2010 marks the 30th Anniversary of Jackson Guitars, and they trotted out some cool new models to commemorate the occasion at the Winter NAMM show. The official Jackson 30th Anniversary models are pictured above, with more pics and details after the jump. There are actually four 30th Anniversary models, but the 30th Kelly, a black one masterbuilt by Mike Shannon, didn’t make the show for some reason. All of the Jackson 30th Anniversary guitars will be available from The Music Zoo this year.
We can’t say we are thrilled to be back in New York’s January weather after attending the 2010 NAMM Show in Anaheim, California, but we are stoked about what we are bringing back with us. These pictures (after the jump) are of the NAMM Show pieces that we bought from the display booths and will be available for purchase from our store. Some very cool stuff. Get in touch with us for pricing and/or to leave a deposit if you see something you like.
The Music Zoo’s Owner caught up with famed guitar builder (and friend of the store) Grover Jackson at the 2010 NAMM show for a short interview. Part one is above, and part two is after the jump. Grover Jackson, for those who don’t know, is the man who helped create Charvel in the early days and went on to form Jackson guitars. Although he no longer works for either Charvel nor Jackson, he recently collaborated with the Charvel on the Grover Jackson Legacy models. Grover has a ton of great stories and is a blast to hang out with, and we thought we would bring to you a few minutes talking to this legend of guitar making. Thanks, Grover! Enjoy.
Recording engineers have long held their API lunchbox racks close to their hearts, but Radial Engineering thought they could reinvent the wheel. What they have come up with looks amazing. Their new Workhorse 5000 Lunchbox addresses the limitations of the standard lunchbox format and kicks it up a few notches with features like a a mixer section that can be used as an 8 channel analog summer box. More pictures and Radial’s press release after the jump.
The ESP Guitars booth at NAMM 2010 was packed as usual, and we liked what we saw. We’re going to be stepping it up with ESP this year, stocking more catalog models and ordering awesome customs. There were a few new models we want to show you, and also we are putting up a gallery of all the custom guitars with their signature over the top artwork that were on display. Everything is for sale, so if you see something you like we can help you to find out pricing on the one-offs. See it all after the jump.
This may look like an ordinary (yet very pretty) Lightburst Flame Godin ACS Nylon, but it isn’t. It’s one of the first guitars we’ve ever seen with a USB port built in:
Godin claims that, in addition to the standard 1/4″ analog output and the built-in 13-pin MIDI, the USB port will provide “direct computer access”. Welcome to the future. We’ll post more information about exactly what that translates into when we get it.
The new Jackson Randy Rhoads Relic Tribute Model is one of the coolest guitars we saw unveiled this year at NAMM, and The Music Zoo’s Tommy Colletti caught up with Fender R&D guru Chip Ellis to find out more about it. Chip assisted Masterbuilder Mike Shannon to inspect, measure, and recreate in every detail the guitar Randy designed for himself in 1980. 60 will be made worldwide. The Rhoads family, who still operate a music school, arranged for Chip and Mike to view and inspect the original guitar at the school, which has become a sort of shrine for Randy over the years. Learn more about the unveiling of the Tribute Guitar.
Zachary Vex, the man behind the ultra-cool Z. Vex line of boutique pedals, gave us a personal tour of his newest pedal – the Inventobox. This is the ultimate tool for diehard tone geeks, a completely modular, open-source version of the famed Z. Vex tone circuits, allowing infinite customization and re-invention of the infamous squealing tones of the Fuzz Factory and other Z. Vex hallmarks. Look after the jump for more pics and info.
We have been fans of Pedaltrain’s pedalboards at The Music Zoo for a while now, and we stopped by their NAMM booth to see what’s up. See all the pics after the jump. The skateboard pedalboard isn’t a real product of course, you would break your neck in front of everyone trying to use it, but we liked it anyway:
Def Leppard’s Phil Collen has gotten very hands-on with his new Limited Run of Jackson PC1 guitars – he hand painted all 30 himself. These are mahogany PC1s with the bolt-on quartersawn maple neck, reverse headstock, Dimarzio hum & driver, and the Sustainer circuit. Watch the process of Phil getting his hands dirty helping create these guitars after the jump in this video:
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