Official Luthiers Forum!

I'd like to ask a favor of any luthiers/players that are attending the NAMM show: could you please stop in and check out Shadow Electronics booth, and try out the new NanoMAG and NanoFlex acoustic guitar pickups. I'd love to get some reviews.

The NanoMAG is a magnetic pickup that is mounted on the end of the fingerboard. As far as I see it, it is about the only solution to include a magnetic pickup for guitars with offset soundholes. Watching and listening to Michael Gulezian up close and personal made me realize there is reason to include a magnetic pickup as part of an acoustic mix for some musicians.

The NanoFlex is Shadow's new entry into undersaddle pickups. I spoke with Joe Marinic, and he says the NanoFlex has a very flat response across the audio spectrum, and really brings out the low end better than any piezo undersaddle pickup on the market. It is also supposed to picup string vibrations (typical fur undersaddles) as well as picking up the soundboard vibrations. That sounds interesting to me, especially for dropped tunings as well as baritone guitars and harp guitars.

I know there are a bunch of players here that could really give an acoustic pickup a great fingerstyle workout. So please if you can, stop by the Shadow booth and pluck, strum, tap, hammer and spank the beejeebers out of it - and report back!

Thanks!

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

I guess I should have found out who plans to attend the NAMM show. I know Rick Turner will be there (D-TAR, booth #4358, Hall C.)

Rick, I'm sure part of your agenda is to assess the competition, so please give me your honest appraisal of the Shadow NanoFlex compared to the D-TAR Wave-length, Timber-line and Sadducer. PM or email me if you'd prefer, but I'd really like your opinion, especially on the bass capabilities.

Thanks,

Dennis
p.s. Shadow Electronics is in booth #4796, Hall C

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

I'm doing a very short NAMM visit this year; I'll only be down for Friday afternoon and some of Saturday.   I'm recovering from a dreadful bout of acute bronchitis, and a full show would just about put me back in the hospital at this point...I already had to do the ER thing last Sunday...   I'm not going to have a chance to get around at all, but my partner, Barry Pearlman, and some of my other crew will be manning the booth full time.

[QUOTE=Rick Turner] I'm doing a very short NAMM visit this year; I'll only be down for Friday afternoon and some of Saturday.   I'm recovering from a dreadful bout of acute bronchitis, and a full show would just about put me back in the hospital at this point...I already had to do the ER thing last Sunday...   I'm not going to have a chance to get around at all, but my partner, Barry Pearlman, and some of my other crew will be manning the booth full time.[/QUOTE] Rick,
Get well soon. It is impossible to work a trade show booth without pushing your larynx hard - just to get over the din. That's the last thing you need right now. Hope you can meet and greet and pass folks off to someone else to do most of the yappin'.

Well, you probably were already aware of the Shadow "Nano" offerings, or they are certainly on your radar screen. When you get a chance to check 'em out, please let me know.

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

I'll be at the show pretty much all day Friday and Saturday (if I can
keep my sanity that long, questionable) and would be glad to stop by
and take a look/listen.  Will let you know.
Bruce

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Bruce Herrmann
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

[QUOTE=BruceHerrmann] I'll be at the show pretty much all day Friday and Saturday (if I cankeep my sanity that long, questionable) and would be glad to stop byand take a look/listen. Will let you know.Bruce[/QUOTE]
Thanks, Bruce!

-Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

I'll be there the full show, as a walk around, not a display booth. I hope to finally met the loads of friends and others I have met here and through my own work long distance. Rick I hope you feel better and recover soon.

I'll try to find the booth for the pick ups.

Craig Lavin

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www.handcraftinlay.com

Thanks, Craig!

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

Have you ever been to the NAMM show, Dennis? I ask because it would be nearly impossible in that environment to give a pickup a meaningful review.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

[QUOTE=Howard Klepper] Have you ever been to the NAMM show, Dennis? I ask because it would be nearly impossible in that environment to give a pickup a meaningful review. [/QUOTE]
Point well taken, Howard. I have not been to a NAMM show, but I have never been to any trade show where it was quiet enough to make a critical sound comparison or test. I have heard that at the Montreal show, they had portable "soundproof" (attenuated) booths to allow attendee/buyers to audition instruments. That would help!

After talking to Joe Marinic at Shadow, it sounds like he believes the NanoFlex is a breakthrough in providing a fuller audio spectrum from an undersaddle pickup, notably adding a much richer low end. If that is true, maybe it will be evident even above the din?

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

It's both the din (I think the decibel police intervene at around 80 db at the NAMM show, and also the difficulty of doing any A-B comparison, or listening with a guitar that you are familiar with.

Perhaps this pickup is really a breakthrough, but every manufacturer makes similar sounding claims.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

I've found that it makes a lot of difference which hall you are it.  I suspect the booth we are discussing will be on the bottom floor hall, still noisy but not as bad and usually not quite as crowded.  Might help in
the process of evaluating a pickup...
Bruce

_________________
Bruce Herrmann
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."