NAMM Oddities 2004 The Other Room
Guitars Goodies Percussion Instruments Techno Geek Toys You Figure It Out
Guitars
Flip Out Guitar

Flip Out Guitar

Dewey Decibel gets it, he understands what the NAMM Oddities are all about. If there was a product made for these web pages this is it. I don't know that I can say anything about these that they don't already say. There is a link on the flipout site to Dewey's band. They do quirky power pop along the lines of They Might Be Giants. Very cool stuff.

Dewey Decibel, Inc.
1094 Revere Ave, Ste A5
San Francisco, CA 94124
(415) 671-2110
www.flipoutguitar.com

 

Kammerer Acoustic Guitar

As you can see this isn't your normal acoustic guitar. The curves are supposed to enhance the resonance of the instrument. I think it's worth a look because at least they put the curve on the front - unlike Ovation guitars that slide off your lap when you sit and try to play them without a strap.

Jon Kammerer Guitars
222 Timea Street
Keokuk, IA 52632
(319) 526-7651
www.jonkammererguitars.com

Kammerer Guitar

 

RKS guitars

RKS Guitars

The RKS guitars are basically semi-hollow body electric guitars with the top removed. This gives them that cool gill look. Personally I think they should have called the orange one "The Lungfish" model.

RKS Guitars
350 Conejo Ridge Ave.
Thousand Oaks, CA 91361
(805) 370-5858
www.rksguitars.com

RKS guitars

 

Teuffel Guitar

Back in 2000 I covered the Birdfish guitar from Teuffel (which they are still producing). This guitar is a bit more conventional but still has a unique shape and the same textured finish.

Teuffel Guitars
Weissenhorner straße 13
89233 Neu-Ulm, Germany
www.teuffelguitars.com

Teuffel Guitar

 

Tube Guitar

Tube Guitar

Now here's something unusual (how many times do I get to say that?) Instead of a truss rod this guitar uses a second set of strings that run under the convex neck. Presumably this second set of 12 strings would use some sort of open tuning.

Pick-up the World
722 E. Francisco
P.O. Box 450
La Veta, CO 81055
(719)-742-5303
www.pick-uptheworld.com

Tube Guitar

 

Centurian

Centurian Guitar

The heart of this innovation is the "stress-a-way bridge". The strings are anchored such that the stress is distributed allowing you to build a guitar with a lighter, more lively top.

Century Guitars
Box 404
Hillsboro, OH 45133
(937) 393-4391

 

Babicz Guitar

This is a similar solution arrived at from a different direction. The "String Anchors" are intended to to transmit some of the energy of playing back into the body of the guitar. These guitars also have a neck that can be adjusted on the fly to raise or lower the action without altering the scale length.

Jeff Babicz Guitars
P.O. Box 1007
Poughkeepsie, NY 12602
www.jeffbabiczguitars.com

Babicz guitar

 

Cole Clark Guitars

Cole Clark Guitars

A skateboard and a lap steel guitar in one. Now why hasn't anyone thought of this before? Oh yeah, forget I asked.

Cole Clark Guitars
Factory 3
7 Clare St.
Bayswater, Victoria, Australia 3153
+61 03 9720 1696
www.coleclarkguitars.com

 

Switch Guitars

These guitars are molded whole from a polyurethane resin that frees them from the structural whims of mere wood. These caught my eye at the show, if they had a black light in the booth they probably would have put out my eye.

Switch Music, Inc.
1900 S. Proforma Ave, Ste F-2
Ontario, CA 91761
(909) 947-8618
www.switchmusic.com

Switch Guitars

 

ESP Guitars

ESP Guitars

Another NAMM show and ESP's custom shop comes through again. They're covering some serious ground here, the Rat Pack, 70s Car-toons and Anime.

The ESP Guitar Company
10903 Vanowen St., Unit A
North Hollywood, CA 91605
(800) 423-8388
www.espguitars.com

ESP Guitars ESP Guitars

 

Hallmark Guitars

Hallmark Guitars

This a unique double-neck guitar that has standard 6-string and a baritone 6-string necks. The inlay on the neck lights up too.

Hallmark Guitars
P.O. Box 242
Greenbelt, MD 20768
www.hallmarkguitars.com

 

Delmundo Guitars

Delmundo is still at it making uniquely-shaped acoustic instruments. They are still making the models that I saw last year.

Delmundo Guitars
(323) 731-3305
(720) 838-6525
www.delmundoguitars.com

Delmundo Guitars

 

Chafin Custom Guitars

Chafin Custom Guitars

Chafin has six different designs for the Sonic Art bridges that they put on their guitars. The one shown is the "Tribal Sun" model.

Chafin Custom Guitars
2660 Enterprise Road
clearwater, FL 33763
(727) 793-9068
www.chafincustom.com

 

Martin guitar

Custom Martin Guitars

Jeez, even Martin's getting into the act. After I looked closer at these I noticed that there was a recurring character. As it turns out it looks like it's Chris Martin making an appearance. They've also got a limited edition Felix the Cat guitar. (it doesn't have Chris on it though)

Martin Guy

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

Martin guitar

 

CMGuitars

CMGuitars

This is one of the Balance models of electro-acoustic guitars that CMG makes. The body is split into three different chambers, each tuned to resonate in a specific frequency range.

CMGuitars
47495 Rheinberg
Rheinstraße 5, Germany
(+49) 2843 16306
www.cmguitars.com

 

DeGennaro Wild Thing

Take a look at this, well, wild guitar. No esoteric building materials or techniques, just some artful woodworking.

DeGennaro Guitars
www.degennaroguitars.com

DeGennaro guitar

 

Guangzhou guitar

Translucent Guitar

What would the NAMM Oddities be without a new entry in the translucent guitar category? Here's a small scale guitar complete with a tiny translucent amp.

Guangzhou sunny Development Corp.
Room C, 6/F
Cuizhu Road, Qiaoxiqu
Guangzhoudadoa, Guangzhou
China 510310
(86) 20-3421--26
www.chineseguitar.com

 

NAMM Oddities '04 Home | Guitars | Other Goodies | Percussion
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Don't be surprised if you find that the product or the company you see on these pages has ceased to exist, particularly as the pages get older. One function of the NAMM Oddities is that of a historical archive of attempted products.
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©2004 Barry Wood