We had the pleasure of attending the NAMM Summer Show, held at the Music City Center July 15-16 in Nashville, Tennessee, and dedicated exclusively to the ideal of belief in music with its tagline “Believe in Music.” The NAMM Show provides a hub for music industry services and products, with the first look at trends shaping the future of the music business industry. The NAMM Summer Show also offered a special time to reconnect coming out of the pandemic with a range of large and smaller-scale music instrument providers, artists, and more, with the larger annual NAMM Show resuming in January in its usual home, Anaheim, California.
We were invited to meet and chat with Jonathan Spangler, CEO of CIARI Guitars, one of the coolest instruments that we saw at the show that’s helping to change the future of music business travel, in particular, with artists used to having lug on their own a lot of large or bulky equipment.
CIARI has differentiated itself by creating the next generation of the premium electric travel guitar called the Ascender which has the smallest travel-friendly guitar footprint compared to any other travel guitar on the market, is foldable, backpack and TSA-friendly, and slips into CIARI’s own designed bag for easy travel no matter where your next set may be.
The technology for The Ascender features a concealed lever, which “detentions” the strings and unlocks a hinge at the neck, allowing the guitar to bend completely backward as the strings follow the fold under light tension. It can fit in a backpack and you’re good to go for the next set.
It can fit in a backpack and takes up less space than any travel guitar on the market.
(Alyson Campbell (AC) for XOJohn.com to Jonathan Spangler (JS) for CIARI Guitars:
AC: Tell us more about the Ascender from CIARI Guitars.
JS: This is the Ascender from CIARI Guitars. All the look, feel, play that’s not normal. I detention the strings, unlock the hinge and now, it’s shorter than a ukelele and it goes into a backpack that can fit under the seat in front of you during your air travel. For the first time, you have stress-free guitar travel and mobility.
AC: You said the setup was under 60 seconds, the setup, can you tell us more about the setup time and what is required?
JS: That process truly is actually 10-15 seconds to get everything folded up from its folded out position and truly under 30 seconds to get this thing rocking.
Q: AC: And Jonathan, how about its tuning process, can you tell us more?
JS: When I bring it back to its fully upright state, this actuator brings it 3lb to 18, just like that. And so, it’s truly never more than a half step out of tune to bring it back into the playing state, translated it’s less than a revolution on our ratio of graph lock tuners on both our Ascender and midtier level as well.
Q: AC: And let’s zoom in on the back of the guitar here. Anything, in particular, you want to tell us here that we should know?
JS: Well, the actuator has two functions – one, to detention the strings, taking them to 3 pounds, and 2, when I push the lever up further, it’s going to pull 2 pins out of the neck, and so now the hinge is unlocked. The actuator tightens and loosens the strings, and locks and unlocks that hinge. And there you go!
Q: AC: Talk to us about the travel bag.
JS: You can place your Ascender right into your own quilted big bag, sold separately from the guitar. You’ll also get a lot of fun comments from TSA. We also have a backpack that weighs including the guitar no more than ten to 11 pounds, you can have your computer or pedalboard. We had an artist who brought their guitar and pedalboard, and then when it’s time to go, strap the backpack right on your back. It’s super easy and stylish.
Q: AC: And what will TSA say about the guitar?
JS: They love it! As a matter of fact, we are the only guitar company in the country approved for in-airport free guitar lounges. Truly, we have experiential marketing going for the brand as we will be launching to start at the San Diego International Airport in the last half of this year. We did it already and it’s awesome. People can just come chill, play the guitar, and then at the end, I’ll fold it for them and their head explodes from so much fun.
Thanks to Jonathan and the CIARI Guitars team for the opportunity to sit down and demo this exciting next evolution of travel guitars. Stay tuned for more coverage including our round-up from the full show with a mix of other exhibits that caught our eye.
-Alyson S. Campbell