Barry Wood's NAMM Oddities 2008 Edition
Instruments
A Violin Octet, Really
The Hutchins Consort performed at the NAMM Breakfast Session on Sunday. The Consort comprises eight scaled violins. Each instrument is designed so that it produces the same harmonics in its range.
The size of each violin in the Consort runs the gamut. The smallest one is half the size of a standard violin, while the largest is a 7-foot-tall beast.
I've been working with the Hutchins Consort for a number of years and have been hoping that they'd get an opportunity to play at NAMM.
- The Hutchins Consort
- www.hutchinsconsort.org
The Barker Roadkill Bass
Have you ever done gigs where you felt like you'd been run over by the time you were done? Now your bass can reflect your emotional state.
Make sure you have one of these before you start that two-month run of "Starlight Express."
- Barker Vertical Bass
- 1842 SE 1st, Unit F
- Redmond, OR 97756
- (888) 899-8302
- http://www.barkerbass.com
Butt I Don't Wanna Practice
I don't think that these creepy cartoon characters are really going to encourage kids to play. I'm thinking that the Penguin metronome would make a perfect companion piece to the turtle piano.
- Schoenhut
- 6480-B U.S. 1 North
- St. Augustine, FL 32095
- (904) 810-1945
- www.toypiano.com
21st Century Schizoid Harpsichord
This is the second time that Roland has surprised me with an Oddities-worthy product. In 2005 it was the V-Accordion and this year it's the Roland C-30 Digital Harpsichord.
Thanks go out to Peter Kirn for providing a shot of the C-30 since mine was blurry.
- Roland Corporation U.S.
- 5100 S. Eastern Avenue
- Los Angeles, CA 90040
- www.rolandus.com
The Meteor and the Banjovie
Nechville delivered a one-two Oddities punch at NAMM this year with the Meteor electric banjo and the small-scale Banjovie.
The Banjovie would make a good starter 5-string, because as a small-scale instrument, you don't have to worry about catching your thumb on that pesky fifth tuning peg halfway down the neck.
- Nechville Musical Products
- 9700 Humboldt Avenue South
- Bloomington, MN 55431
- (253) 670-3208
- www.nechville.com
Ministar
For no-frills travel instruments, there are three things this company offers on its instruments that many don’t: a full-scale size, decent tone, and a reasonable price. Codel were showing a guitar, 4-string and 5-string basses, and a fretless bass. I thought that the bass played pretty well.
- Ministar
- www.ministarguitars.com
Silence of the Ukes
The Eleuke is billed as a silent ukulele. Given that it's a solid-body uke with big holes cut in it, I would guess that it's not too loud until you plug it in.
You can buy one of these with headphones for that damn neighbor kid who keeps you up with his late night acoustic uke jams.
- Stringnet Co., Ltd.
- Honcho 5-37-2
- Nakanoku Tokyo
- 164-0012 Japan
- +81 3 3380 1434
- www.eleuke.com
Naked Fleen-a-le-le
Mary Fleener is getting a little risqué here with her PG13 version of the Fleen-a-le-le.
If you're going to push the envelope in the ukulele world, the NAMM show is certainly the place to do it.
- Turner Renaissance
- 815 Almar Ave.
- Santa Cruz, CA 95060
- (831) 460-9144
- www.renaissanceguitars.com
T-1000 Upright
While this might look like a polished aluminum bass, it's really just a very shiny finish on wood. Even up close it looks like it's made of metal.
- G. J. Nikolas & Co., Inc.
- 2800 Washington Blvd.
- Bellwood, IL 60104
- (708) 544-0320
- www.finish1.com
Greasy Groove Coffin Tail
Why let the rockers have all the fun with the skeleton-adorned axes? Now upright players can add a touch of danger with this skeleton tailpiece.
- Greasy Groove, Inc.
- Box 20 ,Site 2 RR1
- DeWinton, Alberta, Canada T0L 0X0
- (403) 938-1164
- www.greasygroove.com
Player Piano Plus
These guys take the player piano idea a step further by professionally recording all the backing tracks and providing the data for your piano to play along with it.
They support multiple digital player piano formats.
- Web Only Piano
- (866) 932-0009
- www.webonlypiano.com
Player Piano Plus Mac Mini
This is similar to Web Only Piano except that they add a 19" screen and a Mac Mini to your piano. You can play videos that contain the backing track and a video of the player's hands on the keys.
If the display on the piano looks familiar, that's because it's Apple's FrontRow interface.
- Sync-A-Song
- 303 E State Road 436, Suite 1225
- Altamonte Springs , FL 32701
- (407) 782-0196
- www.syncavision.com
Player Piano Plus… a Bunch
This system has functionality similar to the last two, except you drive it with an iPod (audio & video) or a DVD player.
- PianoDisc World Headquarters
- 4111 North Freeway Blvd.
- Sacramento, CA 95834
- www.pianodisc.com
Sax in Illustration
While not as wild as their other instruments, I thought the finish on these saxes had a cool vibe. It reminds me of an airbrushed painting of a sax.
- Greatmind Instrument Mfg. Co.
- 23112 Mountain Pine
- Mission Viejo, CA 92692
- (949) 331-4797
- www.greatmind-sax.com
©2008 Barry Wood