January is always an important month for music manufacturers, with The NAMM Show in California offering the biggest chance for those in the business to unveil their latest creations. From software to hardware, amplifiers to recorders, keyboards, guitars and everything else in between, chances are, if it’s hot in the world of instruments and equipment, you’ll hear about it now. Time then, to turn our attention to some of the most interesting new releases set to make 2011 sound very good indeed.

We’ll begin by looking at what has been called ‘the guitar innovation of the century’. A big claim - until you see what Trev Wilkinson of Fret-King has come up with. The Super-matic makes its debut at NAMM 2011 as one of the most advanced self-tuning guitars ever created. It features the highly innovative Wilkinson ATD HT440 self-tuning hard tail guitar bridge, which tunes up automatically at the touch of a button.
Wave goodbye to fiddling around with strings - the Super-matic can switch between standard E, open G or D, DADGAD or one of five of your own personalised tunings. The bridge has been in private development for a number of years and is a unique real time electromechanical device utilising ultra hi-tech micro gearboxes and intuitive one-touch, well-hidden controls.
The guitar itself retains Wilkinson’s usual high standards, bearing all the hallmarks of the finest Fret-King instruments - Hum-Single-Hum pickup and the signature Wilkinson ‘Vari-coil control’. Now if only it could play itself, we could all call it a day.
Gibson, of course, already made headlines when they unveiled their self-tuning Robot guitar in 2007. They have now updated it for 2011 with the Gibson Robot II Les Paul Studio guitar and also made it more affordable. You can pick them up from only €1299. It employs a Powertune system, and combines this new technology with everything else you’d expect from a classic Les Paul.
Opinion has naturally been mixed over self-tuning guitars - some feel it’s for lazy players and adds too much expense, but you can’t really argue with the new Gibson prices. Innovative or a mere gimmick? It’s all down to personal taste.
A more traditional instrument that has been proving popular recently is the newly-released Vintage Gordon Giltrap Signature Guitar Series. There are six and 12-string options available and both have been lauded for their high quality and affordable price.
Giltrap has been a prominent acoustic guitarist for nearly half a century and says of the signature model he designed with master luthier Rob Armstrong: “I am proud to put my name to this guitar and for it to be part of my musical legacy. My original guitar has a very strong treble with a sort of springy and expressive sound to the bass end. The new Vintage guitar has all of this combined with an overall warmth and balance to its tonality.” The Series will be rolled out across the world in 2011.
Yamaha’s A-Series is a totally new range of acoustic-electric guitars that features state-of-the-art vintage microphone modelling technology (SRT) designed to accommodate a natural acoustic sound. Versatility and playability were paramount concerns during the thousands of hours of development and field-testing that went into the A-Series. These are guitars that are built to perform, be it unplugged or amplified.
Speaking of which, Peavey are making the kind of amplification innovations that would put Nigel “these go to 11” Tufnel to shame. The Peavey 6505 amp – used by metal bands such as Trivium and Machine Head – is now being made available in a 1x12 combo-amp configuration for the first time. The new 6505 Plus 112 is a 60-watt combo with two channels and an extensive feature set. It retains that renowned gain and aggressive tone that made the brand such a hit with the harder end of the rock spectrum, and also features the Peavey MSDI microphone-simulated direct interface which removes the need for miking.
Returning to Yamaha, if you’d rather be listening than playing, the MCR-550 hi-fi micro-system might be for you. The release coincides with the 10th anniversary of their Piano Craft range. The CRX-550 CD Receiver encompasses an iPod dock, FM and DAB tuners and a USB port.
Another new hi-fi option is their NP-S2000, which integrates all the disparate audio sources we use in 2011 into one accessible package. NAS, internet radio, iPods - Yamaha’s network player links all of these with easy access via a versatile web browser.
Getting back to NAMM, another big story this year will be the debut of Gen16, the new division of famous cymbal manufacturer Zildjian. The company are launching their new Gen16 Acoustic Electric Cymbal. While electronic drums and percussion have existed for a long time, the AE Cymbal employs electronic technology to capture that classic Zildjian sound as well as some completely new, non-traditional ones. Unlike most existing electronic percussion systems, it is an actual cymbal rather than a sample trigger device and utilizes a dual microphone and DSP engine to amplify its output.
The world-famous Fender Custom Shop in California produces the best of Fender’s best, and 2011 will see the arrival of many new “Dream Factory” guitars and basses, including remarkable Time Machine, Pro and Custom Deluxe models.The new Fender Road Worn Player Series comes with hotter pickups, flatter fingerboards and lightly aged finished treatments that make the three new guitars feel immediately comfortable and familiar. And all are designed to be broken in without breaking the bank.
And finally, XMusic are looking forward to NAMM, and have singled out Westwood guitars as a hot tip for 2011. They also expect more unique DBZ guitars for their Metal Zone and have decided to double their stock of On Stage Stands stock arriving in February, such was the demand last year.