Barry Wood's NAMM Oddities 2015 Edition

 Packrat Barry

Percussion

My Eyes are Up Here

If this had been da Vinci's Mona Lisa, I don't know that anyone would have noticed the smile.

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Stone Custom Drum Co.

Not a Stunt Drum

When I saw this at NAMM I thought it was just one of those items designed to ensnare people like me but when I visited the National Music Museum in South Dakota, I learned about Goblet Drums, which were used in Buddhist temples to signal the start of the day.

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Tycoon USA

The Anthropology Wing

These varied "drumsticks" look like a display of indigenous Polynesian weapons.

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Headhunters Drumsticks

Ummmm…

Something tells me this isn't going to become the new fitness craze sweeping the nation.

  • Aschenbach Audio Team GmbH & Co. KG
  • Herr Kai Aschenbach, Industriestr. 26
  • 24536 Neumünster
  • www.fit4drums.com

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Pads For Your iPad

I really liked Roland's HandSonic HPD-15 because it had a very organic feel when you played it. I got the same feeling playing the Jambé.

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Sensorpoint, Inc

Closer to the Peart

As a long-time Rush fan, I really enjoyed getting an up-close look at the R40 drum kit. It's made from 1,500-year-old oak pulled from a bog in Romania and has artwork from previous albums inlayed on each drums.

I got to see the kit in action when I saw them on the last date of the tour.

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Drum Workshop, Inc.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Apparently Zildjian has found a new application for their Spiral Trash Cymbal

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Avedis Zildjian Company

Customary Acrylic

A NAMM without translucent drums is like a day without sunshine... which would technically be night.

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Solidrums

Beat Box Bling

Next to translucent instruments, metal flake paint jobs are the most popular motifs found at NAMM.

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Peace Drums Co., Ltd.

The Well-Appointed Cajon

Adjustable "snare" sound, adjustable bass port for tuning, and an internal micing system. What more could you want in a cajon?

  • Pur Cajon Manufaktur
  • Lotte Lehmann Promenade 1
  • 5026 Salzburg, Austria
  • www.pur-cajon.com

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Pur Cajon Manufaktur

Kitchen Sink Cajon

The only thing missing is a bulb horn for the comedic accents.

  • Latin Percussion
  • 160 Belmont Avenue
  • Garfield, New Jersey 07026
  • www.lpmusic.com

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Latin Percussion

Switch Hitter

This kick pedal system has all manner of unusual beaters that you can swap out with their quick release system.

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Serve the public trust, protect the innocent, uphold the drinks

I think that this paraphrasing of RoboCop's prime directive serves as a reasonable guide for the RoboCup.

This spring loaded stick/drink holder does seem like a very useful product.

  • The RoboCup, LLC
  • 5130 S. Fort Apache Rd.
  • Suite #215-180
  • Las Vegas, NV 89148
  • www.therobocup.com

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The RoboCup, LLC

Top Address Bass Drum

No longer must marching bass drum players be obscured by their instruments of choice.

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Ergosonic Percussion

Decouple All Things

I've been very happy with the performance of the Recoil Stabilizers that I use with my nearfield monitors. The Booty Shakers use the same acoustic decoupling idea on drums to allow them to more freely resonate.

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TnR Products

Rimshot-Resistant Tuning

If you find that your rim shots are causing your snare to detune, you might want to try these out.

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Rimshot-Locs

As Prophesied by Billy Squire

The patented "Spinal-Glide" technology that the Motion Pro drums thrones use is ergokinetic, which I think has a different definition from the term used in anime.

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Spinalglide Drum Thrones, LLC

Get Lit

…which was their marketing slogan for their LED drum thrones. I suppose that's better than "where the sun now shines from."

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Arts & Crafts

I was hoping that these would be available as wood burning kits, but alas, no.

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Gretsch Drums
Next Up: Instruments

©2015 Barry Wood