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Posted on Nov 11, 2008

DeMars Guitars welcomes “The Tonight Show” bassist, Derrick Murdock

Derrick Murdock, bassist for the legendary house band on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” recently purchased a new DeMars Guitars™ fretted 5-string Long Trail bass for use on the show, as well as for his extensive studio and live work. Dan DeMars, head of DeMars Guitars, commented, “We’ve known Deedock since our first NAMM Show back in 2006. I believe he was there on the first day, and he kept coming back to play these basses. We have a great video clip of him playing some fierce funk runs on a 4-string. At the end he smiled and said ‘OK, I want one now!’ Dock stayed in touch over the years, visiting our NAMM booth for the past three shows, and he has become a good friend. We know that there are a lot of phenomenal basses on the market from which an artist can choose and we are thrilled to have Dock playing one of our Long Trail basses.” Derrick comments on his new Long Trail, “The...

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Posted on Aug 11, 2008

Bose-DeMars ToneMatch Partnership

DeMars Guitars™ LLC of Norwich VT (demarsguitars.com) announces the release of the downloadable DeMars Guitars presets for the Bose® ToneMatch® audio engine. Dan DeMars, designer of the DeMars instruments and president of DG, comments on this development: “Since we are still small and relatively new to the MI scene, I am honored that a legendary firm like Bose has included DG among the few respected instrument makers selected to partner in their innovative ToneMatch system. My friend Ned Steinberger (NS Design) thought that my instruments would be perfect for the L1/ToneMatch and kindly introduced me to the Bose folks. From my first meeting with them, I was convinced that a Bose-DeMars alliance would be an ideal collaboration. The Bose acoustic engineers immediately understood the sonic benefits produced by our unique dual transducer design.  The synergy between the DG instruments and the L1/Tone Match system results in a wide and deep acoustic signature with rich harmonic overtones.” Dan continues, “The ToneMatch system is an exciting technology and I am both grateful and humbled that Bose would include DG with such fine...

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Posted on Jun 19, 2008

DeMars Patents Awarded

Two design patents were recently issued by the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) to Dan DeMars, head of DeMars Guitars of Norwich VT. The first, US D559,302 S was awarded on January 8, 2008 for the “headstock portion of a musical instrument”. This patent covers both the DeMars guitars and basses, since both employ a common headstock design. Dan comments, “The headstock shape of any stringed instrument is often its commercial signature. Our 13-degree pitchback tapered headstocks incorporate two large holes along the midline which contribute an almost art deco influence.” The second design patent, US D566,166 S, issued on April 8, 2008, addresses the unique F-clef shaped soundhole on the body of the Long Trail basses. Dan describes the interest in protecting this design: “The F-clef itself is in the public domain and therefore is not patentable. Its use as an ornamental design for the bass guitar body is, however, and we knew that it was in our best interest to protect this unique design from...

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Posted on Jun 11, 2008

Phil Lesh plays DeMars

Legendary Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh has recently begun playing a spruce-topped 5-string DeMars Long Trail Bass Guitar in the acoustic portions of his “Phil Lesh & Friends” shows. Phil contacted Dan after reading the feature about the DG instruments in the May 2008 issue of The Robb Report and seeing the instruments in the music media like Bass Player magazine. Dan said, “It was quite a surprise when Phil called. The unbelievable part is that about 10 minutes before his phone call, I’d been playing one of my basses in my music room along to “Shakedown Street” on my iPod. Phil had some great questions about the design and build of the instruments and was intrigued with the dual-channel piezo transducer arrangement in the Long Trails. He noted that he had been playing some upright bass in his shows, but was searching for a better alternative. Fortunately we had a new fretted 5-string still in our unsold inventory and I shipped it out to Phil that day. Please...

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Posted on Jul 11, 2007

DeMars Guitars Introduces XLQ Outboard EQ and Direct Box

DeMars Guitars LLC of Norwich VT announces the introduction of their new XLQ 3-band outboard preamp and direct box.  Company head Dan DeMars comments, “The tone settings on DeMars Guitars acoustic/electric instruments were designed as “set it and forget it” using an internal preamp, since most acoustic players tend not to adjust their EQ once they get their sound.  However, a number of players have since expressed their interest in easily changing their tone settings between songs.  Without drastically changing the design of our instruments, an outboard unit was the answer.  The XLQ is perfect for pickup-equipped acoustic guitars and acoustic basses, yet it can be used with electric instruments as well.” The XLQ is a small (5″x3″x1″) quiet 3-band active EQ unit, powered by either a 9V battery or phantom power (no wall wart!), with both 1/4″ and XLR outputs.  Frequencies can be cut or boosted 20db at three EQ center points: 100Hz, 1.5kHz and 100kHz.  A sensitive trim control allows the XLQ to be used with low or high-level input signals, and a phase switch...

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