Steve Puto's five-neck guitar is on loan to the Cantos Music Foundation in Calgary. ((Steve Puto))

The Cantos Music Foundation collection in Calgary includes a five-neck guitar, one of the strangest items among more than 700 instruments.

It belongs to Saskatchewan country music legend Steve Puto, who lent it to the organization several years ago.

"When I had my own television show out of CFQC in Saskatoon, I used it on the show," said Puto, whose multi-decade performing career won him the recognition of the Saskatchewan Music Association in 2007.

"I brought it along when I was doing jamborees. It's a conversational piece. Everyone wanted to touch it and see if it was real," said Puto, who hosted The Lonesome Steve Show, which aired every Saturday in Saskatoon in the mid-'70s.

The odd-looking instrument is really more than a guitar, according to Jesse Moffat, the head conservator at Cantos. Its five necks include a mandolin, a banjo, a six-string guitar, a bass and a fiddle.

"And lest we forget, mounted to the fiddle is a harmonica," Moffat said, adding that the instrument isn't in good enough shape to play anymore. "But I think we could definitely bring it back to life. It's a great example of innovation, experimentation."

Puto bought the instrument for about $400 when it turned up at his friend's guitar shop in 1973.

"It was unique in the world" he said. "I'd never seen anything like it and neither had anyone else."

He had already mastered the two-neck guitar, so he welcomed the new challenge.

The instrument's five necks include a mandolin, a banjo, a six-string guitar, a bass and a fiddle. Puto acquired it from a guitar shop in 1973. ((Steve Puto))

"I'm an entertainer and I always look for something different. This was one of a kind."

Puto and his wife, Mary, now operate a ranch near Hafford, Sask. But he still plays.

"I'm celebrating my 65th year in country music," said Puto, who is planning to take his old five-neck out of the Cantos collection so he can play it at jamborees this summer.

After that, Cantos is hopeful it can return Puto's conversation piece to its collection, Moffat said.

The non-profit foundation gives tours of its 700-plus collection of musical instruments on 11th Avenue S.E., and offers educational programs to school groups.

If funding can be secured, Cantos wants to break ground this year on a new 80,000-square-foot five-storey music centre on the northeast corner of Ninth Avenue and Fourth Street S.E., incorporating the historic King Eddy Hotel building.

The new $94-million facility will house the foundation's collection and feature a live music venue, recording studios, a radio station and a museum.

The city pledged $25 million to the project in January, contingent on financial commitments from the provincial and federal governments. Cantos is also seeking $20 million in corporate and individual donations.