Fret Fiend: The somewhat daily blog about all things guitar.

This year’s NAMM show was host to many new product releases. Actually, it was host to over 4000 product releases. And I’m sad to say this, but most of it was crap. Just some more pointless products that everyone will forget about in two years. On the flip side, there was also a lot of kick ass products out there. But hey, am I the kind of guy that will leave it to you to sort them out? Fortunately no. So here you go, a list of the 5 best new products of the 2008 NAMM Show.

1. Gibson Reverse Flying V - When the Gibson Flying V was first released in 1958 and it revolutionized the look of an electric guitar. Now, when I first heard that Gibson had released a reverse Flying V, I didn’t think they could pull it off. Well, I was most certainly wrong. Gibson announced the release of a limited edition run if these babies, only 300 are out there. Get ‘em while they’re hot.
2. Fender American Standard Series - This year, Fender re-released their American Standard series with a few upgrades. One of the major new features is a redesigned bridge. They added improved bent steel saddles and a copper-infused high mass block to improve the sustain and resonance of the instrument. Some other upgrades include a new neck treatment, a thinner finish undercoat that is supposed to improve resonance, a new case, and new colors.
3. Gibson Les Paul w/ Floyd Rose - Can I get an AMEN! It’s about time they did something like this. The Les Paul was bound to get a whammy bar eventually… and not just a whammy bar, an entire Floyd Rose bridge!
4. Ibanez Steve Vai Jemini Distortion - Not only does this pedal capture the sound of the legend who’s name it bears, it also is easy on the eyes. I must say, whoever thought of the idea to give it a tie dye paint job is a genius. But whoever named the pedal needs to graduate the first grade.
5. Seymour Duncan Blackouts - Seymour Duncan finally solved the one problem of active humbuckers: the hum. The hum was caused by the unbalanced differential preamp. They figured out how to get the same sound as an active humbucker, bu still using balanced inputs. This makes amazing sounding humbuckers that are nearly hum-free.