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Surprising Guitars, Surprising Pickups
It is Winter NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) time, when music instrument manufactures introduce their latest gear. There are usually a few surprises, but this year there are some big surprises in the electric guitar department.
It all started back in September when Taylor announced a new line of solidbody electric guitars. Bob Taylor claims they were inspired by new pickups they had developed. Surprising.
Now we learn that Larrivée, another respected acoustic guitar builder, has announced their new electric guitar, the RS-4. Also surprising. Even more surprising, the RS-4 comes equipped with Jason Lollar’s Imperial Humbuckers, which are boutique pickups that go for $150 each. They also claim to have the thickest carved Maple top of any production electric guitar.
If that wasn’t enough, amp builder VOX is also releasing a line of electric guitars. What’s going on here? These guitars have a unique “contour curved” body designed to be more comfortable to play. Surprising. Even more surprising, they come with a whole new type of pickup called the Three-90, which claims to offer three tones in one pickup. Very surprising.
All I can say is, what’s next? A Mesa/Boogie acoustic? Line 6 Banjo? Martin Wah-Wah? Umm... probably not, but NAMM 2008 has been very surprising indeed.