Guitar Fetish

GuitarFetish started in 2004 by Jay Abend with the intention to make his custom gear available to guitar players around the world. "I was happy hand winding hum buckers for $160 each, but there's proven to be good business for $30 pickups with the same construction practices and tone" he comments before talking about how working exclusively online allows him to develop relationships with customers, responding to e-mails and chatting on his forums with players. GFS products aren't available anywhere but the official website, and their inventory has expanded to include everything you need to build, modify, and play guitars. For those not wanting to get their hands dirty, the custom guitar and pedal lines can't be beat, including a popular $40 digital footpedal tuner. Unmatched quality and affordability have earned GFS a broad following, known as the website for savvy guitar players who need the best without breaking the bank.




Xaviere Guitars
Bang for your buck
$159+

These guitars could easily sell for three or four times the price you'll buy one new. Seriously. A friend of mine discovered GuitarFetish online while searching for guitar parts and bought a XV-JT on a whim thinking he'd get a cheap guitar he could scavenge for parts. Imagine our surprise when the guitar that arrived looked, felt, and sounded so good my friend decided that he'd leave the guitar intact and play it relentlessly while his many, more expensive guitars have begun to gatherdust. These guitars have become a focus at GFS and in the playing community, with new designs appearing regularly and always more affordable than comparable guitars. Xaviere's clone many popular body shapes and are made from dry tonewoods with a focus on playability and, of course, the famous GFS pickups. By designing and selling the guitar GFS cuts out the middleman, which is great for all of us.


GuitarFetish.com

SONiVOX

You don't know SONiVOX, but you know their sounds. Their audioINSIDE technology powers the sound in every Android phone and their EAS technology has powered Motorola's phones since 2005, and that's just their sideproject. SONiVOX designs and develops music software that puts an orchestra at your fingertips, a drummer in your pocket and a studio in your laptop. Libraries like Symphonic and Broadway Big Band are commonly used to score TV and film while synthesizers like Twist are crushing dance floors around the world. Jennifer Hruska founded SONiVOX in 1993 in Somerville, MA. Her new company quickly earned a reputation for quality and innovation as they began to create an expansive set of libraries and instruments, available from the first on-line store for musician sounds. Musicians and business took notice, and suddenly SONiVOX was making sounds for the world at large. Despite worldwide implementation of their software SONiVOX is still just a ten person team dedicated to developing new technologies that inspires us to make music for the future, no matter if it's in a Hollywood score, or on your phone. 
sonivoxmi.com


Wobble
$149
Grimyer than Oscar

Destined to shake clubs, bob heads, and destroy neighborly relations everywhere, Wobble rocks the party with more LFO synced madness than a college dorm Friday at 1 am. SONiVOX's new spectral morphing synthesis engine powers a sleek design that makes managing Wobbles endless possibilities easy and fun. The front end interface puts the most important features up front to play with while those willing to go a little deeper will be able to modulate note values and synth parameters with the first-of-its-kind tempo-locked pattern generator to create sounds that twist and jump like their audiences. NEMESYNTH Audio Research Group developed Wobble's new synthesis engine and tamed it's 800 parameters into a bevy of infinitely tweakable presets. Ready, set, Rage.

Pigtronix Tremvelope

A different kind of Tremsion

$249

This pedal will change how you think about tremolo. Your average tremolo pedals lets you control speed and depth, stomp on: stomp off, yawn. Tremvelope changes the whole experience by responding to the dynamics of your playing, varying the speed and depth in accordance with the strength of your signal. The result is a pedal you develop a relationship with, finding the sweet spot where it ceases to be another effect and becomes part of the way you play. The envelope is fully adjustable via the onboard knobs and switches, an expression pedal, a trigger input, or can be turned off for a classic tremolo sound when needed. The trigger input allows you to run a clean signal to control the Tremvelope when it's farther down your FX chain, or, if you're feeling wild, control the Tremvelope with signal from a completely different instrument, perhaps an electric violin? Let your imagination run wild.

Pigtronix Effects

Pigtronix Futuristic Analogue Technology
Get F.A.T.

Pigtronix pedals are clever blends of the new and old, pulling familiar sounds into another dimension where audio is more maleable and analogue reigns supreme. Creatively combining several effects into each one of their powerful stompboxes, Pigtronix re-writes the limits of what a single pedal can achieve. Co-founder and designer David Koltai works with Howard Davis to create each new Pigtronix effect, focusing on versatility, tonal clarity, and durability. Started in 2004 by David and Brian Bethke with the EP-1 Envelope Phaser, Pigtronix has become a leader in creative new analogue effects, relied upon by musicians around the world. Pigtronix are designed, manufactured, and distributed from Long Island, NY, but aren't for sale on their website. They work hard to develop relationships with retailers who sell their work, David explains when I ask why they don't sell direct, "I love guitar stores and think playing a pedal before you buy is a big part of the experience." If no local stores have Pigtronix you can find a list of those who do, as well as their full product line and artist endorsements, on their website.  

www.Pigtronix.com

Malekko Heavy Industries

Malekko heavy industries started with a dissolving band, some inspiration, and a kitchen table. "The joke was the website made us seem huge, with pictures of semi's with the Malekko logo when there was only two of us, I soldered every pedal on my kitchen table" explains co-founder Josh Henley from Portland, OR where the company has grown into an 8 person operation with a vast network of players and fans. Malekko is known for original, affordable pedals and synth modules that earn their place in you soundbox. Josh says Malekko is about usability, not impressing your friends with 100 features you'll never touch: "We're not here to make trophies, we're here to make pedals players can use and enjoy." Malekko have cut a unique path with innovative ideas like the Omicron series, 8 no frills mini-pedals that build your signal for up without undercutting your wallet. Working to keep their pedals as useable as they are affordable, it's easy to understand why Malekko has earned a reputation for serving the needs of the working musician.