We took our twice-yearly religious pilgrimage to the guitar show. It's always best to go an hour or two after they open, at very least, because the line is beyond belief, and slow. As I pay, it flips me out that the blonde lady taking my money used to be a little squirt of a child, running around behind the table. Yeah, I've been going to guitar shows for quite a while. This one is run by Bee-3 Guitars.
It was a bit smaller than normal and the hall was changed. Whoever put up the signs has a drinking problem, so it took us a while to find the right hall. It was fun, as these things are supposed to be. There was something for everyone, from beginner Hello Kitty guitars to $45,000 vintage Stratocasters. Lots of new and old amps, from the latest Line 6 digital to the oldest Fender tweed Champs. Pedals, pickups, straps, screws, pickguards, and soda. There were even women. The history of women and guitar shows is long and storied. It was only really fun when booths hired hotties to walk about with guitars, but it went downhill from there. Sometimes you can spend hours looking at guitars without seen a single woman. Sometimes there are many. I was shocked talking to a female vendor, MUCH younger than me, about one of my guitars. The girl knew her stuff. It was nice to see someone who knew her stuff and was a female. It's only recently that this has started happening and I say go for it, provided you know your stuff. I'm speaking strictly professionally. As more people go to the shows, they bring their wives.
I was laughing with a vendor about a really expensive Komet head he had, and he suggested I throw 'the girl' in. The girl was Mrs. lefty, who thought it was hilarious. Other women might not. That's one of the reasons I married her. Mrs. lefty was very popular at the show. I stood back and watched people looking at her; it was kind of funny. I knew if I wanted something, all I had to do was send her to get it. I may get ignored, but she doesn't.
There was a huge used pedal dealer. I spent some time looking over his inventory and asked his opinion on how a certain artist got a certain tone - was it an envelope follower? He said yeah, that guy uses all sorts of distortions and filters. Ok then, I guess you don't have anything to sell me. He sure had a lot of pedals.
As far as lefties go, this was considerably better than the last show, where there was approximately one. While I didn't fall madly in love with any of them, there were two I liked, a Taylor acoustic and a Fender AVRI Strat with a killer soft-V neck. After discussions on this neck and a 58 Strat neck, I'm told I want a softer V neck - not regular V. My only choice in Fender is to go through Custom Shop (or find an affordable lefty 58 Strat - yeah, right).
Here's what I saw...
 |
| SG and Les Paul |
 |
a pair of Univibes with cases - pure unobtainium
|
 |
| Fender Masterbuilt SRV Lenny - $12k |
 |
| you don't see a lot of lefty Bigsbys |
 |
| lower line Martin |
 |
| Tele, AVRI I liked, Player Strats |
 |
| Taylor 214 CE xx12Uwhatever - great guitar, great neck |
 |
| older lefty P-Bass |
 |
| 60th Anniversary Strat |
 |
| how many lefty Gibson ES335s do you see? |
 |
| used Martin DT1216GT(?) |
 |
| Orville Les Paul |
 |
| J-Bass |
 |
| tiny Marshall |
 |
| breathtaking inlay on Gibson J200 |
 |
| Ricks, Strats |
 |
| John Lennon Epi |
|
| check out the color on this newer Tele |
If you haven't been to a guitar show, you need to attend. If you have, you need to attend again.
No comments:
Post a Comment