Optimus Pine
The fact that when folded up, this guitar stand will fit in your guitar case behind the neck of the guitar is enough to make it a winning design in my book.
It does kind of remind me of Dar's Glaive though.
- Coopercopia, LLC
- P.O. 17333
- Nashville, TN 37217
- www.cooperstand.com
Guitar Stand Templar
This might be useful if you're playing a gig in an out-of-the-way Mexican bar and things turn supernatural.
- Von Saint
- (760) 579-9122
- www.vonsaintdesign.com
There's a Spider on Your Neck!
The Spider Capo allows you to selectively capo each string on your guitar. This should be all sorts of fun if you like experimenting with open tunings.
- Tone Gear
- 110 First Place, Suite 3
- Brooklyn, New York 11231
- (888) 258-0898
- www.tonegear.com
AutoGuitar
These four colored buttons give you the immediate ability to play four chords on the guitar.
The included songbook (more than 1000+ tunes) is a testament to power of the four chord song.
- Chord Buddy
- (334) 699-6188
- www.chordbuddy.com
Rockin' Picks
You would have no choice but to rock using these picks made of stone.
- StoneWorks Picks
- Box 251
- Dallas City, IL 62330
- (319) 721-1992
- www.stoneworkspicks.com
Woodin' Picks
The second little pig built his picks out of wood, which fared much better than the little pig who made his picks out of straw.
- Timber Tones
- 3 Mill Cottages
- Highview Avenue South
- Patcham, Brighton
- East Sussex BN1 8WN
- +44 (0) 1273 702224
- www.timber-tones.com
Measured Only By Success*
The products from ZVEX tend to walk that fine line between genius and insanity. I expect that this amp prototype will end up treading that same line and end up somewhere outside of normal yet short of madness.
- ZVEX
- P.O. Box 1651
- Minneapolis, MN 55416
- (952) 285-9545
- www.zvex.com
Armored Transport
The Amprack and Ampcart not only provide bulletproof protection for your gear, they also put it on wheels and include an integrated microphone mount.
- Caster Tray
- 2244 W. Irving Park Rd.
- Chicago, IL 60618
- (866) 216-7830
- www.castertray.com
Iron Man Amp v1.0
This looks as if it could have been cobbled together in a subterranean prison cell by the brilliant son of Jim Marshall, who had been kidnapped by guiterrorists intent on ruling the world.
- Avian Guitars and Amps
- (407) 455-4464
- www.avianguitars.com
P.O.S.S.E.
The name is an acronym that stands for Personal On Stage Sound Environment. Their choice of name immediately caused me to me recall C.H.U.D., a film that is better left forgotten.
Carnivorous Humanoids aside, this is a mic-stand mounted controller for in-ear monitors. It provides basic subgroup mix controls as well as an integrated tuner and built-in condenser mics for mixing in a bit of the ambient stage sound.
- Posse Audio
- joe@posseaudio.com
- www.posseaudio.com
Shackled Axe
If you're doing a gig in a sketchy club or have less-than-trustworthy roommates, you might want to pick up one of these guitar locks. You're pretty well out of luck if you've got a Steinberger guitar though.
I'm assuming that their locks are not vulnerable to the bic pen exploit.
- The Rock Lock Company
- 311-B Market St.
- Washington, NC 280403
- (910) 297-6390
- www.therocklockcompany.com
Bottom of the Barrel
Unless this barrel-shaped amp also contains whiskey, I think most guitar players would pass.
- Luvicon Technology
- +82 31 709 4182
- www.luvicon.co.kr
Ooooh! Shiny!
You gotta' love a company who's motto is "Slammin' on Rockin'!" – I guess they didn't run that past any native English speakers.
If you succumb to the allure of these sparkly amps, you will of course be defenseless when you see these guitars.
- Woosung Chorus Industries
- www.megaamps.com
Beats the Hell Out of Tolex
The previous two amps would stay hidden away at home because they were so ugly, these beauties from Mesa Boogie would never leave the house because it would be a crime to take them out on tour.
- Mesa/Boogie
- 1317 Ross St.
- Petaluma, CA 94954
- (707) 778-6565
- www.mesaboogie.com
It Slices, It Dices...
What's not to love about a headphone amp with distortion and effects, a tuner, an external input, a line output, and an FM output?
- Luvicon Technology
- +82 31 709 4182
- www.luvicon.co.kr
Plato's Pedal
The Philosopher King is one of Pigtronix newest pedals. As you can hear in the video, it's got great tone and does some very cool effects.
- Pigtronix
- 200 Wilson St., Unit C-2
- Port Jefferson Station, NY 11776
- (631) 331-7447
- www.pigtronix.com
Leave Your Mark
StageTrix was showing some markers designed to note knob positions on your pedals. The removable fluorescent ink seems like just the thing.
- StageTrix
- 375 Alabama Street, Suite 380
- San Francisco, CA 94110
- (415) 259-4185
- www.stagetrixproducts.com
Pedal Condoms
Not only will these rubber boots keep your pedals safe from a beer-soaked stage, they'll help prevent the inevitable "pedal creep" for those who haven't gone the pedal board route.
- VSTech Service und Engineering GmbH
- Lunzer Strasse 64
- 4031 Linz, Austria/Europe
- +43 732 6989 6422
- www.pedalboots.com
Stomp Box Stadium Seating
Instead of wrapping your pedals in rubbers, you can get them out of the gutter. The Pedal Riser lets you create an elevated back row that facilitates access and allows for cables to be run in a channel under the pedal.
- StageTrix
- 375 Alabama Street, Suite 380
- San Francisco, CA 94110
- (415) 259-4185
- www.stagetrixproducts.com
The Red Pill, or the Blue Pill, or the...
This stylish capsule contains several tiny balls with holes bisecting it at 90-degree angles. When you break a string down near the bridge you can loop the string through it and create a new end ball.
- Paratuss
- www.paratuss.com
Handy and Flexible
Stage Ninja was showing a couple new utilitarian devices.
The Guitar Case Roadie is a simple handle that allows you to carry two guitars in one hand by hanging one handle on each side.
The Scorpion is a flexy gooseneck with a clamp or magnet on one end and a mic clip on the other.
- Stage Ninja
- 1060 North Capitol Ave., Ste. E350
- Indianapolis, IN 46204
- (866) 889-5782
- www.stageninja.net
Accessorized Music
Will these belt buckles cause you to fret about your pants falling down?
- Black Crow Arts
- (562) 552-1567
- www.blackcrowarts.com
Busking Kit
Ernie Ball was showing this soft case with a Marshall-branded, battery-powered amplifier. The neck portion of the case folds back to allow the case to stand up.
- Ernie Ball
- 53-973 Polk St.
- Coachella, CA 92236
- (800) 543-2255
- www.ernieball.com
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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©2011 Barry Wood