An Upper Macungie Township resident is using his love of guitars to help raise funds for the animals at Lehigh Valley Zoo.

Dave Kite, owner of Chaos Guitars, is building an electric guitar with a giraffe print for the zoo’s first “Conservation Celebration” gala Oct. 13 at Lehigh Valley Country Club.

“Shortly after my fiancee Rose Amici suggested I do an animal print guitar, I talked to Doreen Carl, vice president of development at the zoo, and it was suggested I build a guitar for the gala,” Kite said.

Kite, who has been building custom guitars for about 10 years, said he may craft a series of animal print guitars.

A graduate of William Allen High School, Allentown, and a certified electrician technician from Lincoln Tech, Upper Macungie, Kite was 12 when he started playing guitar.

“I was 13 when I was able to purchase a real guitar from West End Music in Allentown,” he said. “When I became a musician early in life and didn’t have money to go buy one of the custom guitars, I bought what I could afford, then built it into something else.

“When I had my own band for 15 years, I never hired a guitar tech because I didn’t want anybody touching my stuff, so I always did my own stuff.”

Today, Kite builds electric guitars, electric base guitars or whatever a customer wants.

“We will deal with any name brand guitar and customize it,” he said. “We are a custom shop. We can do anything your local shop can do and the work they won’t.”

“We make chaos beautiful and we build awesome guitars.

Kite, who has owned Chaos Guitars since 2015, does custom paint and graphics, and scalloped fret boards. He uses DR Handmade Strings and Floyd Rose tremolos on his custom guitars.

Right now he is working on a series of guitars called B.T. Death-The Slice of Life series based on the Dexter television show.

He lives with his fiancée Rose and three children Zane, 17; Trinity, 14; and Evan, 12; in Fogelsville.

To learn more about Chaos Guitars, visit chaosguitars.com, email info@chaosguitars.com or call Kite at 484-408-0854.