David Pescovitz at 3:02 pm •
•
Bohemian Guitars turns empty cans of paint thinner and motor oil into handsome electric geetars. You can hear their sound here. The guitars start at $230 and with every guitar sold, Bohemian donates one instrument to a non-profit for children in need. Bohemian Guitars (Thanks, Gabe Adiv!)
Mark Frauenfelder at 1:58 pm •
•

Michael Simmons of Fretboard Journal says:
Today is the 59th anniversary of Django Reinhardt's death. To honor him, I posted images of a guitar that I had Robert Armstrong paint for me years ago. The top features Django in heaven, the back has a street scene of Django and the Quintet of the Hot Club of France (The fifth member is using the pissoir on the right) and the sides show various scenes from Django's life. (Yes, he did have a pet monkey.) When I first asked him if he would paint this guitar for me he said no. This was back in 1996 when people were painting their electric guitars with heavy metal images like skulls and devils and that’s what he thought I was asking for. But when I said I had a Selmer copy I wanted decorated with scenes from Django’s life he said, “Well, why didn’t you say so?’” It took Armstrong and me a few months to decide on the basic visual elements (finding a photo of an authentic Parisian pissoir proved to be particularly challenging) and then it took him about a year to finish the painting. The guitar is playable and still sounds pretty good but I don’t like to pick it for fear of damaging the paint. The guitar proved to be something of an inspiration to Armstrong and he has since gone on to produce a line of painted ukuleles.
Robert Armstrong's painted Django guitar
Rob Beschizza at 7:39 am •
•

Whipping Post made
a special wallet just for guitar addicts. There's slots for three cards, a driver's license, and dosh. It's available in english tan and a dark brown, for $30, at which price point it better damned well come with a free pick.
Rob Beschizza at 12:12 pm •
•
Ryan Barr of
Whipping Post Leather makes
these gorgeous guitar case bag backpacks.
"I always wanted to create a bag for my guitar that matched its character," he writes. "Something that could age with time and maintain its classic appeal like any well made instrument. The more it got used and abused the better it became. Kind of like my guitar."
They're very steep, but if I were a guitarist, I think I might sell my soul to the devil for one of these. In the meantime, I'll just have to wait for the keytar edition.