The Slaperoo is something of a one trick pony, but it's one awfully cool trick.
It's basically composed of square metal tubing with a thin metal band streteched along its length as a "string."
When you beat on it, you change the pitch by pressing the band against the tubing just like
fretting a stringed instrument.
The inventor, Andy Graham,
has a number of other inventions that I would personally love to see exhibited at NAMM.
What we've got here is a lap steel in the middle, flanked by nylon and steel string ukes.
At least the ukes can double as paddles.
And this wraps up my uke coverage for this year.
Mahalo did score extra points for producing the nicest product brochure
I've ever seen. They then subsequently lost all those points (and more) by failing to include any contact information whatsoever in said brochure.
I've seen Bill Clements performing at various NAMM booths for several years.
As you can hear in the video, the guy can play, even while he's having a conversation with someone.
Once you start playing, you have to play to the end… wait, that's Jumanji.
The Harpejji G16 is a tapping instrument that you play from the end.
Each string is one whole step different from its neighbor and you move up a half step for each fret.
The uniform intervals make it an isomorphic instrument, which means that a single chord shape will work in all keys.
Another entry in the "new tapping instrument" category is the Kelstone.
It's more similar to The Stick than the Harpejji because is uses 4ths tuning and you approach it from the side.
It differs from the Stick in that it's played while the instrument rests on a surface rather than being strapped to the body.
A student performing sax or clarinet mouthpiece exercises creates a sound that puts you at risk of having the SPCA being called out,
not so with the Silencer.
The real reason this is in the Oddities is because of my first impression of girl on the poster. She reminds me of
Natalie Portman in the film The Professional.
Then again, I look at things a little differently than most.
How do you make a kazoo even more abrasive? You add a horn that makes it 3X louder and call it The Wazoo.
And if that's not enough, you put a pickup on it for amplification.
With carbon fiber showing up in just about every product imaginable, it was only a matter of time before instruments such as trumpets got the treatment.
The sunflower violin is nice but I don't suspect even a ninja-covered violin is going to make playing violin exciting in the eyes of most 4th grade boys.
