Nazareth, PA (July 10, 2019) -- C. F. Martin & Co. (Martin Guitar) will introduce 14 new guitar models and three updated string products at Summer NAMM in Nashville, Tennessee, July 18-20, 2019. The launch includes additions to the popular Authentic Acoustic strings lineup along with new LX travel guitars, new Junior Series guitars, new 16 Series guitars, and several Special and Limited Edition models.
Little Martin Series The Little Martin may be small in stature, but it's big on tone, quality, and versatility. New to the series, the LX1R and LX1RE feature solid Sitka spruce tops for warmth and projection, with back and sides in a rosewood pattern high-pressure laminate – a durable, sustainable alternative to wood. The LX1R and LX1RE showcase a laser-etched herringbone rosette, and they are the first LX models to include a pickguard. Each guitar comes with a soft gig bag for easy transport so you can take your music anywhere. The Little Martin is ideal for travel but also makes a great student guitar. All LX models are strung with Authentic Acoustic Lifespan® 2.0 strings. To see the entire Little Martin Series, visit Little Martin Series. List price $499 to $599.
Junior Series The Junior Series is designed for players who want a slightly smaller, solid wood guitar with the same build characteristics as its full-sized counterpart, so they don't have to give up that fill-the-room Martin sound in exchange for comfort. The new Auditorium style 000Jr-10 and 000CJr-10E (the first Junior model with a cutaway) feature sapele back and sides, offering warm tones and a strong midrange response, with Sitka spruce tops for added warmth and projection. A soft back edge, along with a tapered neck, makes these guitars comfortable and easy to play. They come equipped with Fishman® Sonitone electronics and include a soft gig bag for easy transport so you can take your music anywhere. All Junior Series models are strung with Retro® light gauge strings. To see the entire Junior Series, visit Martin Junior Series. List price $699 to $799.
16 Series
D-16E and GPC-16E
The 16 Series D-16E and GPC-16E are crafted with satin-finished East Indian rosewood back and sides for resonant sound with deep bass and rich overtones. They include Sitka spruce gloss tops for balanced tone and projection and high-performance neck tapers for ease of playability up and down the fretboard. The D-16E and GPC-16E come equipped with Fishman® Matrix VT Enhance™ electronics. They are strung with Authentic Acoustic Lifespan® 2.0 light gauge strings. List price $2,199.
00-16E and 000-16E The 16 Series 00-16E and 000-16E are crafted with satin-finished granadillo back and sides, providing prominent bass response while maintaining bell-like overtones. They include Sitka spruce gloss tops for balanced tone and projection and high-performance neck tapers for ease of playability up and down the fretboard. The 00-16E and 000-16E come equipped with Fishman® Matrix VT Enhance™ electronics. They are strung with Authentic Acoustic Lifespan® 2.0 light gauge strings. List price $2,199.
D-16E Burst and OMC-16E Burst
The 16 Series D-16E Burst and OMC-16E Burst models are crafted with satin-finished ovangkol back and sides for resonant sound with deep bass and rich overtones. Ovangkol can vary both in color and grain complexity for a unique look. These models include mahogany burst ovangkol gloss tops for balanced tone and projection and high-performance neck tapers for ease of playability up and down the fretboard. The D-16E Burst and OMC-16E Burst come equipped with Fishman® Matrix VT Enhance™ electronics. They are strung with Authentic Acoustic Lifespan® 2.0 light gauge strings. List price $2,399.
Special and Limited Editions
000E Black Walnut Ambertone
This Auditorium model is crafted with black walnut back and sides for well-balanced tone that bridges the gap between rosewood and mahogany. A Sitka spruce gloss top, hand-finished with an ambertone burst, adds to the balanced tone and improves projection. The high-performance taper neck makes it easy to move up and down the fretboard. The fingerboard and bridge are made from FSC® Certified Richlite®. This model, which is limited to 125 instruments, comes equipped with Fishman® Matrix VT Enhance™ electronics and a soft-shell case for ease of travel. It is strung with Authentic Acoustic Lifespan® 2.0 light gauge strings. List price $2,399.
00L Fly Fishing
This sloped-shoulder art guitar is crafted with stunning gloss-finished goncalo alves back and sides, which provide a responsive bottom end and lively midrange. It includes a Sitka spruce gloss top for balanced tone and projection and a high-performance neck taper for ease of playability up and down the fretboard. The top is printed with custom fly fishing-themed artwork by William Matthews and includes custom pearl inlay on the fingerboard and headstock. This model, which is limited to 100 instruments, is left-hand friendly and can be fitted with optional electronics. It is strung with Authentic Acoustic Lifespan® 2.0 light gauge strings. List price $4,399.
D-16E Brexit
This 14-fret Dreadnought art guitar is crafted with satin-finished sycamore back and sides, which provide clear and transparent overtones with a punchy response. It includes a Sitka spruce gloss top for balanced tone and projection and a high-performance neck taper for ease of playability up and down the fretboard. The top is printed with playful, custom Brexit-themed artwork by Robert F. Goetzl. This model is fitted with Fishman® Matrix VT Enhance™ electronics and strung with Authentic Acoustic Lifespan® 2.0 light gauge strings. List price $2,799.
American Chopper Custom
Martin collaborated with the hit TV show American Chopper and Paul Jr. Designs to build a three-wheeled vehicle and an automotive-inspired custom guitar that were featured in two television episodes broadcast in March 2019. Limited to only seven instruments, this 14-fret Dreadnought guitar features design elements such as aluminum riveted panels (a first for Martin) and custom inlay in wood and copper. It includes an Engelmann spruce top, which produces complex tones, paired with Guatemalan rosewood back and sides to add deep basses and crisp trebles. The model features European flamed maple binding, nickel open-gear tuners, skeletonized butterbean knobs, and a stainless-steel label. It is strung with Titanium Core strings. List price $39,999.
Strings
Authentic Acoustic Flexible Core
Martin Flexible Core strings get new packaging and officially join the Authentic Acoustic strings family. As with all of Martin's Authentic Acoustic products, Flexible Core strings are now crafted with our highest tensile-strength core wire, which has been tin-plated on all six strings for added corrosion resistance; because what you don't see matters! When coupled with our highest quality wrap wire, you get consistent true tone that you can count on song after song. With Flexible Core strings, you get total flexibility and total control. Available in 92/8 Phosphor Bronze and Silk & Phosphor. List price $6.99 to $9.99.
Authentic Acoustic Bass
Halfway between the kick drum and the mandolin lies full, thumping bass. We've got your rhythm section covered with Martin Authentic Acoustic SP® Bass strings. Now part of the Authentic Acoustic strings family, Authentic Acoustic Bass strings are now crafted with our highest tensile-strength core wire, which has been tin-plated on all four strings for added corrosion resistance; because what you don't see matters! Available in long-lasting 92/8 Phosphor Bronze. List price $19.99.
The Original M140
The string that started it all 50 years ago is now back by popular demand. Martin's original M140 light gauge strings, with 80/20 composition, are ideally suited for players who love deep, rich bass tones and clear, bright trebles. Providing brilliance and clarity, Martin M140s are perfect for daily use and all playing styles. List price $5.49.
For more information:
Martin
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Originally released in the 1980s, the Victory has long been a cult favorite among guitarists for its distinctive double cutaway design and excellent upper-fret access. These new models feature flexible electronics, enhanced body contours, improved weight and balance, and an Explorer headstock shape.
A Cult Classic Made Modern
The new Victory features refined body contours, improved weight and balance, and an updated headstock shape based on the popular Gibson Explorer.
Effortless Playing
With a fast-playing SlimTaper neck profile and ebony fretboard with a compound radius, the Victory delivers low action without fret buzz everywhere on the fretboard.
Flexible Electronics
The two 80s Tribute humbucker pickups are wired to push/pull master volume and tone controls for coil splitting and inner/outer coil selection when the coils are split.
For more information, please visit gibson.com.
Gibson Victory Figured Top Electric Guitar - Iguana Burst
English singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock is as recognizable by tone, lyrics, and his vibrantly hued clothing choices as the sound of Miles Davis’ horn.
Itchycoo Park
“I like my songs, but I don’t necessarily think I’m the best singer of them,” he effaces to me over Zoom, as it’s approaching midnight where he’s staying in London. “I just wanted to be a singer-songwriter because that’s what Bob Dylan did. And I like to create; I’m happiest when I’m producing something. But my records are blueprints, really. They just show you what the song could be, but they’re not necessarily the best performance of them. Whereas if you listen to … oh, I don’t know, the great records of ’67, they actually sound like the best performances you could get.”
He mentions that particular year not offhandedly, but because that’s the theme of the conversation: He’s just released an album, 1967: Vacations in the Past, which is a collection of covers of songs released in 1967, and one original song—the title track. Boasting his takes on Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life,” Pink Floyd’s “See Emily Play,” and Small Faces’ “Itchycoo Park,” among eight other tracks, it serves as a sort of soundtrack or musical accompaniment to his new memoir, 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left.
Hitchcock, who was 14 years old and attending boarding school in England in 1967, describes how who he is today is encased in that period of his life, much like a mosquito in amber. But why share that with the world now?
In the mid ’70s, before he launched his solo career, Hitchcock was the leader of the psychedelic group the Soft Boys.
Photo by Tim Bugbee/tinnitus photography
“I’m 71; I’ve been alive quite a long time,” he shares. “If I want to leave a record of anything apart from all the songs I’ve written, now is a good time to do it. By writing about 1966 to ’67, I’m basically giving the context for Robyn Hitchcock, as Robyn Hitchcock then lived the rest of his life.”
Hopefully, I say, the publication of these works won’t ring as some sort of death knell for him.
“Well, it’s a relative death knell,” he replies. “But everyone’s on the conveyor belt. We all go over the edge. And none of our legacies are permanent. Even the plastic chairs and Coke bottles and stuff like that that we’re leaving behind.... In 10- or 20-thousand-years’ time, we’ll probably just be some weird, scummy layer on the great fruitcake of the Earth. But I suppose you do probably get to an age where you want to try and explain yourself, maybe to yourself. Maybe it’s me that needs to read the book, you know?”
“I’m basically giving the context for Robyn Hitchcock, as Robyn Hitchcock then lived the rest of his life.”
To counter his description of his songs above, I would say that Hitchcock’s performances on 1967: Vacations in the Past carve out their own deserved little planet in the vintage-rock Milky Way. I was excited in particular by some of his selections: the endorsement of foundational prog in the Procol Harum cover; the otherwise forgotten Traffic tune, “No Face, No Name and No Number,” off of Mr. Fantasy, the Mamas & the Papas’ nostalgic “San Francisco,” and of course, the aforementioned Floyd single. There’s also the lesser known “My White Bicycle” by Tomorrow and “I Can Hear the Grass Grow” by the Move, and the Hendrix B-side, “Burning of the Midnight Lamp.”
Through these recordings, Hitchcock pays homage to “that lovely time when people were inventing new strands of music, and they couldn’t define them,” he replies. “People didn’t really know what to call Pink Floyd. Was it jazz, or was it pop, or psychedelia, or freeform, or systems music?”
His renditions call to mind a cooking reduction, defined by Wikipedia as “the process of thickening and intensifying the flavor of a liquid mixture, such as a soup, sauce, wine, or juice, by simmering or boiling.” Hitchcock’s distinctive, classic folk-singer voice and steel-string-guided arrangements do just that to this iconic roster. There are some gentle twists and turns—Eastern-instrumental touches; subtly applied, ethereal delay and reverb, and the like—but nothing that should cloud the revived conduit to the listener’s memory of the originals.
And yet, here’s his review of his music, in general: “I hear [my songs] back and I think, ‘God, my voice is horrible! This is just … ugh! Why do I sing through my nose like that?’ And the answer is because Bob Dylan sang through his nose, you know. I was just singing through Bob Dylan’s nose, really.”
1967: Vacations in the Pastfeatures 11 covers of songs that were released in 1967, and one original song—the title track.
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“I wait for songs to come to me: They’re independent like cats, rather than like dogs who will faithfully trail you everywhere,” Hitchcock explains, sharing about his songwriting process. “All I can do is leave a plate of food out for the songs—in the form of my open mind—and hope they will appear in there, hungry for my neural pathways.”
Once he’s domesticated the wild idea, he says, “It’s important to remain as unselfconscious as possible in the [writing] process. If I start worrying about composing the next line, the embryonic song slips away from me. Often I’m left with a verse-and-a-half and an unresolved melody because my creation has lost its innocence and fled from my brain.
“[Then] there are times when creativity itself is simply not what’s called for: You just have to do some more living until the songs appear again. That’s as close as I can get to describing the process, which still, thankfully, remains mysterious to me after all this time.”
“In 10- or 20-thousand-years’ time, we’ll probably just be some weird, scummy layer on the great fruitcake of the Earth.”
In the prose of 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left, Hitchcock expresses himself similarly to how he does so distinctively in his lyrics and speech. Amidst his tales of roughing his first experiences in the infamously ruthless environs of English boarding school, he shares an abundance of insight about his parents and upbringing, as well as a self-diagnosis of having Asperger’s syndrome—whose name is now gradually becoming adapted in modern lexicon to “low-support-needs” autism spectrum disorder. When I touch on the subject, he reaffirms the observation, and elaborates, “I think I probably am also OCD, whatever that means. I’ve always been obsessed with trying to get things in the right order.”
He relates an anecdote about his school days: “So, if I got out of lunch—‘Yippee! I’ve got three hours to dress like a hippie before they put me back in my school clothes. Oh damn, I’ve put the purple pants on, but actually, I should put the red ones on. No! I put the red ones on; it’s not good—I’ll put my jeans on.’
Robyn Hitchcock's Gear
Hitchcock in 1998, after embarking on the tour behind one of his earlier acoustic albums, Moss Elixir.
Guitars
- Two Fylde Olivia acoustics equipped with Sennheiser II lavalier mics (for touring)
- Larrivée acoustic
- Fender Telecaster
- Fender Stratocaster
Strings & Picks
- Elixir .011–.052 (acoustic)
- Ernie Ball Skinny Top Heavy Bottom .010–.054 (electric)
- Dunlop 1.0 mm
“I’d just get into a real state. And then the only thing that would do would be listening to Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart. There was something about Trout Mask that was so liberating that I thought, ‘Oh, I don’t care what trousers I’m wearing. This is just, whoa! This music is it.’”
With him having chosen to cover “See Emily Play,” a Syd Barrett composition, the conversation soon turns to the topic of the late, troubled songwriter. I comment, “It’s hard to listen to Syd’s solo records.... It’s weird that people enabled that. You can hear him losing his mind.”
“You can, but at the same time, the fact they enabled it means that these things did come out,” Robyn counters. “And he obviously had nothing else to give after that. So, at least, David Gilmour and the old Floyd guys.... It meant they gave the world those songs, which, although the performances are quite … rickety, quite fragile, they’re incredibly beautiful songs. There’s nothing forced about Barrett. He can only be himself.”
“There was something about Trout Mask Replica that was so liberating that I thought, ‘Oh, I don’t care what trousers I’m wearing. This is just, whoa!’”
I briefly compare Barrett to singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston, and we agree there are some similarities. And then with a segue, ask, “When did you first fall in love with the guitar? Was it when you came home from boarding school and found the guitar your parents gifted you on your bed?”
Robyn pauses thoughtfully.“Ah, I think I liked the idea of the guitar probably around that time,” he shares. “I always used to draw men with guns. I’m not really macho, but I had a very kind of post-World War II upbringing where men were always carrying guns. And I thought, ‘Well, if he’s a man, he’s got to carry a gun.’ Then, around the age of 13, I swapped the gun for the guitar. And then every man I drew was carrying a guitar instead.”
Elaborating on getting his first 6-string, he says, “I had lessons from a man who had three fingers bent back from an industrial accident. He was a nice old man with whiskers, and he showed me how to get the guitar in tune and what the basic notes were. And then I got hold of a Bob Dylan songbook, and—‘Oh my gosh, I can play “Mr. Tambourine Man!”’ It was really fast—about 10 minutes between not being able to play anything, and suddenly being able to play songs by my heroes.”
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Hitchcock does me the kindness, during our atypically deep conversation—at least, for a press interview—of sharing more acute perceptions of his parents, and their own neurodivergence. Ultimately, he feels that his mother didn’t necessarily like him, but loved the idea of him—and that later in life, he came to better understand his lonely, depressive father. “My mother was protective but in an oddly cold way. People are like that,” he shares. “We just contain so many things that don’t make sense with each other: colors that you would not mix as a painter; themes you would not intermingle as a writer; characters you would not create.... We defy any sense of balance or harmony.
“Although the performances are quite rickety, quite fragile, they’re incredibly beautiful songs. There’s nothing forced about Barrett. He can only be himself.”
“The idea of normality.... ‘Normal’ is tautological,” he continues. “Nothing is normal. A belief in normality is an aberration. It’s a form of insanity, I think.
“It’s just hard for us to accept ourselves because we’re brought up with the myth of normality, and the myth of what people are supposed to be like gender-wise, sex-wise, and psychologically what we’re supposed to want. And in a way, some of that’s beginning to melt, now. But that probably just causes more confusion. It’s no wonder people like me want to live in 1967.”
YouTube It
In this excerpt from the Jonathan Demme-directed concert film of Robyn Hitchcock, Storefront Hitchcock, the songwriter performs an absurdist “upbeat” song about a man who dies of cancer.
"This bass is a reflection of everything I love about playing," said Blu DeTiger. "I wanted an instrument that could handle the diversity of sounds I create, from deep, funky grooves to melodic lines that cut through the mix. Fender and I worked closely together to make sure this bass not only looks amazing but sounds incredible in any setting."
Featured as the cover of the Forbes 30 Under 30 music list, Blu, who defines her musical style in the "groovy Indie” genre blending elements of Pop, Rock, and Funk, represents the next generation of pop music, earning accolades and a dedicated global fanbase with her work alongside top artists and successful solo releases. Bringing her signature sound and style, Blu marks a new milestone in her storied partnership with Fender and solidifying her influence on the future of music in creating the Limited Edition Blu DeTiger x Player Plus Jazz Bass.
Limited Edition Blu DeTiger x Player Plus Jazz Bass ($1,599.99) - From the Sky Burst Sparkle to the chrome hardware and mirrored pickguard, every detail on this Jazz Bass echoes Blu’s artistic vision. The offset ash body is chambered to keep this bass as lightweight and comfortable as possible. The satin finished maple neck, bound 9.5” rosewood fingerboard and vintage tall frets provide smooth playability. The Custom Blu DeTiger Fireball bass humbucker and Player Plus Noiseless Jazz Bass Pickups fuse vintage charm with modern punch. The bass also includes an 18V Player Plus preamp with 3-band EQ and active/passive toggle, great for sculpting your tone and ideal for capturing the funky snap and growl that defines Blu’s sound. With its inspired aesthetics, signature sonics and Blu-approved features, the Limited Edition Blu DeTiger x Player Plus Jazz Bass lets you tap into the infectious pop energy that keeps this star shining!
Her successful releases including "Figure It Out,” "Vintage," and recent album “All I Ever Want is Everything” have earned her accolades and sent her on the road to tour across the world to perform for her dedicated fanbase. Her distinct style of playing has also seen her play live with top tier artists such as Olivia Rodrigo, Bleachers, Dominic Fike, Caroline Polachek, Chromeo, and more.