NAMM 2026: Epiphone announces its latest signature model, a vibrantly colorful and soulful SG for singer-songwriter Fatoumata Diawara that proudly wears her Malian roots on its sleeves, or perhaps we should say, on its ‘horns’.
Gibson’s now-classic SG has been around since 1961 and its place in rock and roll history has been set in stone with the likes of Angus Young and Tommy Iommi just a few of the famous artists over the years to use the iconic guitar and have SG signature models birthed in their honour.
Awarded Best Female Artist at the Awards d'Afrique 2020 and nominated at the Grammy Awards the year prior, Fatoumata Diawara has made waves with her unique music, drawing on her ancestral Wassoulou culture and sculpting her signature Afrofuturist sound.
Fatoumata, known for playing an Epiphone SG Muse, is the latest artist to get a signature model, and it’s without doubt one of the most colorful signature models to emerge at NAMM this year. There's no mistaking the Malian influences with its stunning ember red and bold, vibrant pattern.
It’s not just a visually striking guitar though, it has a pretty serious feature set. Both of its volume knobs have a push/pull design, allowing the coils to be split, while one of its two tone knobs can be pushed and pulled to enable phase switching. There’s no shortage of sounds you can get out of its neck and bridge Alnico Classic PRO humbucker pickups, which you toggle between using a standard 3-way switch.
The body is made from mahogany and sports classy gold hardware for a further touch of colorful bling. The neck is made from rosewood and is glued in place as you’d expect from an SG. It also has a comfortable custom C shape profile and features 22 medium jumbo frets with pearloid trapezoid inlays. The 12” neck radius is fairly flat and certainly not as round as you might find on a vintage guitar with a 9.5” or 7.25” radius, though not quite flat as a 16” – so it sits somewhere in the middle.
Other specs of note are a LockTone Tune-O-Matic bridge, a dual action truss rod and a '60s Kalamazoo headstock with Epiphone locking tuners. It also comes with a black Epiphone hard case.
Fatoumata says anyone can play her SG signature – it will be great for rock, blues, pop and reggae – all of which are strong influences in her music, she adds “just bring your own energy”.
The Fatoumata Diawara SG is available from Gibson and Epiphone retailers now, costing $699 in the US or £599 in the UK.
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