NAMM Oddities 2007 The Other Room
Guitars Goodies Percussion Instruments Techno Geek Toys You Figure It Out
Guitars

Split-Level Doubleneck

Amidst the standard issue guitar knock-offs, this Chinese company had one of the most unique double-neck guitars I've ever seen. Not only that, it looks like it's pretty darn playable. Even if you sling it real low, you can grab the front neck over the top.

Guangzhou Pearl River Instrument Co
No. 13 Maoxiangyuan
Fang Cun Da Dao
Fang Cun, GuangZhou, China
+20 81562302
www.gzpri.com

Staxk G3X1

 

Electric Babes Guitar

Cheeky Guitar

Meet Lilly. She and her sisters Layla and Lola, all share a common physical feature, best appreciated as they walk away from you.

design4sound Vertriebs GmbH
Mooslackengasse 17
A-1190 Vienna, Austria
+43 (1) 23060-3051
www.electric-babes.net

 

Zuni booth

Not Quite PETA-Approved

I wondered why in the world this booth had big dead things adorning it. When I took a closer look, I found that they used bits of antlers for the tuning keys, knobs and nuts. Somehow I don't think you'll see Thom York or Moby playing one of these any time soon.

Zuni Guitars
P.O. Box 10
#4 Main Street
Alto Pass, IL 62905
(618) 893-4343
www.zuniguitars.com

Zuni Guitar

 

Fluer De Lys Guitars

Perforated Guitars

These guitars had holes in the top of their side panels, permitting the player to hear more guitar sound. In theory, it makes the guitar louder overall, but I couldn't notice the difference considering the 85db background noise at NAMM.

Sound Port Technology
P.O. Box 4037
Valley Village, CA 91617
(818) 760-9164
www.fleurdelysguitars.com

 

Carbon Travel Guitar

The Blackbird is a single-piece carbon-fiber guitar. The sound hole is up around the 12th fret on the top of the body. Previously, I've not been impressed with carbon fiber guitars, but this one actually sounded better than any other I've heard. I'll bet it would make a good paddle in an emergency.

Blackbird Guitars
(415) 625-0977
www.blackbirdguitar.com

Blackbird Guitar

 

Axe

Two Sides of the Odd Coin

It's not very often that in one booth you find something odd & cool alongside something odd & cheesy, but these guys pulled it off. You gotta love that gold tooth in the skull.

Guitarras de las Americas
(619) 892-6669
www.guitarsla.com

Axe

 

Bell & Head guitar

Word Association

Maybe Bell & Head sounds cooler in German than it does in English, but after hearing the name, I'm left with some sort of vague Pavlovian/pornographic image. Anyway, it's kind of a cool-looking guitar anyway.

Cassandra Elk Design
Hof Geierslay 1
54497 Morbach
+49 (0) 6533 - 9589662
www.cassandraelk.com

 

Math Rock Unplugged

If you can't dazzle them with your technical prowess, you can at least dizzy them with the design on your guitar.

Eleca International Inc.
21088 Commerce Pointe Dr.
Walnut, CA 91789
(909) 468-1382
www.elecaamps.com

Eleca Guitar

 

Gary Kramer - Bondage

Bondage & Tight Frets

I'm guessing that they call the guitar (at left) the "Bondage" model because it's bound in leather. It has an interesting concave back, which may or may not have anything to do with carnal tastes.

They've also refined the Delta Wing guitar (right) and added a dozen more frets with the F1 model.

Gary Kramer Guitar
741 Lairport St.
El Segundo, CA 90245
(310) 335-5248
www.garykramerguitar.com

Gary Kramer - Delta Wing

 

Cartoony Acoustics

They really ought to have a Yosemite Sam model.

The Music Link
P.O. Box 162
Brisbane, CA 94005
(888) 552-5465
www.themusiclink.net

Recording King Guitars

 

Minarik Goddess

Hindu Double-Neck

My guess is that the goddess depicted here is Saraswati, given that she is associated with music. Having four arms would come in handy with a double-neck, wouldn't it?

I wonder if it would be blasphemous to use a leather strap on one of these?

Minarik Guitars
413 Ross Street
Glendale, CA 91207
(818) 243-3733
www.minarikguitars.com

 

Flaxwood Guitar - front

My Guitar Has a First Name…

Flaxwood isn't just the name of the company, it's the name of the composite material. They take wood, grind it up, mix it with some binder, and injection-mold it to make their guitars. It sounds like calling a slice of bologna a steak, but hey, whatever works. As you can see, the back is formed into an acoustic resonator.

Flaxwood
Muovilaaksontie 6
82110 Heinävaara
Finland
+358 40 703 1023
www.flaxwood.com

Flaxwood Guitar - back

 

Left-Handed Tiger

Another pearl hidden amongst the various knock-off swine was this cool Korean tiger guitar.

Kraken Custom Guitars
860-1, Dukdo-ri, Gwangjeok-myeon
Yangju-si, Gyeonggi-do 482-843, Korea
+82 31 871 6195
www.krakenguitars.com

Minarik Goddess

 

Bridgecraft Guitars

Many Scary Things

Bridgecraft has made appearances in the Oddities past and this year they fielded three odd-worthy guitars. The blue dragon-thing, the double-neck blue dragon-thing, and the flashing bat. The double-neck was especially interesting since the top neck leans closer to the player.

Bridgecraft USA
8435 Eastern Ave.
Bell Gardens, CA 90201
(562) 334-1888
www.bridgecraftusa.com

 

Jersey Girl Guitars

Collect the Entire Set

I'd hate to step on a pedal that looks this nice. This pair of Jersey Girl products goes a bit beyond color-coordination.

Boston Guitar Imports
1717 Main Street
Brockton, MA 02301
(888) 422-3228
www.jerseygirlguitars.com

Jersey Girl Effects

 

Dread Naught Hole

For a mainstream company, Martin has shown a tendency to dip it's toes in the odd. Even if it's just a prototype or two, they show up.

C. F. Martin & Co., Inc.
510 Sycamore Street
P. O. Box 329
Nazareth, Pennsylvania 18064-0329
(610) 759-2837
www.martinguitar.com

Martin Alternative Prototype

 

G# Guitar

G# Guitar

It's called the G-sharp because that's where the lowest string is tuned. The idea was to build a high-quality short-scale guitar and it looks like they're well on their way. The model pictured here has a whammy bar that can be attached two places, at the bottom or in the middle.

G Sharp Instruments AS
Borggt. 2-4, N-1608
Fredrikstad, Norway
+47 9225 4624
www.g-sharpguitar.com

 

Raptorcaster

Maybe they built this for Steve Miller to play on one song… or maybe not.

Fibenare Guitars
1756 Budapest, P.O. Box 44, Hungary
+36 (70) 235-28-69
www.fibenare-guitars.com

Fibenare Guitar

 

Eastwood Guitar

Raising the Dead

Eastwood is bringing back the guitars from dead companies of yesteryear. Only this time, they've got higher quality parts to equip them with.

Eastwood Guitars
348 Guelph St. #14
Georgetown, Ontario
Canada, L7G-4B5
(905) 702-8291
www.eastwoodguitars.com

Eastwood Guitar

 

What's in a Name?

With a company name like Henmanbevilacqua it's no wonder they named this guitar model the "S1." They had to get that letter count down somehow. I especially liked the ultra-clean design of these guitars.

Henmanbevilacqua Guitars
(310) 430-2796
www.henbev.com

Henmanbevilacqua Guitar

 

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©2007 Barry Wood