Earlier this week, we published Glenn Kimpton’s review of Solstice: A Tribute to Steffen Basho-Junghans, an album that was curated by guitarist Buck Curran who has featured widely across these pages (Order it via Bandcamp). The album was made in memory of the late Steffen Basho-Junghans, who passed away on 1st December 2022 (read Harry Wheeler’s tribute here). Among those that play on the generous 23-track album are Joseph Allred, Rob Noyes, Jesse Sheppard, Isasa, D.C Cross, Nick Jonah Davis and many more.
Buck bookends the album with two improvised tribute pieces – Winter Solstice 1 (for Steffen) and Winter Solstice 2 (for Steffen). The 12-string guitar he plays on belonged to Robbie Basho and was gifted to him by Steffen. Unfortunately, Buck could only play slide notes as the guitar’s neck has pitched up drastically, although, under Buck’s skilled playing, this doesn’t detract from its beautiful sound. The guitar is a ‘Mexican’ Handmade 12-string which was used by Robbie on most of the albums throughout his career. It is featured prominently on the covers of ‘The Falconer’s Arm II (1967) and ‘Art of the Acoustic Steel String Guitar 6 & 12’ (1979). You can read more about his restoration project below.
Some of you may recall that Buck, who was originally based in Portland, Maine, moved to Bergamo, Italy, where he now lives with his wife and singer Adele H, along with a growing family. In January, David James Logan filmed the video below for Winter Solstice 1 (for Steffen). The historic setting of Bergamo, whose ancient heart is still surrounded by 16th-century Venetian walls, adds to the haunting beauty of the piece.
Order Solstice: A Tribute to Steffen Basho-Junghans – https://obsoleterecordings.bandcamp.com/album/solstice-a-tribute-to-steffen-basho-junghans
Also: Buck’s 2016 album, Immortal Light (reviewed here), has had a Limited Edition Reissue on Vinyl via the excellent Ramble Records.
Robbie Basho 12 String Restoration Project
It will come as no surprise, now being the caretaker of Robbie Basho’s guitar, that Buck is working to raise funds to restore it later in September, the work is to be sensitively undertaken by a luthier in Italy; the goal being to stabilize it and make it as playable as possible, but not to alter the originality of the instrument.
Buck is offering limited art and music bundles via Bandcamp to help raise the funds needed, details of which can be found here: https://obsoleterecordings.bandcamp.com/merch/robbie-basho-12-string-restoration-project-limited-art-and-music-bundles
Buck shared the following:
This project has significant historic value with the intention of Restoring Robbie Basho’s 12 string to a Stable and Playable condition. Robbie used this unique ‘Mexican’ Handmade 12 string on most of the albums throughout his career. It is featured prominently on the covers of ‘The Falconer’s Arm II (1967) and ‘Art of the Acoustic Steel String Guitar 6 & 12’ (1979).
The guitar was previously owned by my dear friend Steffen Basho-Junghans. Steffen and I had both been searching for this guitar for decades and it was finally found by Liam Barker in California in 2014. Steffen was given the guitar shortly after. Steffen and I often talked about how best to go about restoring the guitar, and after years of discussion, we were making preparations when the Pandemic put an abrupt halt to our passionate endeavour.
Being a guitar maker for many years, I also had the idea to make a replica of the instrument…Steffen loved the idea. Unfortunately, Steffen passed away last December and with the help of his Brother and Best Friend made sure that the guitar went into my possession. I am beyond honoured to care for this instrument and make sure that it is structurally stabilised…so hopefully it can be made to properly play again, so that in the future I will invite select musicians to make some new recordings with the guitar. I believe instruments should be cared for and respected but they need to be played and they need music to flow through their bodies. This 12-string has a unique sound…deep and warm, yet delicate and shimmery. I recently recorded two improvisations for the Tribute I made for Steffen, with the help of a lot of great guitarists from around the world. At the moment, it’s only possible to only play a few notes in the first several frets, pluck open strings and play slide, because the heel of the neck has slipped and the neck has pitched forward…making the action extremely high. At some point the guitar, to a degree, imploded and you can see the top near the fretboard caved in which also broke the rosette.
Anyway, the idea is to make a modest restoration without compromising its originality. If the restoration is successful, I will start the Robbie Basho Guitar Project titled ’27 Apples’ where I will invite select players to play the guitar and I will record them. I will also be writing some articles for the Fretboard Journal and other magazines, and I intend to do some future lectures with the guitar and after these endeavours are finished, I have the intention to bring the guitar to the Smithsonian ‘National Museum of American History’ in Washington, DC.
To do the restoration will require time and I will need to raise funds to get the work done by a luthier who is skilled in restoring historic guitars. To accomplish this, I am offering art and music bundles. There are three categories of bundles. The first is a larger painting set (Limited to 5 Bundles) for 475.00 that includes: one original signed and dated 50cm x 70cm watercolour painting by me, one original signed and dated 48.26cm x 35.56 cm watercolour made by Steffen Basho-Junghans, a signed Vinyl of Robbie Basho Live in Forli 1982, one unique recorded track using the Basho 12 string (once restored), and a digital download of ‘Solstice: A Tribute to Steffen Basho-Junghans’.
The second batch of bundles (Limited to 15 Bundles) is a smaller painting set for 300.00 that includes: one original signed and dated 24cm x 18cm or 32cm x 24cm painting by me, one original signed and dated 31.75cm x 24.13cm by Steffen Basho-Junghans, one unique recorded track using the Basho 12 string (once restored), and a digital download of the ‘Solstice: A Tribute to Steffen Basho-Junghans’.
The last batch of bundles (Limited to 8) are for 100.00 and include: one original painting made on basic paper measuring 41cm x 29cm, signed and dated by Steffen Basho, one original 24cm x 18cm watercolour painting signed and dated by me, and a digital download of the ‘Solstice: A Tribute to Steffen Basho-Junghans’.
Sincere Thanks for any support made towards this historic project.
– Buck Curran
