Ballyclare guitar maker and artist Terry Bradley collab for men's mental health

A Ballyclare luthier and world renowned Belfast artist Terry Bradley have collaborated on a bespoke guitar to raise money for men's mental health.

Chris Moffitt, who has experienced anxiety and depression, began making guitars professionally four years ago.

His work has recently caught the attention of Scottish popstar royalty, Lewis Capaldi, whose order is currently sitting in his garage workshop.

Chris is currently working on Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi's first custom guitar. Credit: UTV

For Chris, making guitars was an outlet for his mental health.

"It really gave me the feeling that there was more to this than just building a guitar, there's such a deeper meaning behind it," he told UTV.

The 25-year-old struggled with his body image at school.

"This just spiraled out of control into actual depression. I was actually really upset and really frustrated at my life and why I was actually here," he said.

"It got to the stage that I was so unhappy with how I looked and how I was, that I looked into and was close to ending my life twice."

After Chris' recent successes, he decided to give back and raise money for men's mental health.

He created a guitar in collaboration with Belfast artist Terry Bradley.

Each donation to the cause acts as an entry to win the bespoke guitar.

"Terry was just let loose to portray how he feels and how I feel and how a lot of men struggling with their mental health feel," Chris said.

Terry explained how his mood affects his art, with different characters symbolising his mental state.

"It's always extremes. It's either a very detailed, ornate piece when I'm feeling a bit dodgy and a bit nervous," he said.

"The other side of that would be when I have loads of confidence on one of those rare days, it would be four or five lines with a piece of charcoal. It just depends on the day."

Belfast artist Terry Bradley painted the guitar to help raise money and awareness for men's mental health. Credit: UTV

Chris and Terry hope their work will inspire other men to get talking.

"Once people know that sometimes you're not up to doing an event or some days you're not that great, it just diffuses all that stuff in your head," Terry said.

Chris added: "Being bold just like this guitar looks, just being bold and saying that's who you are, hopefully that'll encourage people to be open about it and talk."

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