All the other guitar blogs are talking about what's new at NAMM, so I'll leave it to them. If you want to see some nice pretty pictures of the latest guitars, then Modern Guitars Magazine has been posting galleries from each day. I would have liked to have gone (was invited, in fact), but I really couldn't afford the air fare from the UK, accommodation, etc. Perhaps another year.

Kaki King - free MP3 download from her new album

Although she had already recorded three albums, I have to confess that I had never heard of Kaki King before watching her brief performance on "Later with Jools Holland" last year. Her guitar playing style was unusual, to say the least, although very intriguing - she was knocking the neck and the body of her Adamas guitar for percussive effects whilst hammering-on and tapping the strings on the fingerboard with her left hand from over the top of the neck and playing open strings with her right hand. I'd never seen anyone play guitar quite like that before.

Her latest album, her fourth, Dreaming Of Revenge showcases Kaki King's desire to branch out with songs that feature electric and pedal-steel guitar, horns, and, for the first time, vocals. To hear for yourself, download the free MP3 of Two O'Clock (right click and "Save As"). It's well worth it - this song is quite beautiful.

Read the full press release here.

Spiritual Enlightenment from Fernandes

According to the eBay listing for this one-off Fernandes with custom artwork:

"Porong" is a mountainous region in Tibet where the monks use their musical instruments to reach and maintain spiritual enlightenment. With that in mind look closely at guitars graphic: The little man (monk?) on the body of the guitar is wearing a backpack and hiking boots, his hand pointing upwards. On the headstock you see what he is pointing to: The mountainous region of "Porong"! Look closely at the hat he is wearing: the word "Porong" is written on the brim of his hat suggesting that his spiritual journey is always on his mind! So what we have here is an instrument that reflects ones "spiritual journey" towards enlightenment via music! Now that my friends is some serious MOJO!

Classic!

Jemaine Clement's Russian Bass

Russia - Why Not?

In my previous post about Flight Of The Conchords I briefly mentioned Bret McKenzie's Casio DG-20 digital guitar. However, I'd been wondering, what is that retro-looking bass that Jemaine Clement plays? (See above left).

I've found a very similar looking Russian bass (above right) over at Cheesy Guitars in their Unidentified Guitars section. Unfortunately the only information we have is that it was made in a factory in Belarus. Still it narrows things down a bit, as I had previously suspected that Jemaine's bass was a Teisco or some other 60s/70s Japanese bass.

EDIT: It's a Kavkaz!

Vintage 1964 Egmond Typhoon

Here's another "cheesy guitar" currently on sale on eBay. It's a vinyl-covered Egmond Typhoon from 1964 and appears to be in pretty good condition. There's lashings of pearloid mother-of-toilet seat; all the parts seem to be original, and the tremolo arm is present and correct. I've found old Egmonds before now for sale in charity shops, but they were never as glorious as this one, just beaten-up old jazz boxes with horrible action.

The man whose guitars travel around the world: article about Turkish luthier Ekrem Özkarpat, maker of many a fine guitar, acoustic bass, upright bass, fretless guitar, electrified tambour, electrified-cümbüş, and a "foot-piano" designed to play bass sounds (presumably at the same time as playing the guitar).

Gibson tuning up new Slash and Page guitars: LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Gibson Guitar will release eight new Slash-branded guitars on March 15, and is taking the current models affiliated with the Velvet Revolver guitarist off the market.

Why eight?

"Price points," says Henry Juszkiewicz, chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar. "They're going to go from cheap to high-end custom, personally signed by Slash."

Also on tap for this year is a new Jimmy Page guitar. "The ink is still drying on the deal," Juszkiewicz says. "It's going to be a special guitar."

Reuters/Billboard

Taylor Guitars and Fender Join Forces in Europe

Iranian musician invented 'guitar': renowned Iranian flamenco guitarist and historian of music, Mohsen Danesh claims the classical guitar was invented by an Iranian musician named Zaryab Shirazi.

Tonika Bass - Rare early Russian Bass up for grabs on eBay now!

This Tonika bass is one for all you collectors of the bizarre and curious. It looks like something that Devo would play (only as a southpaw, Gerry Casale would play it upside-down making it look even weirder). According to the fantastic Cheesy Guitars website: "The legendary Tonika bass is the first Soviet-made electric bass. Made in the sixties together with Tonika guitar - the first Soviet mass - production electric guitar."