New offerings include the CEO-9, Size 1 De Goni Authentic 1843, D Homeward, and more.
Nazareth, PA (January 17, 2019) -- C.F. Martin & Co.Ā®(Martin Guitar) will introduce brand-new Special and Limited Edition modelsat Winter NAMM in Anaheim, California, January 24-27, 2019.
Special Editions
GPCX1AE 20th Anniversary
In 1999, Martin broke into the world of alternative materials and created a whole new class of high-quality guitars: the X Series. In the 20 years since, the X Series has evolved to include multiple design changes and alternative materials. This Grand Performance model, featuring a solid hardwood neck, pearl pattern fingerboard and rosette inlay, and morado fingerboard and bridge, harkens back to the earliest days of the X Series. Timeless tone for the modern age. List price $779
DXMAE 30th Anniversary
The year 2019 represents a milestone in the history of our Navojoa, Sonora, Mexico,manufacturing plant ā30 years of operation. In that time, Martin colleagues in Mexico have produced world-class guitars and strings, and helped put affordable, high-quality instruments in the hands of countless musicians. Custom artwork from Robert F. Goetzl on the DXMAE honors these employees and features elements of Mexican national symbols on a custom HPL Dreadnought.The model also includes Macassar HPL back and sides, laminated birch neck, and a RichliteĀ® fingerboard and bridge. List price $799
D Homeward
Martin celebrates famed American-style tattoo pioneer Norman āSailor Jerryā Collins in this special edition Dreadnought guitar. It features elements of Collinsās work, titled āHomeward Bound,ā inlaid with seashell and hand-selected wood species on the headplate, fingerboard, and body. The artwork takes shape in a multitude of rich, earthy colors using a combination of pearl and naturalwood tones. The wood tones are enhanced using a technique called sand shading. The level of artistic talent that went into creating this fine guitar is immediately evident and timeless. In addition to the custom artwork, this guitar features flamed koa back and sides with quilted bubinga binding and a custom inlaid koa headplate. The top is heavy bearclaw Sitka spruce and features non-scalloped, forward-shifted bracing found in Martinās recently reimagined Standard Series. List price $19,999
D True Love
Martin celebrates famed American-style tattoo pioneer Norman āSailor Jerryā Collins in this special edition Dreadnought guitar. It features elements of Collinsās work, titled āTrue Love,ā inlaid with seashell and hand-selected wood species on the headplate, fingerboard, and body. The artwork takes shape in a multitude of rich, earthy colors using a combination of pearl and naturalwood tones. The wood tones are enhanced using a technique called sand shading. The level of artistic talent that went into creating this fine guitar is immediately evident and timeless. In addition to the custom artwork, this guitar features figured East Indian rosewood back and sides with flamed koa binding and a custom inlaid East Indian rosewood headplate. The top is heavy bearclaw Sitka spruce and features non-scalloped, forward-shifted bracing found in Martinās recently reimagined standard series. List price $19,999
OMSS 2019
This special edition Auditorium-style guitar features an Adirondack spruce top with a multi-striped, abalone pearl rosette and quilted sapele back and sides with European flamed maple binding around the body and fingerboard.It is adorned with ultra-modern appointments, including a carbon fiber pickguard, carbon fiber and titanium open-gear tuners, and red dot LiquidmetalĀ® bridge pins. List price $7,999
Custom Signature Edition
CEO-9
This exquisite 00 14-fret slope-shoulder acoustic guitar exhibits a curly mango top with a gorgeous gloss mango sunset burst finish, paired with highly figured curly mango back and sides. Other features include antique white binding and heelcap with multi-stripe border, a compensated bone saddle, LiquidmetalĀ® bridge pins on an ebony bridge,and an ebony fingerboard with Style 42 snowflake inlay. The look is completed with vintage open-gear tuners and a stylized script logo on a faux tortoise headstock plate.The model also comes with a modified Vneck for fast finger work. Each model includes a label signed by Chris Martin IV and numbered in sequence. List price $4,399
Authentic Series
Size 1 De Goni Authentic 1843
Martin celebrates the very first Size 1 model and the earliest X-braced guitar ever documented, supporting Martinās claim as the inventor of X-bracing, a primary innovation in the evolution of the modern American guitar. The story of X-bracing began in 1843 when C. F. Martin made a special X-braced guitar for Madame Delores N. de GoƱi after entertaining her in his home. Madame de GoƱi was probably the finest professional guitar soloist of her time. Her performances were widely popular throughout the Americas between 1841 and 1892. She pronounced Martin guitars to be "superior to any instruments of the kind [she had] ever seen in this country or Europe for tone, workmanship, and facility of execution!" This replica of that revolutionary guitar is true to theoriginal right down to the torn paper label. List Price $12,999
Limited Editions
D-42 Custom
This limited edition custom 42-style Dreadnought features a Carpathian spruce top with aging toner, East Indian rosewood back and sides, and European flamed maple binding with multi-stripe border around the body, fingerboard, and headplate. It includes forward-shifted X-bracing, a high-performance neck taper for easy playability, nickel open-gear tuners, and an abalone rosette with multi-stripe border and abalone fingerboard inlay. This model is limited to 50 instruments. List price $9,999
OMCE Shadow Burst
The OMCE Shadow was inspired by Martin coworkers who were enamored of some dramaticfinishes found in the solid body electric guitar world. This Orchestra-style beauty is the successful resultof experimentation with various finishing techniques. It features a Sitka spruce top and quiltedmaple back and sides with silver binding and a unique translucent black sunburst finish. The top is accented with amulti-stripeabalone rosette with a multi-stripe border, and it features Martinās high-performance taper neck for easy playability. This model is limited to 50 instruments. List price $3,999
OMCE Blaze Burst
The OMCE Blazewas inspired by Martin coworkers who were enamored of some dramatic finishes found in the solid body electric guitar world. This Orchestra-style beauty is the successful resultof experimentation with various finishing techniques. It features a Sitka spruce top with a translucent blaze sunburst finish and quilted maple back and sides with a mahogany burst finish. The top is accented with anabalone rosette with a multi-stripe border, and it features Martinās high-performance taper neck for easy playability. The headplate is adorned with an abalone stylized script logo to complement the rosette. This model is limited to 50 instruments. List price $4,399
CF Martin D-45 Excalibur
The D-45 Excalibur is the latest design collaboration with renowned inlay artist Harvey Leach. This special edition guitar is adorned with original artwork in honor of the mythical dragon told to have hidden the mystical Excalibur sword in its tail. The custom inlay features a dragon intertwined around both a custom rosette and a custom back purfling. The model features an Engelmann spruce top with heavy bearclaw, Madagascar rosewood back and sides, European flamedmaple body binding and birdseyemaple headplate binding. The tuners are Schaller Gold GrandTuneĀ®open gear, and the label is signed by Chris Martin and Harvey Leach. This model is limited to 20 instruments,so visit your authorized Martin dealer to get your hands on one of these rare beauties. List price $39,999
*Excalibur is a registered name of VigierFor more information:
Martin Guitar
Loud, evil, searing hot, and unexpectedly versatile, the Fuzz Warās demented bass cousin has a bold and more-complex personality all its own that sounds radical with guitar, too.
Evil. Just plain evil. Unexpected and vast variation. Responds interestingly to bass volume and tone attenuation. Wet/dry mix control. Sounds amazing (and extra evil) with guitar.
None.
$195
Death By Audio Bass War
deathbyaudio.com
If you like your fuzz measured in megatonnage, the Death By AudioFuzz War is one of lifeās great joys. And if youāre a bass player with similar predilections and accustomed to watching guitar players have all the fun, the new DBA Bass War will be sweet revenge.
The original Fuzz War is a creatively twisted derivative of the Colorsound Supa Tone Bender But while you can hear some family resemblance among the Tone Bender, the Fuzz War, and Bass War, the latter is a very different animal indeed. Iām pretty sure itās louder than the Fuzz War (holy #@*!). The fuzz is also much brighter than a Fuzz War, which sounded positively muddy by comparison.
That means a bass player has lightyears of headroom and range within which to shape their tone. And for such a loud, hectic pedal, it can be really precise and surgical. The experience of reshaping fuzz sounds is made easier, more fun, and much more expressive for the oversized outboard tone and fuzz controls, which can be swept with your toe to achieve wild filter effects. Along with the cutting fuzz tonalities, that lends the Bass War an almost synth-like feel and functionality. The pedal also responds in interesting ways to bass volume and tone attenuation: Lower bass volume generates less compressed, more focused, but still very insane tones that can be boosted to superheated levels with the pedalās volume knob. Add in the dry/wet mix knob, which lends exponentially more complexity and range to the Bass Warās voice, and youāre talking about an exceedingly varied and evil fuzz device. Oh ... it sounds freaking amazing with guitar, tooāyielding psychotically piercing lead tones, vintage biker fuzz, and vicious punk and metal grind. Wow.
While this forgotten, oddball instrument was designed with multidextrous guitarists in mind, it never quite took offāmaking it a rare, vintage treasure.
At Fannyās House of Music, you never know what strange or fascinating relics you might find. Guitorgan? Been there, sold that. A Hawaiian tremoloa fretless zither? Weāve had two.
Recently, the oddest of odd ducks strolled through Fannyās front door. It looks like a Harmony Wedge lap steel that was thrown in the dryer to shrink a little bit. It has two flatwound bass strings, in reverse order from where youād expectāthe higher string is on the left side if youāre looking at the instrumentās face. Each string has its own fretting surface, bent at a 135-degree angle away from each other, and the frets are labeled with note names. A raised, thin strip of wood separates the strings from each other on the fretboard.
Oh, wait a moment. Did we say āfretboard?ā We should have said āfootboard.ā Allow us to introduce you to the 1970s Mike Miller Foot Bass. Thatās rightāyou play this adorable critter with your feet. The strings are tuned a fifth apart from each other. By setting the instrument on the ground and rocking your foot back and forth over the neck, you get a standard country root-fifth bass lineācompletely hands-free. Are you a guitar player? All you need is one of these puppies and a drum machine and, poof! Youāre a whole band!
Along the āfootboardā are markers for note names.
Thank goodness for the internet, which gave me access to the original promotional materials for the Foot Bass. Emblazoned with the all-caps header, āBE YOUR OWN BASS MAN,ā its pamphlet extols the virtues of the Foot Bass. Describing it as āpractically maintenance free,ā it guarantees youāll āamaze friends and audiences,ā and āmake extra MONEY.ā
A brief meander through the United States Patent and Trademark website revealed the patent, whose filer was equally concerned with finances. āA currently popular form of entertainment is provided by an artist who both sings and accompanies himself on a guitar,ā it reads, as if this hasnāt been a popular form of entertainment for a very long time. āThe performance of such an artist may be enhanced by adding a bass accompaniment.... However, such an additional bass accompaniment ordinarily requires an extra artist for playing the bass and therefore represents an additional expense.ā Sorry, bass players. Clearly, you all do nothing but cost us guitar players money.
āThatās rightāyou play this adorable critter with your feet.ā
Be prepared to dig through your closet when you embark on your Foot Bass journey. If you start with your trusty Doc Martens, youāre in for a disappointing experience. Deep treads make for messy notes and poor contact with the strings. And while barefoot playing allows for more nimble, adventurous basslines, the lack of a rigid surface prevents the āsimple and convenientā operation promised by the patent. What you need, as one Fannyās employee described, are āchurch shoesāāsomething with a low profile and a flat sole.
This Mike Miller Foot Bass is from the 1970s, and has a patent for its design.
Even with the right footwear, playing the Foot Bass takes some getting used to. Thereās a bit of foam under the pickup cover that mutes the strings when youāre not playing them, but you can still make a remarkable amount of clatter with this thing. Itās a subtle motion that works best, and it certainly takes practice to master it. Add in multiple chords orābe still, my heartāwalking up from one chord to the next? Give yourself a couple weeks in the woodshed before you schedule your next show.
If youāre looking for something to watch tonight, thereās a documentary you can find on YouTube called Let Me Be Your Band. It covers the history of one-person bands, starting with blues pioneer Jesse āLone Catā Fuller and continuing up to the early 2000s with the careers of Hasil Adkins and Bob Log III, among others. Itās a touching portrayal of ingenuity and spunk, and an ode to owning your weirdness. Not a single person in Let Me Be Your Band had a Foot Bass, though. Itās high time the Foot Bass was celebrated for its cleverness and played by an enterprising solo act. Itās a bit like Cinderellaās glass slipper here at Fannyās. We canāt wait to see who tries it on for a perfect fit.
Fuzz, octave, and odd intervals co-mingle and clash with bizarre, mangled, musical, pretty, and often shockingly unpredictable results.
Scores of tones that span the musical and the ridiculous. Fun and ferocious fuzz. Octave can be used independently. Often intuitive in spite of its complexity. Tracks pitch shifts without glitches
Easy to get lost in the weeds if you donāt do your homework.
$249
Keeley Octa Psi
robertkeeley.com
Iād venture that most guitarists instinctively regard fuzz as a brutish, brainless effect (which is funny given how much energy in our community is dedicated to dissecting the nuances and merits of different fuzz types). Keeleyās Octa Psi, however, transcends mere troglodyte status by combining a fundamentally nasty fuzz voice in three switchable variations, and a web of octave and interval tones that transform the Octa Psi into a synthesizer capable of textures ranging from soaring to demented to downright evil.
Crush of the Space Invader
Itās no mistake that the little figure adorning the face of the Octa Psi looks like a sinister cross between a Space Invader and a Cylon. The Octa Psi often evokes the 8-bit, synthy sounds of ā80s arcade games. But the fact that the Octa Psiās sounds range to cartoonish extremes shouldnāt suggest to a potential user that the Octa Psi is anything less than musical. And the smart, if complex, control layout ensures you can span both extremes with ease.
The Octa Psi is effectively made up of an analog fuzz and a digital octave section. The knobs on the fuzz side are no-brainer stuff: fuzz, master level, and tone. The 3-position toggle, however, expands the potential of those three knobs exponentially. In each mode the fuzz has a cool, snorkel-y, almost filtered essence, with hints of cocked-wah snarl. The punch voice features a bass-heavy profile thatās cloaked in pea-soup fog at the extreme treble-cut/bass-boost ends of the tone controlās range, but crushes like a Tony Iommi-operated wrecking ball in the middle section. The psi mode is even thicker and doomier, though not just heavier in the bass. Thereās also more midrange presence that lends extra definition and makes the fuzz feel more explosive under the fingers. The scoop setting, in very relative terms, sounds almost thin compared to the other two. But no voice is exactly short on power here, so perhaps itās best to call it focused. Each of these modes, which already have heaps of tonal range thanks to the versatile tone knob, can be altered dramatically by the octave section.
Getting a feel for the octave options definitely takes practice. And though intuitive exploration of the possible combinations is rewarding, itās essential that you do your homework if you want to maximize the pedalās potential and avoid musical muddles. The Octa Psiās complexity is largely down to the fact that it gives you much more than just a few octaves up or a few octaves down to work with. First, you can blend in the amount of octave signal. Then there are eight pitch modes available via the rotary switch. Each of these modes shifts in character, depending on whether you select the octave up, octave down, or dual octave setting with the toggle switch. But you can also reshape the tone by pressing and rotating the blend switch, which, depending on where youāve set the other octave controls, will add octave intervals, like sharp ninths, stacked fourths, and major and minor voicings. Additionally, each of the preset modes will save your settings in dual modeāeven after you unplug.
Ā Controlled Chaos
There is another reason the video game correlation implicit in the Octa Psi logo is appropriate: At times, using it can feel like the sky above your moon base is raining laser bombs and youāre being menaced by alien aircraft from all sides. It can be really chaotic, particularly if youāre finding your way by ear rather than consulting the extensive pitch matrix in the manual. Chords are sometimes rendered into atonal glop, and, like any octave fuzz, itās often easiest to stick with single-note lines.
But for all the mayhem Octa Psi can unleash, finding a clear musical path can be easy and feel like striking gold. Plus, the pedal is, in its way, quite forgiving. It tracks pitch changes well, and rarely collapses on itselfāeven when executing whole step bends colored by dissonant intervals. You can also use the octave without the fuzz, which yields conventional sounds like pretty faux-12-string, watery chorus tones, and subtle harmonies for clean leads.
The Verdict
The Octa Psiās power and tonal vocabulary is impressive. Youāll have to be brave or have a very good memory to move between radically different settings on a dimly lit stage. And we didnāt even mention the wealth of āadvancedā settings that include volume tilt, pitch ramping, effect order shifts, and more. But the bounty of smooth-to-sick sounds here means the Octa Psi could be a difference-maker in a studio or recording environment when youāre reaching for tone colors and moods that break norms. And though the Octa-Psi could, on the surface, seem nichey, itās fun to think about the many musical styles and applications where its sounds could find a homeāfrom doomy Sabbathoid chug, to film scores, to glitchy hip-hop hooks, to video-game sound design.
Ferocious fuzz forces, a +/- 2-octave range, and the capacity for odd intervals make this menacing machine almost as much synth as dirt device.