NAMM predictions

[mbenigni]

You're not wrong, there's a vid somewhere of Vai holding it by the petals and you can see it's not as firm of a grip. The PIA's definitely grew on me, they look far better in person than in pictures. I haven't had the chance to play one yet and I'm dyin' to, but there's also no way in hell am I spending $3500 on one. The black PIA is spank bank material.

Vai's also got a 7-string version-

OMG the ebony fingerboard on that 7 is...

Give me that in a 6, and replace the overgold h/w with gunmetal black... perfection.

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

In case you want to rock something besides violet.

Guessing that’s the Lari Basilio sig?

 

[DrewJD82]

My guess is that no one ended up swing their guitars around or carrying it by that monkey grip, so it became decorative anyway. So they played with the design. You are right - if you really want to use it as a handle, the new design is not ideal.

I actually use the handle quite a bit. It was because of that handle that I first fell in love with them; I first saw Vai on the ‘96 G3 tour and before his set his tech walked across the stage with one in each hand, holding them by the handle and for some reason I thought it looked sooooo cool. Kinda hard to detail specific uses of it, it just comes in handy (ha) when picking it up/handling it.

There’s some performance stuff that can be done with it, like instead of a pick slide you can grab it by the handle while holding your fretting hand in place and slide the guitar back and forth, or you can be goofy and pull the body up and down for vibrato while sustaining a note. Nothing you can’t do with a normal guitar, just makes it easier having a handle there.

 

[norminal]

I actually kinda like this

And many people also eat bull testicles and pig intestines.

 

[TJontheRoad]

And many people also eat bull testicles and pig intestines.

You're ruining this moment for me ;-/

 

[la szum]

NAMM is so 1988. When all you had were guitar magazines and local Mom and Pop
stores it was THE way to hip retailers to new products. It's just so archaic in this day
and age, and doesn't seem to serve the purpose it once was intended for.

Not to mention manufacturers are releasing new products on their own timelines,
and often throughout the year, and not saving it for the one and done approach
that is NAMM (or 2 if you count Summer NAMM).

Nice knowing you, NAMM.

 

[FuzzyAce]

You're not wrong, there's a vid somewhere of Vai holding it by the petals and you can see it's not as firm of a grip. The PIA's definitely grew on me, they look far better in person than in pictures. I haven't had the chance to play one yet and I'm dyin' to, but there's also no way in hell am I spending $3500 on one. The black PIA is spank bank material.

Vai's also got a 7-string version-

Those pickup covers kill it for me.
I love that other prototype though.

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

NAMM is so 1988. When all you had were guitar magazines and local Mom and Pop
stores it was THE way to hip retailers to new products. It's just so archaic in this day
and age, and doesn't seem to serve the purpose it once was intended for.

Not to mention manufacturers are releasing new products on their own timelines,
and often throughout the year, and not saving it for the one and done approach
that is NAMM (or 2 if you count Summer NAMM).

Nice knowing you, NAMM.

NAMMs importance was tied to brick and mortar stores and print mags we seen they’re gone the way if cobblers, town criers and gas station attendants just as musicians are going.
Welcome to being automated into redundancy.
So before you celebrate the beauty of the online clown in his bedroom…nothing has changed only the medium. Still folks telling you what to buy.

 

[Digital Igloo]

I really think it's as simple as "we built our entire product launch/production cycle on January NAMM. There is no way we are going to reshuffle that for two years to meet these weird dates, just to have to reshuffle back to January two years later."

It's extremely difficult to predict shipping dates, much less schedule development to launch within a certain quarter, much less month. I'd say it has more to do with NAMM budgets ($$$$$) being tied to an annual cadence, whereas NAMM 2022, 2023, and 2024 are all nine months apart.

Attendance appeared to be way up (haven't seen the numbers yet), so maybe it still has a few years left in it?

 

[mbenigni]

Those pickup covers kill it for me.
I love that other prototype though.

Agreed, those pickup covers would have to go. Not that this is a problem in my near future or anything...

 

[Orvillain]

Those pickup covers kill it for me.

For me it's mostly the aids all over the fretboard.

 

[Orvillain]