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Really Big Guitar Players Ibanez and Orange Amps both fielded king size guitar players for this show. |
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Metasonix Butt Probe Metasonix is a stalwart follower of the "truth in advertising" credo. They do their best to warn you of audio atrocities that their pedals will inflict on your audio. The Butt Probe sounds pretty much like you'd expect, particularly in light of the fact that anal lubricant is not included. Metasonix |
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Keytar V-1 Think "autoharp meets guitar" with this guy. There are twelve keys and twelve strings. Each key will unmute one of the strings so you play notes on the keyboard and strum the strings. Once you've got a key pressed, you can use aftertouch to bend it. It's all housed in a hollow aluminum body. Keytar, Inc. |
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Eyeland Straps These are the creepiest straps I think I've ever seen. The one on the left would make a great companion to a DeGennaro guitar that I saw at the show this year. The eye straps were even better. If I looked down at one on my shoulder I would have a hard time not thinking about that scene in Army of Darkness. If this all isn't enough for, you the eye shown at the bottom right has lights in it that flash red and blue. Eyeland Enterprises |
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Rock Strap And speaking of straps, now vocalists can share in the gunslinger personna that guitar players have been monopolizing. You can get these in about 30 different colors and can be made custom. They are also equipped with a pocket for a 9-volt battery for a quick wireless mic reload. Rock Strap |
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Muncy Guitars Here's a new approach to guitar intonation. Muncy makes guitars with fretboards made of hardened aluminum that look kind of like washboards. This allows them to perfectly place the position of each fret for each string. They've also got their own approach for attaching the guitar neck. I asked about a tremolo, but they said that they were going to have to design their own because there was nothing available that was as accurate as they would like. Muncy Guitars |
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Lighted Bullhorn The clever minds at Sekaku have made a conceptual breaththough in bullhorn technology by adding LEDs to that doohickie in the middle. What will they think of next? Sekaku Electron Industry (H.K.) Co., Ltd. |
Outbreak Vocal Synth After being gone from NAMM for a year, Outbreak was back with a new and improved prototype of their Vocal Synth product. This is an instrument that outputs MIDI notes based on your humming into a tube. You select a key with the membrane switches and it will pitch quantize your voice and output the notes. They are planning on adding a bluetooth remote that will let someone else select the key. The earlier prototype used a small keyboard to select the key. Outbreak! Music Systems |
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iCoustic built-in amplification This system allows you to get more volume from your acoustic instrument with the added advantage of being able to place signal processors in the loop as well. You can also plug-in a line level signal from a drum machine or iPod and that will be mixed with the instrument sound. i Coustic Enterprises LLC |
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Guitar-Shaped Computer Desk Are you a guitar player who's computer workstation needs a little more guitar vibe? Well here's the desk for you. It looked like they were partial to Fenders but I'm sure you could get a Les Paul if you really wanted one. They also produce all manner of custom tables and stools to complement your new desk. Designer Creation, LLC |
Miniature Oddities Oddities occur in all shapes and sizes. Here is a particularly tiny one. I was impressed with the level of detail, as these mini guitars actually have strings. While not as small as the Cornell nano guitar, these would be easier to display at home. Henry Import & Export |
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Tasty Licks Another innovation from the company that brought us the "World's first digital interactive confections." Here we have a sucker with a mini CD-ROM that contains a guitar lesson. Lite Pop |
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Players Music Accessories These fine folks have given us two products to showcase in the Oddities. Their guitar silencer is designed to fit into the sound hole of your acoustic and will let you close it up to help prevent feedback on stage. They also provided us with an Oddities staple, translucent items. In this instance, we have saxophone mouthpieces. Players Music Accessories |
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Little Fretty Now you can improve your fretting skills anywhere. Just whip little fretty out and go to town. It's made to clean up easily so you can take it places you wouldn't dream of bringing your guitar… like ringside seats at the local naked mud wrestling bar. But then again that might not be the best place to be fondling something shaped like this. Little Fretty |
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Hearing Aid This is a different approach to a hearing aid because it doesn't close the ear canal. The small titanium tube is impanted in your ear (ouch) and the hearing aid just seats into the end. They told me that they were working on an in-ear monitor that would plug in the same tube. I would guess that someone wanting to use it would either have to be a hearing-impaired musician or someone who is extrememly serious about their in ear monitors. Auric Hörsysteme Gmbh & Co. KG |
Pick N' Prover Along the lines of warming up with weighted bats and clubs, the Pick N' Prover will let you build up your picking muscles for more strength and endurance. You wouldn't want to cramp up and have to drop out of that upcoming guitar marathon. Pick N' Prover |
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Guitar Stereo Speaker Here we have a guitar that's been turned into a speaker. Take a look at SGs web site. They have some of the most intriguing speaker designs that I've ever seen. SG Custom Sound |
Really Big Tuning Peg This is a nice start, although I'd like to see them build the violin for this to go into. Now that would be something. |
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NAMM Oddities '05 Home | Guitars |
Other Goodies | Percussion |
| 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. These web pages are not associated with or sponsored by NAMM |
Send your suggestions, clarifications, rants or praise to oddinfo@otheroom.com
©2005 Barry Wood