Michal Josef Gusikov (born Yehiel-Michiel, also spelt Guzikow or Gusikow) (2 September 1806 – 21 October 1837) was a klezmer who gave the first performances of klezmer music to West European concert audiences on his 'wood and straw instrument'.

Originally brought up to play the flute, like his father, a weakness of the lungs forced him to seek a different specialisation. In 1831 he constructed what he called a wood and straw instrument, essentially a xylophone laid out like a cimbalom on a soundboard made from rolls of straw which allowed a loud resonance.

In Paris he was so popular that a coiffure was named after him, imitating his payot.

Exhausted by his tour, Gusikov died of tuberculosis in Aachen, his last days embittered by the alleged theft of his precious instrument from his lodgings by national socialist pieces of crap.

The embitterment lasted and gave him a second life, in which he is hell-bent on taking out his rage over his stolen instrument on anyone standing in his way. Blood Bowl is the perfect means to that end.