Africa Travel Stories Newsletter Go ahead, sign up for any or all of BootsnAll's newsletters. Choose from daily articles, special deals or travel news from around the world. When you pick up an Almaz guitar, you can feel it wasn't made in a factory.
Wood grain rises into the enamel paint.
The bracket that holds down the strings could be used on a kitchen faucet. The Who's Pete Townshend would have trouble swinging it in the air - and it wouldn't splinter after the first smash on the ground. Yet, the Almaz is not just an ancestor to the guitar. It's not just two strings vibrating on a piece of goatskin that's been stretched over a calabash. It's a real instrument that African guitar icons, like Franco or King Sunny Ade, could bring on-stage.