Han Beyli had a vision for the perfect instrument on which to play his ear-grabbing original music, a blend of jazz, funk, singer-songwriter, and Mugham—an ancient Azerbaijani improvisational form of art that involves music performance and poetry. Designed by Ukranian luthier Stas Pokotylo, the 6-string that Beyli calls Almita (tiny soul) features a fretted fingerboard for the B, E, A, and Dstrings, and a fretless fingerboard for the G and C strings. The idea occurred to Beyli several years ago when a friend gifted him an Ibanez 6-string Ashula hybrid, which had a fretless fingerboard for the B and E strings and a fretted fingerboard for the A-through-C strings. It’s been a long road for Beyli, who was born and raised in the now war-torn eastern Ukranian city of Kharkiv, to parents of Azerbaijani descent. He started on guitar at age 7 and picked up the bass at 14, inspired by his brother, a drummer who invited Han to play in his band a year later. He also studied with a Mugham mas