheartened at first, Mark didn't know what to do. Then, he figured, the guitar was speaking to him. It needed to be completed.

For the next 1 1/2 years, Mark let the wood body of the guitar dry. The grain in the wood had expanded, warped, changed. He considered painting it until he thought better of that idea. Why not, he thought, preserve it as the flood had left it?

With help from friends, Mark completed his guitar on April 1 - no fooling. It has 20 coats of clear lacquer. It has gold plated hardware, from the electric pickup to the tuning keys. It has a sound that clearly shows it's a survivor.

You don't soon forget the devestation of a flood. Mark, like so many Cedar Rapidians, is till recovering. But, after losing his guitar and so many of his possessions, Mark wrote a song about the flood. Here are the lyrics.

It started so fast

It ended so late

The damage and destruction

From the Flood of ‘08

The Devil threw a party

And Lord it was lame

No one was invited

But everyone came

The Devil wanted the family

The children and the wife

The Lord said, “I'll let you take objects,

But not one single life.”

The Devil wanted the town

The Lord said, “No Deal.”

The people of Cedar Rapids

Are stronger than steel.

Our drinking water was threatened

Our last well was going down

But 1,000 volunteers sandbagged through the night

And together  their work saved our town

We shall rebuild our beautiful town

We shall again make it great

We shall repair the damage and destruction

Caused by the Flood of ‘08

The Flood of ‘08

2008 – 911 on June 11