Guitarists might explore many styles while trying to find their mojo, but if you're looking for an authentic bluegrass sound on that electric six-string, Jon Langberg's Guitar-Jo might help. The string dampener gives an electric guitar a banjo-like sound, and the original under-string device from 2015 has now been updated to a slick-looking over string muffler.
Guitar-Jo 1 was attached to a guitar's body or scratch plate using micro-suction technology and three circular pads took dampening duties for two strings each.
The second generation flavor still uses micro-suction to stick the mounting foot to a flat guitar's body (such as a Stratocaster or SG, not a Les Paul), but this time there's a dampening pad for each string. The main body/arm is positioned above the strings and each pad can be adjusted to slightly mute individual strings.
![Guitar-Jo 2 is positioned near the neck pickup, allowing the guitarist to pick the strings behind it while fretting the neck](https://assets.newatlas.com/dims4/default/5f262db/2147483647/strip/true/crop/680x453+0+0/resize/680x453!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnewatlas-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Farchive%2Fguitar-jo-2-electric-guitar-banjo-4.jpg)
The device's ideal position is near the neck pickup, allowing the guitarist to pick the strings behind it while fretting on the neck. The overall height of the main body/arm can be adjusted to cater for different string heights and it swivels for positioning flexibility.
The result should be something that approximates real-world banjo twang – perfect for country blues moments or to recreate the 1972 movie magic of Billy Redden and Ronny Cox.
The refined and redesigned Guitar-Jo 2 has been launched on Kickstarter to fund production. Pledge start at US$45. If all goes to plan, shipping is expected to start in February 2018. The pitch video below introduces the device.
Sources: Guitar-Jo, Kickstarter