Almost all the music that is played today on electric guitar or electric bass would be unimaginable without the influence of African culture. Africa is not only the cradle of humankind, but also of handicrafts and the first musical instruments.
- A large percentage of the wood necessary for building electric guitars grows here.
- In the woodworking business, the proportion of manual craftsmanship is greater than in most other countries.
- During the last sixty years the tastes of the western, industrialized nations have been thoroughly permeated by African influences. ie:. Blues, Reggae, Samba, Salsa, Soul, Gospel, Spiritual, Jazz, Rock, R&B, HipHop, Rap, Ska, Calypso etc. Everything played on an electric guitar has some of it's roots in Africa.
- instead of turning to concepts such as "Replica", or "Vintage" and treating mass-production guitars with a bunsen burner, cold spray, saltwater, and a knife to give it an apparently unique "Personality" or 'Mojo' (Soul) we just build them one by one by hand to guarantee built in 'Mojo' for every guitar, without artificial ageing.
Peter Coura has been running the "Guitar Center", in Frankfurt, Germany, since 1975.
During this time he has amassed much valuable experience, and gained a widespread reputation amongst professional
guitarists, for his shop, service-center and workshop. To name just a few, he has worked for:
John Abercrombie, Eberhard Weber, Accept, Volker Kriegel, Ralph Towner, Michael Sagmeister, Leni Stern, Kai Eckhardt,
Pat Metheny, Susan Weinert, Larry Coryell, Peter Maffay, Harvie Swartz, Bo Stiev, Ken Taylor, Peter Wölpl, Wolfgang Schmid,
Marcus Deml, Steve Swallow etc..
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In Nairobi he found the Technical School of the SOS Education Center, where young Kenyans are meticulously trained
in woodworking by experienced master cabinet-makers.
He trained their best craftsmen in all secrets of making an exceptional sounding electric guitar and is happy
to make use of their excellent woodworking skills, patience, and incredible feeling for shapes
(and the huge supply of excellent woods). |
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| David Okello, Pascal Mwanza
Nairobi staff | Peter Coura BigBadBoss Frankfurt |
Hans Ochs Our man in New York |