Yanive Feiner's attempt at setting a world record for consecutive hours of guitar playing fell short, but the local music teacher did manage to raise money for the Nelson Animal Hospital and Second Chance Animal Shelter in Nelson.
"I was going for a 100-hour guitar marathon. It originally started off as a Guinness world record attempt but we didn't get enough volunteers to do it, but I wanted to continue it anyways," said Feiner, who operates Supercat Studios in Castlegar. "I played here at the studio for 57 hours and 21 minutes non-stop."
Guinness rules state that four volunteers must be present at all times during the record attempt to document the event and to act as independent witnesses.
Feiner broadcast his guitar playing marathon on the Internet. "I had it broadcasting on my live blog channel. A bunch of my friends from across the country got to hang out and watch and we raised almost $600 for the event," said Feiner.
Despite not breaking the world record, Feiner was pleased with the results. "I was happy. It was really hard; harder than I thought it would be. My neck and shoulders were what hurt the most. My hands were fine — I could've kept playing. I thought for sure my hands would start feeling it but they didn't," he said. "And your mind starts to kind of start playing tricks on you keeping up for that long."
Feiner plans on taking another shot at the world record in the winter. Since his recent attempt, the Guinness world record for guitar playing has been beaten twice and is currently at 113 consecutive hours.
Feiner got the idea for the fundraising event after taking his sick dog to the animal hospital in Nelson.
"They did an amazing job. I wanted to do a fundraiser. Supercat Studios does several fundraisers a year for different benefits. We've never done one for animals, so we figured this would be a good one to do," said Feiner.
Feiner is appreciative of all the people that helped and supported him during his guitar playing marathon. "I want to thank everyone who donated or helped out by coming down to the studio and spending time with me and all my friends and watchers on the blog channel that were rooting for me to keep going," he said.