News from Mr. |
| 03-01-06 Hello! Once again many updates and news here at Manne!! Let me introduce first our latest developements on products: - Active Soulmover: This new version of the Soulmover bass sports an EMG PJ set and 2 bands BTC active circuit, as well as a new Manne chrome bridge. It is available in Passion Red and Fireburst satin finishes. This bass is the latest addition to Glenn Hughes requests for impressive live bass sounds. Glenn is currently recording his new CD and we spotted in his site a picture of the studio where you can see his ivory Soulmover ready for action. - Multi-chambering process: Our Newport and Ventura models have bigger bodies than the Taos and Trea models, and are less contoured. So the result is that there is substantially more wood, and more wood means also more weight. Since last October we have experimented with drilling small cavities in the bodies before gluing on the tops, to remove as much wood (and weight) possible without structurally modifying the instruments, and without creating large tonal chambers that can create disturbing dominant frequency resonances and modify the original instrument's response. Our main aim is to reduce weight and to have more freedom for the body to vibrate. You can feel the result is very good, but without changing the dynamic tonal response of these great sounding instruments. |
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- Trea
with Italian Yew top: Italian Yew is a wonderful
new tone wood, light but with compact and consistent
grain and texture, it is one of the hardest of the
conifer woods. It is resonant with an acoustic nouance
and a truly distinctive and unique appearance. The tree
is not fast growing but it can reach a millenium in age.
It's high cost comes from it's scarce availability and
from the fact that the many knots drastically limit the
surface of usable wood to get perfect tops. Italian Yew tops will be categorized as Mastergrade tops. |
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| USA
TRIP: for an Italian living in the pre-alpine
region, it is good to spend some time in California in
January. Anyway, lately, in these last two years, I spent
enough time in California to start feeling accustomed to
the very different things that happen there, and the very
different American way-of-life. I have met very special
talented people, with truly sincere personalities, that
in such a nurturing environment have been able to express
themselves and develop into special, rich human beings.
Indeed, many things in America attract me and appeal me,
from the kindness at the traffic stops, "the-first-in-the-first-out"
can only work there......as in Naples it can only end up
in a wrestling tournament or a full bad words vocabulary
(two volumes: slang and plain italian), to the easy way
to do simple things and uncomplicated burocracy, to the
hi tech modernity integrated into the everyday life. It is astonishing for an Italian to deposit money without leaving the car, money on a check with personalized paper design with a floral theme or a Warner cartoon hero that no serious european casher of serious banks would ever accept to cash it. It's atonishing to have the money back from a supermarket because you rethink about it, without having a minimal animated discussion with the cashier, without having legal assistence or a friend big enough with you. |
 Keith Holland and Sean |
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But
this time, maybe because of my own personal reasons, I
got a more objective view of America and Americans. I
learned that there is a specific "American social
approach", a kind and gentle new-aged human relation
that in Europe is confused with friendship, but in
America is just a way to represent yourself. One of the
funniest things to me is that in America you cannot learn
something from a friend, from a book or from a personal
research or direct experience, but the usual approach I
hear is "I had a course in it". For an Italian
it is incredible to attend a couse about "Dating,
relating and romance" or a course about "Piano
instantly for people with no spare time" or "Prevent
sexual harassment - online" as we do not always look
for coded instructions on everything but possibly work
them out ourselves. Anyway if you learn to play piano
having no spare time to play it, it seems that the only
person who will have pleasure out of your studies will be
your teacher....and they are paid off!... The missing of "tension and release" of the California summer-all-year-round, has a bitter-sweet back of the coin that you need to contemplate in order to understand America. Americans beat Italians/Europeans in many fields but there are some others where the Italians are considered unbeatable and are left to us with a reverential admiration by Americans: just two phases I heard recently illustrate this... - Asking to Michael Ferrucci (note the italian family name!) "What do american women wants?" he replied: "Italians!". - At Namm a bass player was enjoing a Trea. A friend came by telling him: "They look so cool!" and he said: "...Italian design. What more do you want?" ... Now some more news!!! FROM OUR U.S. DISTRIBUTOR:
NAMM-2006 was a real blast, as usual !!
There is something very cool about spending a week in LA
in the dead of winter, surrounded by palm trees, wide
boulevards, tons of traffic and laid back Californians. We were gratified to see
so many Manne players at the booth, including our old
friend from NAMM 2004 the Japanese jazz-fusion-funk
player Tak Tanaka, as well as Jason
Kaye, our youngest endorser now 18 who was
playing guitar on the Sunset Strip at the tender age of
15. |
| Alex
Masi and Fabrizio Grossi, two
of Manne's oldest friends and both incredibly talented
guitar/bass players also visited us. Fabrizio is a friend of the legendary Glenn Hughes and producer of Glenn's recent CD.....Soul Mover. Jasun Tipton and Troy Tipton, the twin brothers fronting the San Francisco metal band Zero Hour were there too......YOU RULE DUDES !!!!!! Amazing players and a couple of great guys, Zero Hour is rapidly ascending to the top of the metal world with their new CD, A Fragile Mind featuring a custom Manne Ventura 7-string and a Newport-5. Check out the CD metal fans!! We were happy to see that Manne is really starting to catch on in the USA!! We found that we now enjoy much better name recognition, the result of several recent magazine reviews and articles about Manne instruments, and thanks to the many efforts of our enthusiastic dealers. Dealers like Michael Ferrucci, the respected owner of the Livermore, California institution Fine Fretted Friends. Michael is certainly our fretted friend, and a great salesman! (Michael is certainly respected but we are still trying to decide how respectable he is.....LOL....just kidding, Michael !) Mr. Ferrucci visited us at the booth and brought along one of his Manne-addicted customers, an avid guitar and bass collector who already owns two Taos guitars !!! Our LA dealer and bass expert Lou Laurenti with The Instrument Connection was also on hand, helping us out at the booth and acting as our host. Thanks so much Lou for your continual support and friendship !! Other Manne dealers who visited the booth included Aaron Soriero of Music Matters, Jim Rubio from Atlanta Bass Gallery, Val L'Heureux and John DiMaggio of Bass Alone, Keith Holland of Guitar Hospital, and dressed like Indiana Jones, Grasshopper of Bass Central........ Wow, what a group !!! No wonder Manne is on its way to becoming an American household name !! Manne fans should look for recent reviews in Guitar Player and Bass Player Magazines, as well as an upcoming review of the passive and active Glenn Hughes Signature Soulmover basses in Bass Guitar Magazine. Can't wait until next year, Mr. Manne ! My best regards to all our friends, players, supporters and dealers...... RICHARD DAVIDOW, Manne USA |
 ....Jason rocks on a 7 strings  Proud Manne Trea italian Yew owner |
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  Tammy Wilson dei SGQ......... Danny Click |
FROM OUR SOUTH AFRICA DISTRIBUTOR: |
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| There were
a many artists, musicians, radio personalities, ect
present at the function and I certainly met a lot
of interesting people. The response was very good
and the instruments surely attracted attention. Although
Manne instruments are new in South Africa more artists
are getting aware and start appreciating these unique
instruments. It is my feeling that if you don't try a Manne you will never know what it sounds and play like. So ... check it out! Andre Mohlen, Manne South Africa FROM OUR
SWEDEN DISTRIBUTOR: MANNE DAY
REPORTAGE: If you ever saw the
Benigni Movie "Johnny Stecchino" maybe you
remember he said: "In Palemmo, there is a Probbblemm...
The traffic!" Obviously he was referring to a bigger
sicilian problem than anyone can be aware of... but I can
tell you that the traffic is "another" big
Palermo problem: I am the witness that the "do not
enter" sign was taken as "you are welcome"
and the "do not turn right" sign meaning was
"possibly do not turn right, but if you really must
do it, do it quickly, I will close an eye on it".
Another chapter was about the traffic lights but I
realized that there are some possibilities: |
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Arrivederci! Mr. Manne |
