Yay! By the way, I think of basswood as paired with a maple cap. I checked when I noted the top loader and I think yours is too. Totally cool, just clarifying for when you are thinking about pickups.
It could be. I distinctly remember reading ash, but I might very well be wrong about that. In any case, maple is awesome!
My Spoiler is made of maple all the way (apart from the fretboard). Three piece neck-thru neck, flame top, burl back. My first time playing it was the first time I noticed an undeniable difference in sound because of wood.
Article from the NYTimes here: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/17/arts/music/bombino-desert-blues-deran.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
Scroll down maybe halfway to a clip of him playing. Really good. They call him the Hendrix of the Sahel, but his style is a lot more like Jeff Beck’s, in a great way. Superfast, low end repeated figures, spontaneous lead fills that include a tap here or there, and playing with his fingers, no pick - really sounds good. And man, does that crowd look great - dancing hard and loving their local hero. That type of crowd is so great to play to.
And WordMan, Bambino has something that most good guitar journeyman need desperately - A guy that stands on stage next to you and points at your head. 
Thanks for this. I’m a big fan of West African music, and contemporary Malian artists in particular. When I saw Ali Farka Toure in Bamako, his act was amazing, with people leaping on the stage and having a great time. Toure used to like doing the Chuck Berry duck walk. 
I’m actually surprised to see this guy performing in Tuareg country (which is in the north), as Al Qaida has made it a religious crime to play music, going so far as to murder those who try to play. Many musicians have fled south to Bamako in order to do what they love. Perhaps even Al Qaida won’t fuck with the Tuareg people.
I totally need that guy.
I think they communicated that it was a big deal that Bombino was performing and being filmed in Tuareg country.
Thanks, WordMan. I’m also a fan of a couple other bands in that region. A recent one I’ve listened to a lot is Songhoy Blues from Mali. They are also a guitar-based band with a similar, but different, style of desert blues. And Ali Farka Touré is great as well. Mesmerizing music.
You might give Tinarawen a listen. They do a great job of combining traditional and modern sound. Also Habib Koite.
Thanks for the recommendations! Habib Koite is on Spotify.
For more traditional Malian music, try Salif Keita or Toumani Diabate or Fatoumata Diawara.
I really enjoy Tinarawen.
Bombino is great! If y’all haven’t heard or seen her before, check out Fatoumata Diawara. She’s no Satriani but she does play and plays very well; she a far better player than I am.
Plus she just seems like the human embodiment of the word “heavenly” to me. Her voice should be required hearing for everyone, at least once in their life; this world couldn’t help but be a better place.
ETA: Shout out to ChefGuy for mentioning her in the thread before me!
Ok, I got caught up in listening to that concert I linked above and forgot all about the reason I actually came into this thread today.
Behold: Guitar-Jo!
I waited until the actually had the ddamned things before I paid for one, but they say they’re shipping now so I ponied up and hope to receive it soon. Been 48 hours now since I ordered tho and still no shipping notice. I’ll let y’all know when I get it, of course.
Here’s a 40 second video of the inventor demonstrating it at NAMM 2016.
Documentary recommendation: The Terry Kath Experience. A documentary produced by his daughter (who was only around three years old when he died).
I caught it on AXS (a music channel, via Sling). I’m not sure where else it might be viewable, but if you can find it, you ought to watch it. Terry Kath is pretty much the only reason I like Chicago. Okay, that’s not totally true, but for my money, Peter Cetera ruined that band. I won’t go on about what a shit song-writer he is (all his treacly garbage sound the same to me) and judging from the last Chicago doc I watched, he’s a complete prick too, but I digress.
This doc is all Terry. It follows his entire life from birth to death. It’s really intriguing. He was an incredibly talented player, songwriter and singer. Jimi Hendrix met him and became fast friends with him as he described him as the best guitar player he’d ever seen - and he may not have been wrong. But damn, what a tragic figure Terry was. I didn’t realize he was so unhappy with the direction of the band - he wanted to stick to more experimental type stuff rather than the radio hits, and he was actively starting a solo project when he died.
One other thing about the man that seems undeniable: if there was one motherfucker who should have been kept as far away from guns as possible, it was him. It was a miracle he was the only person he killed with a gun. The doc is full of off-hand comments from his friends and family about how reckless he was with them. Things like, “see that dark spot in the floor of our house? That’s a bullet hole. Terry’s gun accidentally went off.”
He might actually have been a suicide but his closest friends and family deny that. From the context of the film, he did seem troubled and possibly depressed in his final days, but more likely it was an accident as he was also deep into drugs at the time too. Hell I’ve done stupid things when I was high but forgetting you left a bullet in the chamber and pointing the gun at your head is a special kind of drug-fueled stupidity. At any rate, take the gun talk as you will (it isn’t really brought up as an issue in the doc, just in my commentary) but you will love the music and the narrative about a really talented guy who ended up throwing it all away.
There’s also a cool sub-story about his daughter trying to track down his famous Pig Nose Tele. I won’t spoiler that search for you.
Bo - it sure sounds cool and banjo-y. We’ll expect a full report!
Jack Batty - thanks for the heads up! I wasn’t aware and so will see if I can DVR it.
Copy that. I just got an email that it shipped; I should have on Monday so I’ll report back in a few days.
As a guitarist, can I just say that I am smiling with a bit of devilish glee as I think about the marketing for this device: “Want to sound like a banjo? First, take a guitar. Then, put this thingy on it to suck all of the tone right out of it and you’re all set!!”
Jack Batty - I got on my DVR and searched on his name and didn’t get anything. I will check periodically.
Without shilling it too hard, here’s thesite link for the doc. Like I said, I caught it on AXS on Sling. I know that channel is on other cable systems (it was on the one I ditched). If you want to pay four bucks, you can apparently rent it via YouTube.
I’m really not making any money off this, but I should, the movie just kind of grabbed me.
Thanks!
