@kobu.tinker

Recording engineer turned guitarist; learned the instrument by reverse-engineering the post-production chains he'd been mixing for a decade. Plays in a Tuesday-night jazz quartet at a Detroit hotel bar.

The Jaguar came first — a 2009 Crafted-in-Japan he bought from a friend's estate sale. The AC15 he picked up in 2017 specifically to push the Jag harder; the Custom mode on the CE-2W is the one knob he won't let anyone else touch.

Born in Yokohama, moved to Ann Arbor at nine when his mother took a research position at U-M. Stayed in Michigan for undergrad, audio engineering at Wayne State. Lives in a Hamtramck two-flat with his partner, a public-defender, and her elderly beagle. Day job is staff engineer at a Ferndale studio that mostly cuts hip-hop and the occasional indie record. Tuesdays he drives to the Atheneum for the 8 p.m. set, home by midnight. Owns no car payments and a 2008 Element that he refuses to replace.

First instrument was upright bass in middle-school orchestra, abandoned at 15 for a four-track and a microphone. Spent his twenties behind the glass — tracking, mixing, mastering for hire — without seriously playing anything. Picked up guitar at 31 because a session guitarist no-showed and he had to scratch a part himself. Studied for two years with a retired Detroit session player who'd cut sides for Motown adjacent labels; the lessons were mostly about voicings and when not to play. The Tuesday quartet started in 2019 as a one-off and never stopped — standards mostly, with the occasional Frisell tune snuck into the second set. Still considers himself an engineer who plays, not the other way around.