…actually, no it isn’t. That is the Voyage Air VAOM02 Orchestra Folding Acoustic Guitar with Gig Bag. This is absolutely ingenious in terms of portability. This unique design incorporates and hinged neck joint which can be folded for an ultra compact, super portable yet totally playable acoustic guitar. Check out this feature list, you won’t be disappointed in this guitar.

Voyage Air VAOM02 Orchestra Features:

• Transit Series
• OM Body Shape
• Spruce Top with X-brace
• Inlaid Soundhole Rosette
• Single-ply top and back binding
• Mahogany Back and Sides
• Mahogany Neck with Rosewood Heel Cap
• Rosewood Fingerboard and Bridge
• Dot Inlay in Prewar-style staggered sizes
• Compensated Saddle
• Distinctive Voyage-Air pickguard in black
• Proprietary Voyage-Air Captured Nut
• Patented Folding Neck-Hinge System
• 25.5 inch Scale Length
• Traditional 1 3/4 inch Nut width
• Chrome plated die-cast tuners
• Protective High-Gloss finish
• Comes with Phosphor Bronze strings 

Next time you find yourself looking for a compact, portable alternative to your standard acoustic guitar, look into getting this bad boy!

-Ryan

Every year, the holiday season comes and goes with haste and often many missed opportunities to see newly added products because of the hustle that everyone seems to be in. This year, I’m cluing you in on some nice, newly added acoustic instruments that everyone would appreciate. The new instruments are from Bedell Guitars and feature some incredible appointments and best of all, sound. Check them out when you have a few minutes; you’ll probably like what you see.

-Ryan

I must get at least 3 people a week calling in to ask the question, “How do I get more sustain out of my guitar?” Well, if you have already tried the obvious, changing the strings and making sure your instrument is adjusted properly; the next thing to try is a compressor pedal. The problem with just offering this as a suggestion is that most compressor pedals have more knobs than the inexperienced user wants to mess with. That is where the Whirlwind Rochester Red Box Compressor Pedal comes in. Built to be rugged, simple and effective, the Red Box is as smooth and subtle or as fast and obvious as you want it to be with a single knob to adjust the amount of desired compression. The basic idea here is that the sensitivity knob is your buddy. Turning the control clockwise applies more compression resulting in increased sustain by limiting the loud peaks and boosting the soft parts of the signal. Add some much needed sustain to your guitar sound, simply!

-Ryan

…thanks to a little gizmo called the Ernie Ball PowerPeg String Winder. This takes the peg-winder to a whole new plateau and it’s about time. Not that I have a problem using the handle-type peg winders to do quick string replacements but the PowerPeg kicks major butt. This thing actually allows you to restring your instrument up to 70% faster than a traditional manual pegwinder! The PowerPeg features a proprietary universal peg head which fits virtually all bass, acoustic, and electric guitars so you need not worry about instrument compatibility, it works with them all! As if the ability to change your strings at record speeds wasn’t enough, Ernie is even including 4 x AA batteries so you can start changing strings with this puppy right out of the box. Have fun in even less time.

-Ryan

It’s true, there have been many products released within the last decade geared toward guitar practice and portable training. Many of which were quite well received by the users, soms however were just not quite what people were looking for. The Boss eBand JS8 Guitar Trainer Audio Player With Effects is the culmination of many top features of past trainer releases combined into one great, portable trainer unit with players in mind. WAV and MP3 files can be loaded and played by eBand, and the tempo and pitch can be changed. Plug in your guitar and jam along using the powerful onboard COSM preamp and Boss effects. You can minimize the pre-recorded vocals or guitar parts with the Center Cancel feature for minus-one play, and record and save your jams. There’s even a library of backing tracks and rhythms onboard, plus a built-in tuner and metronome. SDHC memory cards of up to 32GB can be plugged into eBand, letting you store thousands of WAV/MP3-format songs per card. eBand can be used as a USB audio interface, allowing the audio signals from eBand (audio-player sound + live guitar/vocal sound) to be transferred to PC via USB. As a result, eBand audio can be recorded into DAW software on your PC. Furthermore, audio from PC can be played back on eBand. This means eBand can function as USB speakers for your PC. Boss truly does innovate in super cool ways, do they not? Thanks for reading!

-Ryan

As you know, American Musical Supply has closeout specials on items from time to time. This is our chance to pass the savings on to you, the end user of these fine pieces of musical equipment. In this case, the Schecter Hellrasier Tempest Electric Guitar is a special case where we ordered it with the intent to sell it until it is gone at the great price of only $499.98. That is a pretty sweet deal in my opinion, considering the features of this fine instrument. Let’s take a close look at the specs of this axe, shall we? The Hellraiser Tempest features active EMG81-TW/89 humbuckers that deliver incredible punch while push/pull volume knobs give you single coil tones. The Hellraiser Tempest guitar’s 3-piece mahogany neck and rosewood fretboard allow easy playability while the mahogany body produces a rich resonant tone. TonePros bridge and locking tuners add up to tuning stability that won’t let you down. Abalone binding and gothic cross inlays enhance the Schecter Hellraiser Tempest guitar’s stylish look.

-Ryan