Barry Wood's NAMM Oddities 2008 Edition

 Packrat Barry

Other Goodies

The Tone is Out There

[queue: X-Files theme]

Mulder: The X-Cabinet is capable of producing tones never before heard by mere mortals.

Scully: Where did you get that information, Fox?

Mulder: It's right here in the product literature.

The vintage Celestion speakers are all equipped with a foam diffuser in front of the cone. This helps prevent crappy sound when the engineer doesn't know any better and sticks a 57 right in the middle of the speaker.

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The Tone is Out There

Coffee Table or Amp?

If you're tight on space, you might want to consider this tube guitar amp that will double as a coffee table.

I could see something like this showing up in an Ikea catalog.

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Coffee Table or Amp

Lunchbox Amp

Now here's an amp you can really sink your teeth into (this is is where you're supposed to laugh… or not)

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Lunchbox Amp

Walk n' Roll

I wish I could take credit for the title, but I simply swiped it from their product literature. Sometimes these guys just write the copy for me.

Here we have a mini-amplifier built into a guitar strap. As opposed to a belt-mounted amp, the Mighty Moe puts the amp close enough to the guitarist's ears so he can hear himself.

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Walk n' Roll

Stealth Tune

With Stealth Tune you can tune up your guitar and nobody will be the wiser. That is unless they notice that you're playing the guitar, no sound is coming out, and you're turning the tuners.

In theory, this is a pretty cool idea. A tuner is built into a strap and picks up the mechanical vibrations of the guitar so it doesn't need to be plugged in. It was having trouble tuning in the moderate din of NAMM. I don't know how well it would do on a loud stage.

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Stealth Tune

Automatic Tuning Guitar Case

They really should have had a stage magician in the booth to put an untuned guitar into the case, close it, tap it with a wand, pull it out and voila, it's in tune!

At the 2013 NAMM Show Goltar now has a new free-standing tuner.

  • Goltar Inc.
  • 824 Mohawk Parkway
  • Cape Coral, FL 33914
  • (905) 682-4731
  • www.goltar.com

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Automatic Tuning Guitar Case

Kickstand

Never get caught without a guitar stand again. Hook one of these babies on your guitar and just flip it out when you want to put your guitar down.

I had this nagging feeling that I'd seen this product before, and I was right. Back in 2002 there was a product being shown at NAMM called the Quickstand that looks almost identical.

Nick Edelstein clued me in about a vintage version of this idea in the venerable Guild Thunderbird.

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Kickstand

StagePlayer Stool/Stand

I thought this was pretty clever, it's a stool with flip-down arms that turns it into a guitar stand. The entire unit folds up into a fairly compact unit.

When you're playing you don't need a stand and when you're not playing you don't need a stool, right?

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StagePlayer Stool/Stand

Double Duty

And here's another product that combines a guitar stand with something else, this time an amplifier.

You'll want to make sure you turn down your guitar before you put it on this stand.

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Double Duty

Playing GrabAxe

It seems that the show this year was filled with guitar stand haters.

This looks to be a simple, yet effective weapon for cleansing the world of guitar stands.

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Playing GrabAxe

Alien Hand Mic Stand

Just wedge this appendage in between your cabinet and your head (or under the handle of your combo) and you won't have to worry about tripping over a mic stand in front of your amp.

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Alien Hand Mic Stand

Cab Grabber

That "Oddities come in pairs" thing strikes again, this time with the Cab Grabber from Audix.

  • Audix
  • P.O. Box 4010, 9400 S.W. Barber St.
  • Winsonville, OR 97070
  • (503) 682-6933
  • www.audixusa.com

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Cab Grabber

Candy-Coated Cases

Bam has added a yummy candy coating to their thermoformed ABS cases. You won't miss this one on the baggage carousel at the airport.

  • Bam Cases
  • Rue de la Vignerie
  • 14160, Dives-sur-Mer, France
  • 33(0)2 31 24 55 72
  • www.bamcases.com

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Candy-Coated Cases

Pimp Your Guitar's Ride

You can either go with the vintage car pinstripes or the R. Crumb-inspired visual explosion. Either way, you make a statement.

  • Sabic Innovative Plastics
  • One Plastics Ave.
  • Pittsfield, MA 01201
  • (413) 448-7110
  • www.sabic-ip.com

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Pimp Your Guitar's Ride

Mono Cases

According to NIH statistics, there has been a rise in the incidence of… oops, wrong mono.

This probably is the nicest soft case I've ever seen. There are several pockets, a handle and straps that work over the shoulder or as a backpack. They use more high-tech materials than a polar-rated mummy bag from REI.

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Mono Cases

Cables For All Occasions

You can be prepared for your next Vegas gig, hospital benefit or overseas military base tour.

I like the idea of plugging the syringe into the input of an amp… don't worry, this won't hurt a bit.

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Cables For All Occassions

Explosive Vocals

If the guitar player has a hand grenade guitar cable, then the singer needs to up the ante and pick up one of these hand grenade mic stands. It uses a one-hand adjustment system so you squeeze the grenade handle to change the height.

Ultimate has a whole line of garish mic stands including one with a celtic cross and another with brass knuckles.

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Explosive Vocals

For the Well-Hung Guitar

Again, here is a company that's doing my job for me. The title is taken right from their flyer.

The thing that puts these on the oddities map is their unique method of securing the strap at a specific length. One part of the strap feeds into the other and when you put the guitar on, the outer part constricts and prevents the other from sliding out.

  • Slither Guitar Straps
  • 8326 SE 28th Ave
  • Portland, OR 97202
  • (503) 974-9010
  • www.slithergs.com

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For the Well Hung Guitar

Perfect Tune Bridge

This ingenious bridge design utilizes springs that will, in theory, keep the guitar in perfect tune no matter how much bending you do.

I like that you could use the palm of your hand on the curved tabs for moderate whammy bar effects. I would imagine that you could do some cool non-uniform bending.

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Perfect Tune Bridge

WooDi

If you looked at this DI and thought that it was designed specifically for acoustic instruments… you'd be right.

  • Rolf Spuler - Guitars Design Engineering GmbH
  • Im Halt 25
  • CH-5412 Gebenstorf
  • switzerland
  • +41 79 673 1551
  • http://www.rolfspuler.com

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Woodi

Brace-ade

While it might sound like a product for smile-challenged teens, Brace-ade is a guitar sound board support system that can be fitted to any guitar (except for maybe this one) without requiring surgery.

  • DnR Guitars, LLC
  • 3769 Peralta Blvd, Ste J
  • Fremont, CA 94536
  • (510) 713-0367
  • www.braceade.com

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Brace-ade
Next Up: Percussion

©2008 Barry Wood