Local musician wins guitar built by Pittsburgh musician at Sunday’s Pink Out
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Mark Kitzki loves putting a guitar in the hands of anyone who wants to learn how to play, or happens to need one.
For the past two years, the singer/songwriter has customized an electric guitar and donated it to be raffled at the annual Pink Out Mahoning Valley Music Festival. This year, Cole Glover of the local music duo Cherry Bomb won the raffle. The set up came with a gig bag, portable practice amp and other accessories.
Kitzki is from the Pittsburgh area and has traveled to Austintown to help out with the annual festival’s sound the past few years. This year, he played a few songs on the guitar he named “Sheila” in honor of Pink Out co-founder Sheila Kroll-Dickinson, who passed away in early September after a nearly 15-year battle with breast cancer. The goal was to demonstrate its sound before handing it over to Glover. He also handcrafted a large pickguard signed by the artists who played at this year’s Pink Out festival Sunday at Austintown Township Park, including Glover’s music duo, Cherry Bomb.
“I’m retired and I like working with my hands so this keeps me occupied and I really enjoy it,” he said. “I’ve given a couple acoustics away. Those weren’t built by me. I just saw a need that someone could use them. To be noted, I am not a luthier. There are some things I don’t have knowledge or tools to do. One build had fret issues and luckily I know Bill Smith. Now he is a luthier.”
Kitzki salvages parts of old guitars people give him or he finds on his own and puts them together to create custom instruments, or “partcasters” that he wires himself.
Glover said he couldn’t stop playing the guitar when he got it home.
"I'm an instrument lover and winning the guitar was super cool,” he said. “It sounds great and feels great and I'm sure it will get a lot of use in the future. I love playing music, and (Pink Out) is a really good cause for a serious issue. It's great watching people have fun for a while and get away from their day-to-day.”
Kitzki enjoys sharing his music and will be opening for award winning artist Monica Lewis Friday at the Steamworks Creative Community Center listening room in Gibsonia, Pa., where he hosts a monthly open mic alongside Curt Crocker. Their next open mic is set 7 to 10 p.m. Oct. 22.
Kitzki, who grew up in Shaler Township near Pittsburgh, played in a hard rock band in the 1980s, performing at the popular Pittsburgh club The Decade. He also played bass with Nashville recording artist the Felicia Lynn Band.
Last year, two sisters, students at Austintown High School, won one of his custom guitars at Pink Out.
Pink Out Mahoning Valley/Pink Out America is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization that has hosted the Pink Out Mahoning Valley Music Festival to kick off Breast Cancer Awareness Month the past four years.