Australian Blackwood Curran Butterfly/Robbie Basho tribute, etc

Buck Curran · #1 07-22-2010, 02:26 PM

Hello, This is Buck Curran from Maine checking in. Just wanted to say Hello and post some photos of the sister guitar to the Red Spruce and Indian Rosewood Butterfly that I made last year. I've also curated a tribute to Robbie Basho that was just released on Important Records and features some incredible fingerstyle guitar players...including Steffen Basho Junghans and Glenn Jones. If anyone else out there is a fan of Basho's music...I'm always up for talking. I'm also a big fan of Steffen Sobell's guitars and have owned several...if anyone wants to talk Sobell.
So...This guitar built in 2006 has a Gorgeous German Spruce top, Australian Blackwood and Maple radial style rosette, Brazilian rosewood headstock face plate, dark rosewood binding, and Gorgeous flamed Australian Blackwood back and sides. The guitar has a wider lower bout of 16", but because the waist is so narrow (9"), and the body depth is shallow, (4" at the tail) it ends up being an extremely comfortable body shape to hold. The body is 19" long...so a little shorter than an OM. Nut width is 1 3/4, scale length is 25.4, and the fingers spacing at the bridge is 2 1/4. The guitar is light in weight and very responsive to a light touch, has great clarity, power, and sustain. It sounds great with a plectrum too. The guitar is listed over at classifieds.
Also Brent Hutto responded to my post last year and I unfortunately never saw the response...as I was guessing folks would just email me if they had any questions. Sorry Brent, and to answer your question...The binding are rounded/radiused and though the lower bout is wide...it's very comfortable to hold because of the depth and basic design. I'm not a big fan deep bodied guitars so I've designed this guitar to 'Fall' comfortably into the body. Also...yes I do know Laurent Brondel and John Slobod...both are good friends of mine. I also worked for Dana Bourgeois from 2002 to 2009.
Thanks, Buck

WhistlingFish · #2 07-22-2010, 07:07 PM

Sensational blackwood and a beautiful guitar!

Buck Curran · #3 07-22-2010, 07:22 PM

Thanks Pete! Sure hope to make it to Australia one day! My wife and I have a good friend, Dave Olliffe who is from Australia...who lives in Paris. He took care of us, when we were touring through there earlier this year. I briefly owned a Jim Redgate guitar made with Blackwood...it inspired this build.
Cheers, Buck

JohnM · #4 07-22-2010, 07:41 PM

Nice lines Buck. Pretty guitar.

Satellitedog01 · #5 07-23-2010, 07:15 AM

Hey Buck, Lovely guitar, beautiful woods all round, and because of the shorter body on first sight it reminded me of a baritone. Must be inspiring.

Now on Robbie Basho!!! I just fell in love with his music 1-2 months ago, and since I have a voice similar in range and dynamics to him, I naturally want to record a version of Blue Crystal Fire too :-)
Went to Important's site to check out the compilation, but only found out you're the guitarist in Arborea through the Pitchfork review. Nice version!
Great to see you took the effort to gather a tribute, I think I'll order it shortly.

At age 6 I learned to play/played zither at school for two years, and my guitar playing reflects this background. Thus it was a great bell ringer to hear his playing including drones and zither like picking.
I'm not a technically proficient fingerstyle player yet (not an absolute beginner either, but picked up guitar quite late, at 24) and I have no strong intention to formally study techniques, but his freedom of technique and styling (compared to some modern players) and his sheer raw power through music inspires me greatly, so I'll be happy to go further down this musical route. In fact I have an old song yet unrecorded that even has some lyrics that fit in (many of my songs actually) the wide eyed wonder of Basho's music. Very strange to find such a great inspiration who's quite close to where I come from... When the song is recorded (quite the priority actually) I'd happily send it to you.

Another strange fact of my life. Though I live in Budapest, Hungary, I've seen Fern Knight live in Bremen, Germany in 2005 whilst studying graphic design over there, they were really good, and I wanted to know more about them, so we chatted a long bit aftershow, and they're a great bunch. I'm a facebook friend of one of them still :-) This world is in fact a small town.

Anyway, great to find other fans of Basho here. Could you recommend some essential albums from him, I'm mainly interested in pieces with his unique vocals.

Greetings,

Montag

Buck Curran · #6 07-24-2010, 04:19 PM

Hi Montag, Thanks for looking at the guitar and your kind words. Thanks also for taking a look at the Important Records site. Basho....I'm definitely a fan of Basho's vocals. Really great to know that other folks love his vocals too. His signing always sounds So very emotive and passionate. His music is a true gift. Have you hear the record 'Basho Sings'...a very early record, but I really love it. 'Voice of the Eagle' and 'Zarthus' are also two of my very favorite `records. I can definitely recommend those albums!
Also...here's a link to a great interview with Basho from 1974 that aired on KPFA http://www.archive.org/details/OTG_1974_11_06
Awesome that you've seen Fern Knight. They are dear friends and amazing folks, and stellar musicians! You might like the group Espers as well. As for Arborea we have a myspace - myspace.com/arborea2, facebook, and a blogspot you might enjoy. http://arboreamusic.blogspot.com
best, Buck

Satellitedog01 · #7 07-25-2010, 08:42 AM

Hey Buck,

One of my fave Basho songs is on Basho sings, its Aons au Ball, and his belting voice is just awsome.

Could you write a one sentence review of Visions of the Country if you have it please?
Since Blue Crystal Fire is from that one I'd like to know where it charts artistically in his career.
Thanks for the interview link and info.

I'll add you on Myspace as Montag today.

BW.