Introducing NORMANDY GUITARS!

Guitar Company Creates First PRODUCTION Aluminum ArchTop

SALEM, ORE., 12 JUNE 2008 – An Oregon-based guitar company has hit the market with the world’s first production aluminum archtop guitar. Normandy Guitars of Salem, Oregon has officially introduced a lightweight aluminum model that is unlike any other guitar on the market.

“I started making aluminum basses 15 years ago and it’s evolved into this incredible product. Our final model is the result of 15 different prototypes we’ve developed over the past five years,” says Jim Normandy, the creative mind and CEO behind Normandy Guitars. “Our goal all along has been to be different but not too weird or ‘space age’… to offer the guitar world something new and modern but with classic sound: an affordable but "top of the line," high-end masterpiece. I think we've met those goals tenfold; the feedback I'm getting from all types of musicians is overwhelmingly positive.”

The Normandy guitar is made out of specially selected aluminum, resulting in sustain qualities that are better and have been touted as far superior to the traditional wooden bodied guitars. “The purity and length of time a single, plucked note can ring out clean and true are far superior... this is important to most guitar players, especially those who play lead guitar,” says Normandy.

The guitar features a body with classic archtop curves, a vintage Bigsby®-vibrato tailpiece and distinctive rivets on the front and back. The Normandy guitar is available in nine colors and three different finishes: chrome, powder coat and Candy Apple Metal Flake finish. The chrome finish is triple electroplated. In that process, the body is initially buffed, electrically charged in a hot bath with Zincate, then dipped in copper, covered with nickel and completed with a flashy chrome finish.

Normandy has created a killer guitar that also is affordable. “Through the development of our welding processes and riveting, and because of our large manufacturing plant, we are able to make the body in a fraction of the time it takes other folks to create theirs. So, our price point is considerably less than what you’d pay for other guitars, somewhere between $2,000 and $3,000,” says Normandy.

Those attending the NAMM show on June 20-22 in Nashville, Tennessee will get the first peek at the Normandy guitar. Normandy Guitars will have a booth at the event, showcasing their revolutionary product. The NAMM show is the world’s largest music trade show; it is held this summer at the Nashville Convention Center. Follow Normandy’s journey to Nashville on myspace.com/normandyguitars. For more information or to order, call 503.689.1998.