2015 NAMM; Parts is Parts

Pre-distressed new guitar parts.

2015 NAMM; If you have to ask why...

You'll never understand.

2015 NAMM; Orpharion? What's an orpharion?

Notice the claim to have invented Renaissance fanned frets...

2015 NAMM: The View From Outside

So Cal at its finest.

2015 NAMM: The Slaperoo

This is a strange (in a good way) and fun instrument. It's a bit like a cross between a washtub bass and a ruler vibrated on a desktop. It consists of a flat band of metal, stretched so it functions like a string, mounted on a pole with a pickup attached. Notes are played by fingering with the left hand (sorta kinda like guitar left-hand tapping) and percusive effects are obtained by doing the same with the right hand. They also make a walking cane version and an electrified spring doorstop.

http://www.slaperoo.com/

2015 NAMM: Drum Duet Redux

Now this is how a drum duet is done.

2015 NAMM: Pink Toy Piano

Nothing to add, really...

2015 NAMM Show:The Badge

I am a bit surprised that NAMM would use a badge holder that appears to have been custom-designed to scratch instruments (especially guitars).

2015 NAMM: Drum Solo and Duet!

I'm a bit of a frustrated drummer...

2015 NAMM: Henry Purcell on an old school style Moog synthesizer

Henry Purcell on a Moog; the 1690s meet the 1960s.

2015 NAMM: Bass solo!

Me playing a 5 string fretless solidbody ukulele bass. Because I can.

Any resemblance to an old Guild Ashbory bass was probably intentional, although the strings on this were quite different - thinner, higher tension and less rubbery.

2015 NAMM: Setting the tone for the next four days.

A bearded man in an alligator suit; your argument is invalid.

"It's my beard, isn't it?"

At the Rickenbacker Factory

Today I spent the afternoon at the Rickenbacker factory. The factory also houses a  museum of which I am the honourary curator. Without a doubt, the star of the museum’s collection is the 1932 Frying Pan prototype – the first electric guitar. This is the instrument that was subject of my PhD. It’s hard to overstate how significant this plank of wood is; without it, there would be no Les Pauls, no Stratocasters, no electric basses, and none of the music that those instruments created. Without the Frying Pan, the 20^th century would have sounded very different!

While I was at the factory, the rock stars showed up; Andy Babuik (of the Empty Hearts and formerly of the Chesterfield Kings and a noted expert on musical instruments), Kenny Howes (sometime bassist for the Smithereens), Wally Palmar (of the Empty Hearts and formerly of the Romantics), and his wife Kelly Palmar. Rickenbacker CEO John Hall gave everyone a tour and I tagged along.

The first electric guitar, the 1932 Frying Pan prototype.

Inside the Rickenbacker museum.

Inside the museum; notice the unfinished frying pans and extremely rare electric double bass (c. 1936).

Rickenbacker CEO John Hall explains the finer points of 4003 bass construction to (l to r) Andy Babiuk, Wally Palmar, and Kelly Palmar.

Watching the CNC machine in action. (l to r) Kenny Howes, Andy Babiuk, John Hall, Wally Palmar, and Kelly Palmar.

John Hall indicates some sanguine point regarding Rickenbacker 381 construction in this obviously staged photo. l to r; John, Kelly, Wally and Andy.

2015 NAMM Blogging.

I am here in Anaheim at the NAMM show. I’m going to be doing some live blogging – internet connections permitting – from the show. Let the musical instrument geekery begin!

"...each and every guitar is scientifically tuned - just as if they were real musical instruments!"

Wonderful (if somewhat condescending) British Pathé newsreel from 1965 showing electric guitars being made at the Burns factory in Romford, England.

Notice the monogrammed white lab coats and the tie and sweater-vest combo on the shop floor; it truly was a different era! Also interesting is the mention of Holland as the main British source for  electric guitars. They are most likely referring to the inexpensive instruments made by the Dutch company Egmond which were imported by UK distributor Rosetti and typically marketed under Rosetti's own brand names. It should be remembered that at this time very few American-made instruments were imported into the UK and those that were tended to be very expensive and accessible only to well off or well connected musicians. This is one of the things that made Pete Townsend's on-stage smashing of guitars so shocking for the time; not only was he destroying an expensive object, he was willfully obliterating something that was not easy to acquire in the UK at any price.

"All of this to make a Bedlam of adolescent noise."