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| NEW SHOWROOM It was a busy August at Manne this year. Yes, we devoted a little time to the all Italian traditional August holidays for everybody all at the same time, and sometimes all in the same places. But we had an August of home-improvement, changing the configuration of our shop and showroom space, and setting up a more walk-in customer friendly spatial layout. Most of the instruments we produce for the Italian market are for people that have visited our shop, tested the instruments in stock, and defined their own custom bass or guitar. We also received the full line of the Falcons with all the new exciting available colors. So we decided that this was the right time to give more space and good visibility to our available instrument inventory. You can check the available instruments on the Italian site at the showroom outlet page. Italian or international visitors are welcome to come by when we are open, but it is better to pre-confirm your visit by email or phone. |
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PPC SOMMERFEST The late August Fest in Hannover has been a tradition at PPC Music shop since '97. Drum Night, Guitar Night and Bands during the day happen in a perfect German style, which means rivers of beer and appetizing wursts laying on beds of kartoffel and senf. Under the big tent set up in the PPC courtyard, many hours of music are performed from the morning to late at night. The PPC staff was very busy as the work for the festival was an add-on to the normal busy shop routine, but everybody was enjoying the event taking the time for a chat and to welcome and meet friends and customers. Saturday was the Guitar Day, so we had some Manne spots in the morning and in the afternoon with Roberto Dalla Vecchia with his tasteful flatpicking on the Mannedesign DSR. Frank Sawade and Stefan Schönebeck did a set using the various models, explaining the difference in tone and the features of each individual instrument model. The event also served as a kind of convention for people involved with Manne, endorsers and customers. A growing family! Thanks to Alex and Robert, Thomas, Stefan and Tina for a wonderful time in Hannover! |
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| 8 STRINGS Our family of 8-string guitars keeps on growing. We are no longer surprised by how many people are approaching the 8 string guitar, and we are very pleased that requests keep coming from the most differing play styles you can imagine. On June we delivered an incredible looking 8-string Semiacustica to David Rubinstein in NewYork. David reports: “Andrea, the guitar is beautiful to look at & hold. She plays amazingly & needs no adjustment that I can think of. The variety of tones producible with the varied pick-up combinations is truly astounding. It's a great privilege for me to play this guitar. “ Then we received enthusiastic feedback from Andrea Neri former guitar player for the metal band ASTARTE SYRIACA while he is also involved into theater performance with JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR and ROCKY HORROR TRIBUTE SHOW. His Ash body Taos was equipped with a custom made vibrato bridge with Graphtech piezo saddles. But our latest release, a guitar for Mr. Stefano Cirrincione, is something that once again leaves me speachless. The incredible Mastergrade Walnut top gives to this first class instrument a truly amazing, awesome look. We have never before used walnut for a Semiacustica top, but following the request of the player who asked for a very dark, jazzy tone, we began experimenting with the right woods and thickness for the top on this project. The body is made of flamed poplar, which we also choose on purpose. The result? I will let you contemplate it.... More pictures are on the 8 strings page . |
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FRANK SAWADE Frank was born in Hanover, Germany. After studying at the GIT in Los Angeles he went back to Germany to become a studio musician and freelancer. In 2003 Frank joined the German metal band Human Fortress with whom he released the album Eternal Empire in April 2008. He also performed at the Wacken Open Air and in the UK. Frank’s guitar play is influenced by different musical styles such as metal, rock, funk and country. He was proud to receive his Manne endorsement in 2008. Currently he plays a Taos Special 7 string guitar. “I love this instrument. The sound is amazing and suitable for many styles. My plan was to use this guitar for metal purposes, but the instrument is extremely flexible. The playability of this guitar is excellent and its visual appearance is great. Thanks Manne!” |
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| MARCUS NORMAN Our new Swedish endorser is the Guitarist for NAGFLAR. This band is the realm of black metal and beyond any doubt will reclaim the Swedish crown. NAGLFAR concentrates on their strengths: Out of rough and deeply black musical force grows exalted melodies filled with cold beauty. The TAOS nightaxe for Marcus is an Ash body with EMG humbuckers, a killer combination for the killer sound of this killer guitar player, who I would NOT joke with.... “The death-axe arrived yesterday! The first impression is amazing! It felt even better than I remembered and the color + inlay look killer! it’s sounds killer here! I just want to let you know that I really like this guitar! It feels and looks great indeed! I’m always having issues with new guitars (that’s why I’ve stuck with my explorer for like 13 years) but the first time I played the NightAxe I got the feeling that I’d been playing it forever. Easy to play and the whole guitar feels amazing!” |
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NEW PARTS We have used these Gotoh bridges since their introduction in 1996 (that's where their code name come from!). We always considered them technically the best of all the available Floyd replica family of bridges, in terms of materials, performance and tone. Their particular locking pivot is a big contribution to tuning stability. After a period of abuse of Floyds (90’s) and then a return to more classic bridges, we noticed that there is now a steady demand for the Floyd bridge for use in a certain specific areas of music. So we are glad to reintroduce the Gotoh as our standard Floyd bridge for the Taos series, or to offer it eventually as a tone option, for its more mellow and controlled response than the more metallic sound of the other Floyd bridge that we offer. You can find all hardware available on our ”Components' page”. |
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| Arrivederci! Mr. Manne |
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| NEWSLETTER
- August '08 SWEDISH GROOVE David Sivelind, 19 year old freelance bassplayer from Sweden has played Manne basses for the past few years. Currently Touring with In Bloom!, David has cooperated/played with many other swedish artists such as Johan Randén, Jacob Kaasgaard, Vincent, Sandra Passero, Cap Outrun, Joaqim Lewerin. He plays and likes a wide range of genres like Rock/Pop and RnB/Dance to Heavy Metal and Fusion. "I really love Manne guitars and basses. I use my Manne Trea 4 to all kind of projects and genres and it sounds fantastic all the time! Even when I drop all the strings down a minor-third it has all the tone and full bottom left." |
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ZERO HOUR TheRightToRock.com has issued the podcast episode #57 featuring guitarist Jasun Tipton of the American progressive metal band ZERO HOUR. The interview lasts approximately 40 minutes and can be heard at this location. The interviw was also on Blabbermouth.net, the biggest Metal forum out in the States. "Dark Deceiver" , their latest release, is already being held as one the year's top releases. The guidance of the eminently talented producer/engineer Dino Alden. Alden, having finished work on Marty Friedman's (ex-MEGADETH) newest solo album, gave the material an impressive professional shine. The band just got back from playing the South Texas Rock Festival where they lined up all the fans in a great concert. |
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| HORST KELLER We met Horst at the Frankfurt's Musicmesse as he was there as demonstrator. He is a great stratoguy guru so we were very pleased that he found our new Raven guitars highly interesting. So we defined the features of his guitar and he recently became our new testimonial. Here is his feedback after he received the guitar. "Dear Manne, a million thanks for my Manne Raven. This guitar is a players dream. I’ve never experienced something similar. Every note simply jumps out of the guitar and that all over the neck up to the highest frets. The neck joint is such a vast improvement on similar vintage designs that I can’t imagine how I could play until now without it. Your Manne MiniHumbucker is a beast! Cuts through the mix like nothing. I totally love this stunning beauty. Again, many thanks and I’m looking forward for a next manne instrument..." |
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GARANA Jazz Festival A great audience gathered for this wonderful jazz festival in the Romanian "BANAT" mountains. On the 20th of July, Dominique di Piazza, Horea Crisovan (our old time friend and endorser) and Tavi Scurtu put together a "full and intense hour" of incredible music written by Dominique himself. Horea played also 2 of his tunes alone on his killer Taos guitar. The audience were very satisfied. After tunes like"Nuestra Esperanza" or "Living Hope" or "Marie TCHA TCHA" from Dominique's albums almost 9,000 people were standing and clapping their hands. It was a great combination between feeling at the highest level and moments of happiness and force. Dominique was amazing. "Apres les pluie" was the tune which balanced the concert and gave positive energy to the audience. The repertoire was spicy and very Latin. The "encore" or" again" or "bis" was finally done after long minutes of applause and Dominique decided to play Mammalapuram. The presenter of the festival said that Dominique di Piazza and Horea Crisovan project was one of the highest intensity moments of the whole festival, and one of the most anticipated ones. Horea reported that this experience gave him the opportunity to learn from"His Greatest Teacher"Dominique di Piazza. |
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| ELIE AFIF Born in Beirut in 1985 and currently Dubai resident, at the age of 18 Elie was asked to perform with Mike Stern in Beirut, which was a great and big start for his professional musical career. Elie encountered a Manne bass about 2 years ago through Daniele Camarda, a very talented Italian bass genius for whom we have built 3 basses, two of which are the "woody", instruments made specifically for the purpose of his research into organic bass tone. Elie decided to have a similar one made, but adding his own specifications to suit his needs. He is now very satisfied with his new bass. Here is his latest update: "Hello Andrea, I just came back from a tour, and it happened that I played in the Club in India called the Blue Frog where Dominique has been performing with John Mclaughlin one week before us with his Manne bass. Everyone liked the bass sound. It sounded really great, and very special, man, thanks again for your art." |
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| NEWSLETTER
- July '08 SUN CITY Alessandro Batazzi,, the main guitarist in the cast from Sun City's musical "Let there be Rock", performed at the Superbowl for Posi+ive Rocks, a broadcasting event for the whole continent. POSI+IVE is a unique collaboration between local and international leading fashion designers, musicians, artists and acclaimed chefs, resulting in a three-day POSI+IVE extravaganza which raises funds for Sun International's HIV/AIDS initiative, the Tapologo Aids Hospice. This year Alessandro and the rock cast was in charge, as a rythm add-on to the big orchestra for the whole evening. So this was the ideal night to take advantage of the 18 strings of his doubleneck. The music required quick passages from Jazz to rock to pop-metal and even a tango and an Elvis ballad with acoustic strumming. Alessandro reports: “The double-neck did the job perfectly: the 6 string has a strong bass string, perfect for jazz, and the bridge pickup is perfect for rock tracks. And with... a flick-of-the-switch here is a lovely 12 string – perfectly acoustic!” |
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Figure of six A new band is listed as our endorser: Figure of Six were originally heavily influenced by Hardcore bands, but soon turned their music into something completely different, evolving the sound with the introduction of electronic & melodic complicity; keyboards, samples, guitarsynths and electronic elements support this fantastic raw-but-still-catchy sound to create a journey through dark, futuristic atmospheres and spacy melodies. Gaining in the German charts, they are now distributed in the USA thru locomotivemusic We built one Taos guitar with a powerful ash body with an antraburst finish and one Newport bass with a chambered body in ash with ash top and a beautiful grey hand rubbed satin finish. Both instruments have the distinctive custom FO6 metal logo inlay on the 12th fret. |
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| Andrea Fascetti Andrea is a bass and double bass jazz player that has played with hundreds of musicians in clubs and studio productions in Italy. We built for him an 7-string fretted Acoustibass lefthanded a few years ago. “I'm trying to find my inner voice with a 7-string bass” he reports. Recently he released a CD as a tribute to the music of Steve Swallow for the “Revelation series” of Philology Records. “Steve Swallow listened the CD and sent me a beautiful letter to tell me he admires me (I'm still shoked about it!!!). I thank you all at Manne, as a project to be successful needs also “THE sound”. You are on the credits as the bass is really unique ... but how did you do that?” |
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Guitar Day IV Milano if you want to meet the rock freaks in Milan this is the perfect place! This year the starring presence of Paul Gilbert highlighted this event, which with thirteen guitar players and 6 hours of string skipping, bending, pulling, picking, and screaming, offered to my ears a great challenge. As the “feel” of the event was made very clear in advance, almost entirely based on virtuosistic rock, hyped tubes and gain at 11, it offered anyway a very good display of talented players. Some of them, in particular the ones that used very wisely the gain factor, performed with good tone and tasty notes. To offer a departure from the rock clichè we invited to perform William Dotto a long time friend and customer that delighted the metal audience with his two hands playing. The unusual performance with exclusively clean sounds was calm but intense, offering a different climax and demostrating the possibility of this technique. Check his youtube video to be impressed. |
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| Manne on CD: | |||
 VINDRA "The message". Daniel Castman on guitar |
 Tsubo Anus Mundi Gux on Bass |
 SNP Valthellina Reggy Fiorenzi on guitar |
 Andrea Fascetti Dedicated to Steve on fretted 7 strings Acoustibass |
| NEWSLETTER
- June '08 Natascha Roth - James Scholfield Natascha is a singer who has contributed much to the South African Music scene and has performed all over South Africa including many years teaching at the University of Cape Town, where she has helped to produce some of South Africa’s leading voices in Jazz. She toured the USA and has been performing extensively in Europe playing with many European based musicians. James is a gifted musician and guitar player. He grew up in Capetown's Jazz workshop, playing with various local and touring musicians. They just released “Way Out South”, a CD that features compositions reflecting the Duo's “African experience in a variety of languages, dealing with subjects like migration, displacement, suffering, hope, happiness, beauty, friendship and love.” Take a listen to "Sugarcane", a beautiful voice in a very nice composition, supported by a perfect arrangement of two guitars. James is using a Semiacustica. All the best to these great artists! |
 "I wish to tell you that the Semiacustica really came through for me on our last visit to Germany...the more I play it the more it becomes part of my sound, it has really helped me to recreate our album "Way Out South" live....Andre (Manne Guitars SA) has always been very supportive of our music and thanks to him I got to hear about these great guitars. thanks again." James |
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| Dominique Di Piazza Dominique is touring with "JOHN McLAUGHLIN and the 4th Dimension" with Mark Mondesir on drums, Gary Husband on piano & keyboards. The tour has a busy worldwide schedule you can check it out on Dominique 's myspace page.  |
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| Sarzana The 11th Acoustic Guitar Meeting is the Italian happening for Acoustic music musicians, luthiers, distributors and lovers. The Festival is organized by Alessio Ambrosi, and takes place in a Fortress built around 1500, giving it a unique charm and feel; the perfect occasion to meet old time friends and customers. Roberto dalla Vecchia led the “2nd flatmeeting” where all attended jammed on "Blackberry Blossom".  |
 UFO on Sarzana? from Left: Mr Manne, Roberto dalla Vecchia, Davide Peron |
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| Davide Pezzin Davide is a sessionman and live touring player that can play almost anything from rock, pop, to jazz, with his great rhythm attitude, warm bass lines and his trademark smile. His portfolio lists recordings and live sets with top Italian bands and artists. Now Davide is ready for the L'Aura summer tour. L' Aura is a 22 years old talented songwriter, musician and singer that has already put her name among the most interesting and respected Italian artists. The Summer tour will include opening for Ben Harper, REM and Alanis Morrisette, and the major event, the Heineken Jamming Festival. Davide has been a Manne endorser for many years. He is a Acoustibass lover and never misses on his Fretless performances. For this tour there will be a new Soulmover ready to rock the audience. |
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| Malt Whisky Bass The Malt whisky instruments of our first Special Edition series catalyzed the press attention worldwide. The fact that they were probably the first instruments made out of a whisky cask gained attention since their initial exhibition at the Frankfurt MusicMesse. Interviews and reviews are appearing all over, in many UK, Italian, German, French and American magazines and newspapers, even in non-music related media. This month there is a lovely little review and acknowledgement in Bass Player Magazine that revealed also how whisky lovers feel a subliminal passionate fellowship. For players that enjoy the Scottish “water of life”, an instrument with the fine Lagavulin aroma is something out of this world. Thanks to Greg Olwell for his passionate review that released that peated sensation... |
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| NEWSLETTER
- May '08 Susanne Swillus We have a new MANNE endorser! She is Susanne Swillus, the guitar player of the german metal band RECKLESS TIDE. After receiving high praise from the press and fans for the debut album "Repent Or Seal Your Fate" and the international success of their second album "Helleraser" the band is working now on their third compilation. Live experiences in Germany and abroad (Wacken Open Air, Bloodstock Festival, Helleraser European Tour 2007) have transformed Reckless Tide into one of most acclaimed German Thrash Metal bands. |
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Michael Kraft Another German artist is added to our family: Michael Kraft is an extremely versatile freelance/studio musician. He regularly performs music that ranges from Jazz - Pop - Funk - Latin - Rock and more. At home as a sideman or leader, he is currently supporting his debut Neuklang Records release ’Latin Journey’. The CD features Grammy-nominated pianist Dana Landry and drummer Daniel Messina, and it received good response from Radio Stations in Europe and in the US about adding the CD into their rotations.  |
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| Zero Hour The new CD"Dark Deceiver", released in April in the States, Europe and Japan, received great interest and enthusiastic reviews, hailed as the best and most interesting recent release in the metal scene. The band is ready to hit the road for major shows in the US and Europe throughout the summer like the "Bay Area Rock Festival", "South Texas Metal Fest" with Queensryche, Tesla, Krokus, Y&T, Dokken and so many more, "PROGPOWER EUROPE!!" (The Netherlands), "The Rock ProgPower Scandinavia"(Denmark). Pete Pardo's review on progressive metal "sea of tranquillity.com" " This band has consistently delivered top notch stuff, and their last release Specs of Pictures Burnt Beyond in 2006 was considered one of the top albums of the year here at Sea of Tranquility. Well, Dark Deceiver ups the ante considerably my friends, both in terms of complexity and heaviness... Dark Deceiver is mind-numbingly heavy, astonishingly complex, and ultimately the most powerful release this band has recorded to date. Zero Hour deserves to play with the big boys, so let's see them on some sort of full-scale tour so the metal masses can experience this indestructible machine in person. Highly, highly recommended! " |
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Orme Founded in the 1966 the band has been one of the most enduring progressive rock Italian bands for four decades. The actual lineup is Aldo Tagliapietra (voice, bass and sitar), Michi Dei Rossi (drums, Michele Bon (keyboards). Being renowed and appreciated also outside Italy, they recently played in MEXICALI(Mexico) at the BAJA PROG FESTIVAL. Their first DVD was released. "LIVE IN PENNSYLVANIA" contains their appearance at the Betlehem “Nearfest”, one of the most world important Progressive festival, and a double audio CD. Aldo Tagliapietra is one of our long time customers and friends. He is the owner of the first bass we ever built, and still he is using a wonderful white double neck with a 12 string guitar and a 4 string bass that we built for him a few years ago. website |
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| Black Korina Our second 2008 Special Edition is available: we will release of 25 Raven models crafted with beautiful black korina bodies. Korina is an African wood that has been used since the 1950’s by Gibson and other major traditional makers for special models, prized as one of the finest tonewoods available for electric solidbody guitars. Korina is not so easy to deal with, due to its uneven density and weight, but through considerable experimentation and testing, we have learned how to bring forward the most desirable characteristics from every single piece. Some beautiful Ravens will be viewable on the MANNE website in our GALLERY. Special editions' page |
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| NEWSLETTER - April '08 Frankfurt MusicMesse Frankfurt MusicMesse '08 This year the Musicmesse had a special meaning for us, a step forward, due to the creation of "Manne Guitars International" a new Manne division located in Hannover-Germany under the supervision of Alex Muhlbauer. MGI was created to enable our italian workshop to concentrate on production and design. MGI will organize the international marketing and distribution of Manne branded instruments as well as our NEW Mannedesign line. The booth had many of the most common Italian made Manne instrument models on display, as well as the full line of available Mannedesign models. The instruments that catalyzed the interest and camera clicks of visitors was without a doubt the two “Malt Whisky” special edition's instruments, the Taos and the Moab made with wood taken from a Lagavulin whisky cask that we described in the last month's editorial and that you can find on the Special editions webpage. Journalists and players from all over the world touched and sniffed what many visitors declared to be the most unique instruments of the whole show. This also revealed how many single malt connoisseurs and drinkers there are among the musicians and music business crew.  The booth was crowded, giving a satisfactory balance to the German Manne staff: Thomas Maiwald for marketing and artist relations, Stefan Matt for commercial and logistic, Sasha Grabner for mail orders and sales. Probably because of our common musical background, I wished to introduce myself to our neighbor demonstrator at Digitech, Marc Cooper, a great player and vocalist in a smart Californian style. Marc, with his great experience and knowledge of tones and sounds, tested our instruments especially the new Raven, giving us his valuable comments and appreciation for the feel and sound of the instruments. He defined our mini-humbucker as being among the best quality pickups he had tested. He also enjoyed the versatility of our individual series-parallel pickup switching layout. On the Taos “Malt Whisky” he said: "I absolutely love the sound of this guitar, it sounds to me to be organic. What I mean by that is really natural and definitely woody sounding. A very good vintage sound yet something punchier as well, that must be the Whiskey!!" Michael Kraft is our new German endorser. He fell in love with the Acoustibass with the poplar top that we had at the show. Michael is a busy jazz musician taking part in a steady stream of live shows and teaching.  We had a visit from our friend Horea Crisovan, a great Romanian player that is already featured in many Manne Youtube clips. This will be a busy summer for Horea, with a big tour as a sideman, and some personal concerts in various jazz festivals, like the big Timisoara jazz festival where he will perform with Dominique Di Piazza. Dominique played in our booth two daily gigs. He used his own Multi-chambered Manne Moab with new custom contoured top. His latest CD is acclaimed as a jazz masterpiece and will be distributed worldwide. |
 the whisky guitar on "Frankfurt daily"  Marc "CoopDeVille" Cooper  Michael Kraft He sent us this comment after he had the bass at home: "Andrea Ballarin is one of a few Luthiers in the world that can successfully create an instrument that achieves two hard-to-reach goals - reproduction of the Contrabass tone AND recreation of the classic Fretless growl. My Manne Acoustibass does both and looks stunning! Essentially, I have 2 instruments in one lightweight package. Bass technology has made significant strides in the past few years - Neodynium speakers, Digital amplification and effects, and a do-it-all Bass that weighs in at 4.1 kilos! I'm proud to perform and recommend Manne, and look forward to years of inspiration from the Acoustibass. "  Dominique di Piazza |
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New Falcon XR A new instrument was presented at The MusicMesse: the Falcon XR, an instrument that will enlarge our offer with a very competitive price and consistent quality. The differences from the rest of the line are that the XR has a flat top light pawlonia body and the ceramic pickups are installed directly on the three-ply pickguard. It also has a stop tailpiece bridge, volume control and a pickup selector. The neck is the same as the other Falcons, in maple with a rosewood fretboard and great playability. |
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Mariano did it Again The Argentinean Mariano Caldumbide is a Manne aficionado and a customer for many years. We already built for him two 8 string guitars. You can see his 8-string Semiacustica in the “custom project” page. For his new solid body we decided to use a 27” baritone scale to increase the string tension and get a more twangy, metallic sound that will give an enhanced response to tapped and slapped techniques. This guitar has an ash body and Mastergrade Italian poplar top. It also features an ABM bridge with individual saddles, as well as active EMG pickups and active Glockenklang 3-band circuit. The spacing of the strings is really a curious customer's specification: 11mm between the first three, 12mm between the third and the fourth, 14mm between the bass strings. The global look of the instrument is suitable to the need of a coronary care unit, and we will surely see the instrument on Youtube. You can see it in the “custom projects” page and on the Gallery page of our website. |
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| NEWSLETTER - March '08 Special Editions  “For the Musikmesse we needed a very special instrument... why don't you make one guitar out of a whisky cask?” Alex Muhlbauer knows very well my interest in single malt Scotch whisky so his idea just hit the right button to trigger the immediate start of this project. You can read all about this new project in the new SPECIAL EDITIONS 's page.  Guitar-making and Whisky-making apparently are far apart worlds. But not in the Manne shop!! We, just like they do at the distillery, started from very few and simple natural raw materials, and to get the desired result, we simply had to master the procedures and components, time and knowledge, controls and experiments.  Two of these instruments, a Taos and a Moab, will be exibited at Frankfurt Musik Messe, 12-15 March. Out booth number is: 4.2, E17  |
Kiss party 2008 The european Kiss Party 2008 was hold in Pieterlen , Swizerland, a tribute event to celebrate the american band that soon will tour europe. REASON TO KISS, an italian acoustic duo with our long time customer Mauro “nats” Natali on guitar and the voice of Susanna Minghetti, held the stage with his two semiacoustics (nylon and steel), offering different sonic interpretations, highlighting the broad tonal range of sounds and dynamics of his Manne guitars. For this “rockacustic” versions Mauro used a stock Semiacustica and a double neck custom. You can see videos of the performance on their myspace page. -------------------------------------------- Raven 5 corde  "Simply beautiful! Once again all my compliments and thanks to you all guys. Also the sounds are very good, and the 5th string (I was a bit worried about it) it's incredibly resounding. Ciao to all of you... from an average bass player, but surely the happiest now!..." But the satisfaction is our own satisfaction, having a proud and happy client and also for the good result of this new project. The Body is in Korina with an Italian mastergrade walnut top. -------------------------------------------- News from sweden  We have a new endorser in sweden: Daniel Castman, the guitar man for Vindra. The band is currently in studio working on a two track single to be released in spring. Daniel said: " I tested the guitar for real and I'm blown away, Manne rocks ! ! ! ! I feel that I truly can become one with this guitar, my Manne Ventura Natural :=) ! ! ! |
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Elio e le
storie tese Faso on bass Studentessi |
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Zero Hour |
| NEWSLETTER - February '08 Namm '08  A week in Los Angeles is always a pleasure: short sleeve T-shirt temperatures, smiling people that always have kind greetings, many friends and many very good musicians. And although economically for the Americans, things are not rolling along too well, in the USA there is always a supportive, positive and optimistic feeling. To me it is a musical “attitude” in a country where music is an active part of every day, a common language, a value, a passion and expression of life. So just think for a minute about being an Italian visiting L.A. The Italian government has collapsed…..again, political corruption is everywhere, and everyone in Italy is totally angry and frustrated about politics. By contrast to Italians it is strange that the television news people in the US actually speak very little about politics (although they are in a primary), that the freeways from one year to another always seem to develop a new lane or a new bridge in an attempt (impossible) to get the traffic flowing, and to listen to Californians who are generally happy with the job of their Governor (ex-Terminator) if not for the unstoppable rising cost of the gasoline, now with a sky-high price….but a price that is half of what we pay in Italy! So a visit to California makes it clear to Italians that Italy is now being forced back into its suffocating old armor and nobody there can stand it any longer. The first “positive” trend I noticed upon my return to Italy is the state taxes are up, always increasing…so with this in mind …I decided to forget about Italy for a while and just enjoy L.A. and NAMM!  Fabrizio Grossi this year visited our booth in the company of Stevie Salas, guitar player for George Clinton, Rod Stewart and Mick Jagger, with a recent CD release “The Sun And The Earth”. Stevie fell in love with a Manne Ventura with natural figured cherry top and he also has a strong interest for the Falcon F. On Saturday evening at the MarkBass party “NAMM Jam '08”, with Fabrizio on the bass, Stevie showed us just how funky a Taos Special can sound with his high-energy interpretation of James Brown’s Sex Machine. Ric Fierabracci, the virtuoso jazz bassist who has played with a wide array of artists from Frank Gambale to Tom Jones, gave a tremendous NAMM performance Saturday evening at JT Schmid's Restaurant & Brewery playing together with Brett Garsed. Ric had previously tried out an Acoustibass of a customer in the L.A so he decided to visit us at the booth. He try out the NAMM Special Acoustibass we were showing there. It was nice to see what a monster player like Ric can do with the Acoustibass !! I first met Polo Jones in the 1995 when he was playing with Zucchero Sugar Fornaciari in Italy, but it has been several years since we had seen each other. Our NAMM reunion resulted in slaps on the shoulders and a commitment to get together on his next trip to Italy in the Spring. Polo checked out the new models and in particular a nice Newport Special with mastergrade walnut top. We also were happy to see again Brian Wright (as always), the tone monster of The Trip Device from San Francisco who is devoted to his two Taos Specials, and Mitch Perry (formerly of Def Leppard and Whitesnake) without warning came by and suddenly raised the decibel level in our booth to a hot jam. Alex Masi and Tommy Denander alternately tested out the new Raven guitar. Tommy’s comment was “This guy builds incredible guitars, and even if he builds a strat it is still a “Manne”…..and still incredible!” |
 Stevie Salas & Fabrizio Grossi  from right: Richard Davidow, Brian Wright and Steve Slater  Ric Fierabbracci  Alex Masi  Tommy Denander |
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| Manne on CD: | |||
 Indingo Dying Fabrizio Grossi on Bass Frontiers |
 Claymation Horror Show Sean Kruithoff on guitar myspace page |
 Kid on Moon Federico De Gobbi on guitar myspace page |
 Dominique Di Piazza - bass Princess Sita Picanto |
| Arrivederci! Mr. Manne |
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| NEWSLETTER - January '08 Leif Edling-CANDLEMASS  We have a new
artist in the manne community: Leif Hedling of Candlemass. Since I am a very low-tech
metalhead, I went for a totally black bass with a minimum
of technology. I prefer a classic 70’s sound with
punch and tone, but with more deep end bass. So I had it customized
into a metal fans wet dream with inlay crosses on the
fretboard. The body is very light and made out of basswod,
and the Candlemass skull is printed in black over the
satin black finish!!! My basses has to look
and sound GOOD!! I refuse to play on a bass that sounds
great but doesn’t look cool....and vice versa... You can hear the Doom
bass already in the spring, on a progressive sci-fi album
called Jupiter Society. It’s really heavy and cool!
And of course I will use the bass on the upcoming C-mass
album too, and on the future tours we do. This one is for
ever!! |
Alex Masi The new Alex Masi's MCM is available through lion music. i spent a few weeks here
editing the tapes then i submitted the result to john and
randy who approved it and we agreed to release it. the
thing that really surprised us during the many playbacks
is the level of musical ESP that seems to come into play
many times during the pieces... Roberto
Dalla Vecchia News also from Roberto dalla Vecchia: Dont' forget to
come and visit our booth at L.A. Namm
Show
if you will be around. |
||
