Jackson Guitars had a couple of winners here. My favorite of the two is the car guitar, I didn't ask to see if it would actually move under its own power though. The other Jackson guitar looked like the the Star Trek Star Fleet logo, it had one of those cool paint jobs that changes color depending on the viewing angle.

I wasn't able to find out much about this guitar other than it's a mandoguitar or something similar. This was one of the first booths that I stopped at right when the show opened on Thursday and the woman there only spoke Italian.

Musikalia - Dr. Alfio Leone
Battiati (CT) Italy
(095)212777

These are semi-hollow body guitars made from some sort of composite material. If you like the tweed amplifier look then you've found your matching guitar. I heard a guy playing one of these in the booth (a baritone strung guitar A to A) and the clean funk licks he was playing on it sounded sweet. Check out the Stones "Bridges To Babylon" tour, I was told that on the opener "Satisfaction" you can see two of these guitars on stage.

Lindert Guitars
Chelan, Washington, USA
(888)805-4633
www.lindertguitars.com

Another entry in the "new approach" category is the Novax Fanned Fret guitars. This design give the lower string a slightly longer scale length that's supposed to improve the tone. I didn't get to hear it so I can't tell you first-hand what it sounds like.

Novax
San Leandro, California, USA
(510)483-3599

Is you fretless guitar tone too dull? This steel fingerboard design make the whole neck respond like frets. I would imagine that they also have bass versions since the fretless guitar market is a little small.

Vigier Guitars
Evry, France
(33)160-792-364
www.vigierguitars.com

This is a different approach to the travel guitar idea. They put the amp and speaker directly behind the bridge. As you might imagine you can get pretty happening feedback, but not so much that it becomes unusable.

Unfortunately I can't seem to find the company info on this one.