NAMM leaks, announcements, and rumors

[Inconuucl]

How did you guys miss...the ultimate guitar ever made.

http://www.fender.com/the-edge-strat/0112702706.html

Omigah, that's such a departure from every other strat ever made. :O Truly Fender is a revolutionary company.

[bob the r0bot]

My favourite part is how they said in the namm video that he didn't just want to make the strat from the "Where the Streets Have No Name" video.

[coupleonapkins]

Did anybody else see this?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCYCLwkM0p4[/youtube]

[rfurtkamp]

I'm trying to figure out how he's describing building a guitar like the atom bomb. like it's never been done before.

"Challenges" like figuring out how paint works.

It's paint.

[backwardsvoyager]

let's take all the neat forward-thinking futuristic-looking guitars from the 80s and re-release them 'vintage-styled'.
because people are ever gonna stop buying stratocasters and move on to a fucking katana
they even ditched the awesome headstock decal fonts...

[Iommic Pope]

Wow. He certainly turned up the fucking lame for that one.

[PeteeBee]

Real talk. I think that guitar is a little cool, but I can't unwatch him talking. So silly.

[rfurtkamp]

I don't mind the guitar, but the explanation makes me want to claw out my brain.

[Iommic Pope]

That thing should have had a reverse mooncaster headstock, been inca silver all over, had better inlays, and whilst the shape and lines of it are overall pretty good, he should have put a curve into that bottom angle where that side seperates into two lines.
Then we'd be talking.

[rfurtkamp]

Now that I think about it, the "explanation" for the alleged improvements....explain the Jazzmaster with the stoptail.

And all the other shit that's not what it actually was.

[coupleonapkins]

He explained all the coolness out of that thing, true, but I'm glad at least one builder over there doesn't want to forget that weirdo catalog entry.

It's also disconcerting how a majority of the builders they interviewed this year for their special runs really don't grasp why any guitar is cool for any reason (at least for a layperson/fan like myself), but I suppose our wildest dreams are less exciting to these folks than something that is more challenging on the build side, for them, on a day to day basis. They all sound almost alien, in the blandest way possible, every one of them! Too inside inside baseball that they're nowhere near reality, EXCEPT when it comes to making original designs blander to fit into modern specs (9.5 radius everywhere, stop-tails, flame-maple tops) or what is perceived to be "of the moment" (insert your laundry list, but a fella who builds Strats all day probably doesn't want to keep adjusting the same trem system all day, every day, but there he goes, with his things)...

[lordgalvar]

I think sometimes it is easy to forget how close minded the majority of the music industry and consumers are sometimes. That was one big shock of NAMM. Lots of the same old stuff really. But, on the other hand, what works and sells is what works and sells. Dreams are always a specific thing...but yea, Fender, I dunno...I think that guy in the video is probably much more interesting in person in a normal conversation. I noticed it is hard to sit there and sell a product all the time and try to sound anything other than boring...probably all he wanted to say was, "they gave me specs and I made something I like...if you don't like it, oh well." haha.

I mean one dude was trying to sell me on SMD...said from his perspective it is the best we have with the highest quality control...I was like, "yea, don't care" to myself..

But, yea, that Katana is kinda boring. I agree with Pope on the needed improvements.

Sorry about the lack of flash...didn't want to piss people off.


St. Vincent Guitar

• john petrucci was giving an interview to a crowd behind me...so not much from this booth. Why is that dude famous? Took these mostly for my wife. They looked way nicer in person than I thought they would. The finish on these look much nicer than the finish on the Fenders I have played and the Gibsons I saw at NAMM...but they are expensive...I guess you should expect quality for the price.

Reverend Guitars

• Maybe a purple one in there...?

Kay Guitars

• 
  Just in case your name is Otto...but they looked ok I guess...just always take it one step to far in my opinion.

Adventure Guitars from Japan

• They looked really nice and had their builders their showing their craft (doing finish work on site...I guess it is a little hokey because they really can't make a mess, but they looked like they really cared about the setup of their guitars).

Saw videos of this dude last year

[UglyCasanova]

Fuuuuck. I can't stop thinking of that St. Vincent signature. So expensive though. How did it sound? I have yet to hear it in action.

[Chankgeez]

I mean one dude was trying to sell me on SMD...said from his perspective it is the best we have with the highest quality control...I was like, "yea, don't care" to myself..

For pedals with extensive circuitry, yeah, it makes sense (on a number of levels), but, yeah, I don't wanna be anywhere near pedals like that.

Reverend Guitars

• Maybe a purple one in there...?

I was looking at the Reverend website earlier. There's a Corgan sig model that comes in purple.

[lordgalvar]

Fuuuuck. I can't stop thinking of that St. Vincent signature. So expensive though. How did it sound? I have yet to hear it in action.

I heard St. Vincent play it at the Hollywood Bowl...sounded like an eventide pedal, haha.

I'm sure it sounds great...they wouldn't let me touch anything...kinda had to talk to an attendant or something. The way the pickups are, I would assume something like a music man/firebird crossover? I think she based some of it on the Albert Lee (at least maybe the neck)?