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NAMM 2011 Review
Thursday, Day 1
This year's NAMM show seemed busier and hectic than previous shows. Thursday and Friday are usually the slowest days but this year they felt like the typical crowded Saturday. I quickly met up with my Dinosaur Rock Guitar forum bro Demented Ted (man, I'm meeting way too many men on the internet these in far-flung locations for "tradeshows") and made our way to the Engl booth but stopped at newcomer Guerilla Guitars booth next door.
Guerilla is a newer company that is currently sporting some nicely designed ads in Guitar World. Most of their shapes are Soloist or V derivatives with a few odd cuts here and there and some hand-distressed finishes. The setups on all their guitars, 6 and 7 stringers, was flawless and some of the necks had an almost dead on Moser Custom Shop fat profile. I played one of the Soloist style ones with a set of Bareknuckles Aftermath pickups and a titanium saddled Floyd Rose tremolo through an Engl Powerball 2. Wow. What a great sound…gritty and grainy in the best possible way. Lots of growl and sustain. I usually dislike Floyds but this one didn't bother me. The titanium really feels different. The two guys in the booth were very helpful and informative and walked me through all their models. I think these guys get the vote for the best setups at the show.
Engl's setup was pretty nice, all their multichannel heads on display. I didn't bother to play any of them since I just played the Powerball next door. They had some cool guests lined up for the rest of the show so we made our way over to Samson where Billy Sheehan was giving a demo. Billy was warming up with a new prototype rig and was taking requests for the audience. He played some David Lee Roth and (ugh) Mr. Big (sorry, Billy, I'm not the one that wants to be with you) and even tapped the intro to Journey's Don't Stop Believing. Who's more lame, Mr. Big or Journey? I can laugh at both so we'll call it a draw. Billy then began his official demo and walked us through the rig and the usual technical speak. He seemed to want to just noodle around and impress us, all with a smile on his face. They guy was having a great time and can pretty much play anything. Here comes the heresy: I thought his bass tone was pretty awful. It was a bit distorted and almost muddy. It works for him, and he makes more money and gold records than me, so I won't bother him anymore.
Actually I did bother him a bit at the Bass God signing which shortly followed his demo at the booth. How's this for a plethora of False Idols?: BIlly Sheehan, Stu Hamm, Dave Ellefson, Frank Bello, Victor Wooten, and an old Bald Dude that everyone heard of (except for me). Passerby asked repeatedly, "Is that Old Bald Dude Phil McCrackin?" Uh, sure, I guess so. Billy was very polite and I told him I saw his demo. When asked what I thought, I told him I thought he needed bass lessons. He laughed and said he's practicing more now than he ever has. I told him he still needs lessons and we had a good laugh. I didn't have much to say to Stu Hamm; I felt like telling him I loved him in Office Space and True Blood. Dave Ellefson was cool as usual and remembered the interview from DinosaurRockGuitar.com that I have him. Frank Bello, always cool and gracious, signed a few things for me. I told him my wife was a big fan of him and Enrique Iglesias and asked if he'd say a few lines of Tonight I'm Loving You on video for my wife. He laughed really hard and Ellefson was speechless. Frank made me promise not to tell his wife (I had duct taped her to the bedpost at the hotel room that morning so there was no way I could call her) and I told him to hurry up and say his lines. Victor Wooten was cool and the Old Bad Dude, Ben Dover, told me my Iron Maiden shirt was cool. I asked him if he was in Iron Maiden and Victor was cracking up. Kojak had a sense of humor and laughed too.
Speaking of laughing, when my Internet friend and I hit the Blackstar Amplification booth we started joking about 1 watt amps and their creamy, warm tone. About a minute later 2 guys walk up and start talking about the 1 watt Blackstar amp and it's creamy, warm tone. I was hoping to find an amp powered by candles and lightbulbs. Maybe the folks at Warrior Guitars can meet me halfway with a Rick Derringer holy water powered amp.
Orange Amps had a, well, orange display that was quite striking. Equally striking is the reality that you can't actually play any of the amps but have to wait for demos from the cast of Where Are They Now? I hear the amps are pretty nice sounding but I didn't hear the amps.
Dean Guitars…I used to look forward to their display after being impressed at my first NAMM show in 2003. Now I'm just a little depressed. Hey look, a Dimebag amp! Is that a Dimebag suit? Can it be…a Dimebag Telecaster signed by Stevie Ray Vaughan? Now Dean is making a John Entwistle tribute bass. My kids play with Legos…maybe they should get a Lego Pirate themed Dean, matey. Yargh. The USA Schenker V's were quite nice as was the fit/finish on all the USA guitars. Very beautiful woods and details. I'm still not a fan of the V neck profile and many of the imports have that ultra-shiny fret generic import feel that plagues most import guitars these days. The one good thing about the Dean booth was the t-shirts…nice designs, and with each $20 shirt you got a pass to the Dean NAMM Jam on friday night.
Let's walk over to BC Rich. Unlike last year, the handmade guitars were actually not strapped to the wall (ESP, take note). Overall the quality of these was top notch. Good fit and finish, nice setups, very few flaws. They didn't feel like other handmade BCRs. A guy at the booth said they're now making the guitars in Kentucky. I really liked the feel of the Pasaye made guitars from Mexico. The neck profiles were fairly thin; the white fully bound flattop Warlock had the thickest neck , not the Kerry King Warlock, which is odd because the Kerry King guitars usually have the thicker necks. The Mike Learn painted, Grover Jackson built Gunslingers were put together nicely but the necks were completely unfinished, raw feeling with a laser etched BCR logo. This made the guitars feel a little cheap. They played nicely and were set up well but I would have preferred a more satin or oil finished neck. The import guitars were nice but aside from the body shapes, I didn't think they had a distinctive feel. Schecters seem to have a consistent weight and neck profile, the BCR imports feel a bit generic. Not bad, fairly priced, and filling a market need. New Warlocks with reversed Firebird headstocks, and lots of neck through Mockingbirds and Eagles were on display. Steve Smythe (Forbidden, Testament) has a 6 and 7 string neck thru Bich model. What vexes, yes vexes me is the inconsistent body shapes. It seems like when the Warlocks went down in price and features, that the crotch cut got a bit odd. Less of an inner point, and more of a large radius. BCR freaks will lament the insistence of the Ironbird Mk 2 body shape instead of the classic Mark 1 shape. Also the R logo was reserved for handmade guitars only in the past. Now it appears on some of the higher end imports. BCR was never consistent about anything so this shouldn't be a surprise.
The most pleasant surprise was the leather-clad Budda guitar amp head with distressed metal accents. I didn't get to play this Amp of Rohan but it was one of the most unique looking pieces of equipment at the show; I wish more companies would take chances with their products instead of rehashing the same ideas.
Carvin was yet again consistent in quality and setups of their guitars. I played a CT series through a V3 halfstack. Plenty of gain, plenty of tweakage on tap, but there was just this buzzy, trebly sound that wasn't easy to dial out of the amp. The singlecuts and the new 24 fret CT-ish guitars were the standouts. OK, so I lied. The real standout was the small poster advertising a Stryper anniversary show at the House of Blues, showing 2 yellow and black Ultra V guitars. Laugh or cry, you decide. I chose not to decide, but still I made a choice.
My choice was to walk over to Schecter. I really love the neck profiles, fat, but lovable, and you won't be ashamed to admit it to your friends. The custom guitars were the usual standout of the booth. Really nice woods and stains, and the custom paint was superb as usual. I would love to play one of the customs but like ESP, they chain them to the walls. I'm sure there's a joke in here about the portly ones held captive in my basement with zip-ties, but I digress.
In need of a bromance, I headed to the Brubaker booth to meet more of my Internet friends. Who should be in the booth? None other than Ed The Hutt Roman. He looks like he shed a few pounds, or at least a layer of skin. Where's Racer X from the Jackson/Charvel forum when you need him (inside joke, more Internet friend stuff, roll a d20…). Brubaker and friends had a nice display of custom and import basses. We had a good discussion on what it takes to market a small company in a competitive marketplace and then mudwrestled. Ok, just checking if you're still with me.
Dunlop was giving away free picks and free guitar and bass strings. The pedal that stood out most in their booth was their new polished metal volume pedal. Massive in size with a thick rubber pad, I wish this design wasn't relegated to a volume pedal. It looked mean and aggressive with a bit of retro flair. Dunlop had a lot of pedalboards to test drive but unfortunately they were all running through a small "amp" pedal, which was pretty crappy sounding. At lease give a brotha a Roland Cube, ya feel me? James Hetfield has a signature pick that makes your guitar yodel and say, "Yeah Yeah booooooooooh baby!"
In search of flamboyance I headed over to Washburn to check out the Paul Stanley signature guitars. He's got 2 V's, one white with a mirrored pickguard and another covered in crystals. Maybe to match his pumps and bustier. His Iceman-style guitars come in a cracked mirror finish (how's a girl gonna thicken her lashes with that mirror?), sunburst, and aforementioned LIberace style. They all play pretty nice and were built very well with lots of attention to detail. Should I write the comment about not being able to say the same about Kiss' music? Nah.
In search of the ultimate mullet, I returned to the Engl booth for the Marty Friedman/Jeff Loomis singing. Rage guitarist and Mullet from Heck champion Victor Smolski was jamming to a backing track…from metal to funk, this fine feathered friend can really play. In need of hot oil treatment, Jeff Loomis arrived followed by 4 feet 5 inches of ringlets called Marty Friedman, looking resplendent in 7 inch platform boots and snug trousers. I wish all of them would have jammed or at least given hair care tips.
Marshall…same amp in 23 configurations. Handwired. Signature. Signature handwired. Vintage. Modern. Bleh.
Ibanez…same guitar in 59 different configurations. However, they had some of the most consistent and quality feeling at the show. I don't know the difference between many of the models…they terms seem to get more complex with more adjustments than Marty Friedman has curls. I liked many of the fixed bridge models and even though I'm not a fan of thin necks, they guitars just had a really nice feel to them.
The DBZ Guitars (Dean Zelinsky's post-Dean Guitars venture) seemed identical from the prior year. Dean Z himself walked me through some of the specs of the guitars and was pretty nice and humble. The imports are very well built and almost indistinguishable from the USA made guitars. Some of the body styles are a bit odd and feel unresolved in terms of points and curves. But Dean is taking chances with laser-etched finishes and details and the addition of metal badges/medallions to the headstocks and bodies of many of the guitars.
Like Dean, ESP takes chances with some of it's really bizarre custom guitars, locked in glass display cases. Ultra-sculpted and carved, I can appreciate the craftsmanship in some of the customs but I can't decide if I think the guitars are beautiful or ugly. Like at all previous shows, ESP straps all their guitars to the wall. Why even have guitars? How are you supposed to judge how the guitars play and feel? The fit and finish on all levels of guitars was pretty flawless. The new James Hetfield Explorer on crack is pretty lame. My favorites were a Lynch Kamikaze star-body and a matte black pointy V with Kahler and EMGs.
Never disappointing, Jackson had the usual assortment of beautiful and questionable on display. Taking up about 1/4 of the Fender room, Jackson's imports were playable but the custom guitars were roped off. Thankfully, plenty of Jackson staff was there to assist and would allow you to play the customs if you asked. Builder Pablo Santana had some of his well built but not quite attractive guitars on display. One of the coolest guitars was a Kelly with aluminum top featuring an etched and airbrushed Mike Learn graphic. Mike told me that he "fingerpainted" with sandpaper wrapped on his index finger then added detail with rotary tools and airbrush. The final effect was almost holographic. Mike also helped create a pretty cool fingerboard on another guitar. 2 long vertical, parallel channels were routed down the length of the fretboard. The channels were airbrushed and the fingerboard was inlaid with an intricate pattern. The entire fingerboard was then finished with a secretive process (my guess is some sort of epoxy), which gave smooth, uniform finish; it was almost as if the entire neck was encased in glass. I was waiting to talk to one of the Jackson staff when a guy walks up to me and says (in a bit of a raspy voice), "Hey bro, where's Ellefson?"
"Uh, I saw him downstairs a while ago."
"Yeahhhh…ha ha! What's up DAVE???!!!" (fist bumps me)
"Uh, I'm not Dave."
"Yeah-haaa! Riiiight bro! HA HA!"
"Uh, dude, I'm not Dave."
"Oh, okay. Ha. Sorry man!"
Jackson did unveil the limited edition Ellefson Concert bass (yeah-haaa BRO!!!) which was on display in a glass case. Frank Bello stopped by the booth briefly but was in search of some Fender staff. Charvel did not stop by and wasn't present a the show. One of the Jackson staff said Charvel has some BIG announcements and surprises coming up in about 2 months and they weren't ready to talk about it at NAMM. The guy said there would be an event or announcement but wouldn't give any details. Next door at the EVH display was the new 50 watt EVH amp in a small enclosure. The EVH guitars were very nice; the set-neck models were my favorite. Really slinky, loose string tension and nice neck profile. Megadeth guitarist Chris Broderick stopped by the Jackson booth for a photoshoot with his new signature Jackson guitar, which is a modified Soloist body style with flame top, natural body binding and arched top. The guitars were prototypes and were were not allowed to be played. Chris was cool and mellow and stopped to allow some fans to take some pictures. It was a nice ending to a long day.
After dinner, my friends and I headed to the Hilton, which unfortunately has changed it's setup compared to the last time I was there. The center atrium is now home to a stage and many bars. Said stage is usually filled with crappy bands playing crappy music way too loud. It's just not an enjoyable experience anymore. So we headed to the Marriot across the street which has a similar center atrium setup but has the benefit of a large outside patio. We hung out with the Bogner crew and Pete Dee of the punk band The Adicts. Pete had a story involving pretty much any rock star you can imagine. The guy should probably write a book, but might get arrested and sued in the process, so maybe not! He's like a living version of Star magazine. What was Britney thinking??? I also met several cool people, including one of Gloria Estefan's guitarists. Later that night I shook my body and did that conga back to my hotel room in an attempt to rest for day 2.
Thursday, Day 1
This year's NAMM show seemed busier and hectic than previous shows. Thursday and Friday are usually the slowest days but this year they felt like the typical crowded Saturday. I quickly met up with my Dinosaur Rock Guitar forum bro Demented Ted (man, I'm meeting way too many men on the internet these in far-flung locations for "tradeshows") and made our way to the Engl booth but stopped at newcomer Guerilla Guitars booth next door.
Guerilla is a newer company that is currently sporting some nicely designed ads in Guitar World. Most of their shapes are Soloist or V derivatives with a few odd cuts here and there and some hand-distressed finishes. The setups on all their guitars, 6 and 7 stringers, was flawless and some of the necks had an almost dead on Moser Custom Shop fat profile. I played one of the Soloist style ones with a set of Bareknuckles Aftermath pickups and a titanium saddled Floyd Rose tremolo through an Engl Powerball 2. Wow. What a great sound…gritty and grainy in the best possible way. Lots of growl and sustain. I usually dislike Floyds but this one didn't bother me. The titanium really feels different. The two guys in the booth were very helpful and informative and walked me through all their models. I think these guys get the vote for the best setups at the show.
Engl's setup was pretty nice, all their multichannel heads on display. I didn't bother to play any of them since I just played the Powerball next door. They had some cool guests lined up for the rest of the show so we made our way over to Samson where Billy Sheehan was giving a demo. Billy was warming up with a new prototype rig and was taking requests for the audience. He played some David Lee Roth and (ugh) Mr. Big (sorry, Billy, I'm not the one that wants to be with you) and even tapped the intro to Journey's Don't Stop Believing. Who's more lame, Mr. Big or Journey? I can laugh at both so we'll call it a draw. Billy then began his official demo and walked us through the rig and the usual technical speak. He seemed to want to just noodle around and impress us, all with a smile on his face. They guy was having a great time and can pretty much play anything. Here comes the heresy: I thought his bass tone was pretty awful. It was a bit distorted and almost muddy. It works for him, and he makes more money and gold records than me, so I won't bother him anymore.
Actually I did bother him a bit at the Bass God signing which shortly followed his demo at the booth. How's this for a plethora of False Idols?: BIlly Sheehan, Stu Hamm, Dave Ellefson, Frank Bello, Victor Wooten, and an old Bald Dude that everyone heard of (except for me). Passerby asked repeatedly, "Is that Old Bald Dude Phil McCrackin?" Uh, sure, I guess so. Billy was very polite and I told him I saw his demo. When asked what I thought, I told him I thought he needed bass lessons. He laughed and said he's practicing more now than he ever has. I told him he still needs lessons and we had a good laugh. I didn't have much to say to Stu Hamm; I felt like telling him I loved him in Office Space and True Blood. Dave Ellefson was cool as usual and remembered the interview from DinosaurRockGuitar.com that I have him. Frank Bello, always cool and gracious, signed a few things for me. I told him my wife was a big fan of him and Enrique Iglesias and asked if he'd say a few lines of Tonight I'm Loving You on video for my wife. He laughed really hard and Ellefson was speechless. Frank made me promise not to tell his wife (I had duct taped her to the bedpost at the hotel room that morning so there was no way I could call her) and I told him to hurry up and say his lines. Victor Wooten was cool and the Old Bad Dude, Ben Dover, told me my Iron Maiden shirt was cool. I asked him if he was in Iron Maiden and Victor was cracking up. Kojak had a sense of humor and laughed too.
Speaking of laughing, when my Internet friend and I hit the Blackstar Amplification booth we started joking about 1 watt amps and their creamy, warm tone. About a minute later 2 guys walk up and start talking about the 1 watt Blackstar amp and it's creamy, warm tone. I was hoping to find an amp powered by candles and lightbulbs. Maybe the folks at Warrior Guitars can meet me halfway with a Rick Derringer holy water powered amp.
Orange Amps had a, well, orange display that was quite striking. Equally striking is the reality that you can't actually play any of the amps but have to wait for demos from the cast of Where Are They Now? I hear the amps are pretty nice sounding but I didn't hear the amps.
Dean Guitars…I used to look forward to their display after being impressed at my first NAMM show in 2003. Now I'm just a little depressed. Hey look, a Dimebag amp! Is that a Dimebag suit? Can it be…a Dimebag Telecaster signed by Stevie Ray Vaughan? Now Dean is making a John Entwistle tribute bass. My kids play with Legos…maybe they should get a Lego Pirate themed Dean, matey. Yargh. The USA Schenker V's were quite nice as was the fit/finish on all the USA guitars. Very beautiful woods and details. I'm still not a fan of the V neck profile and many of the imports have that ultra-shiny fret generic import feel that plagues most import guitars these days. The one good thing about the Dean booth was the t-shirts…nice designs, and with each $20 shirt you got a pass to the Dean NAMM Jam on friday night.
Let's walk over to BC Rich. Unlike last year, the handmade guitars were actually not strapped to the wall (ESP, take note). Overall the quality of these was top notch. Good fit and finish, nice setups, very few flaws. They didn't feel like other handmade BCRs. A guy at the booth said they're now making the guitars in Kentucky. I really liked the feel of the Pasaye made guitars from Mexico. The neck profiles were fairly thin; the white fully bound flattop Warlock had the thickest neck , not the Kerry King Warlock, which is odd because the Kerry King guitars usually have the thicker necks. The Mike Learn painted, Grover Jackson built Gunslingers were put together nicely but the necks were completely unfinished, raw feeling with a laser etched BCR logo. This made the guitars feel a little cheap. They played nicely and were set up well but I would have preferred a more satin or oil finished neck. The import guitars were nice but aside from the body shapes, I didn't think they had a distinctive feel. Schecters seem to have a consistent weight and neck profile, the BCR imports feel a bit generic. Not bad, fairly priced, and filling a market need. New Warlocks with reversed Firebird headstocks, and lots of neck through Mockingbirds and Eagles were on display. Steve Smythe (Forbidden, Testament) has a 6 and 7 string neck thru Bich model. What vexes, yes vexes me is the inconsistent body shapes. It seems like when the Warlocks went down in price and features, that the crotch cut got a bit odd. Less of an inner point, and more of a large radius. BCR freaks will lament the insistence of the Ironbird Mk 2 body shape instead of the classic Mark 1 shape. Also the R logo was reserved for handmade guitars only in the past. Now it appears on some of the higher end imports. BCR was never consistent about anything so this shouldn't be a surprise.
The most pleasant surprise was the leather-clad Budda guitar amp head with distressed metal accents. I didn't get to play this Amp of Rohan but it was one of the most unique looking pieces of equipment at the show; I wish more companies would take chances with their products instead of rehashing the same ideas.
Carvin was yet again consistent in quality and setups of their guitars. I played a CT series through a V3 halfstack. Plenty of gain, plenty of tweakage on tap, but there was just this buzzy, trebly sound that wasn't easy to dial out of the amp. The singlecuts and the new 24 fret CT-ish guitars were the standouts. OK, so I lied. The real standout was the small poster advertising a Stryper anniversary show at the House of Blues, showing 2 yellow and black Ultra V guitars. Laugh or cry, you decide. I chose not to decide, but still I made a choice.
My choice was to walk over to Schecter. I really love the neck profiles, fat, but lovable, and you won't be ashamed to admit it to your friends. The custom guitars were the usual standout of the booth. Really nice woods and stains, and the custom paint was superb as usual. I would love to play one of the customs but like ESP, they chain them to the walls. I'm sure there's a joke in here about the portly ones held captive in my basement with zip-ties, but I digress.
In need of a bromance, I headed to the Brubaker booth to meet more of my Internet friends. Who should be in the booth? None other than Ed The Hutt Roman. He looks like he shed a few pounds, or at least a layer of skin. Where's Racer X from the Jackson/Charvel forum when you need him (inside joke, more Internet friend stuff, roll a d20…). Brubaker and friends had a nice display of custom and import basses. We had a good discussion on what it takes to market a small company in a competitive marketplace and then mudwrestled. Ok, just checking if you're still with me.
Dunlop was giving away free picks and free guitar and bass strings. The pedal that stood out most in their booth was their new polished metal volume pedal. Massive in size with a thick rubber pad, I wish this design wasn't relegated to a volume pedal. It looked mean and aggressive with a bit of retro flair. Dunlop had a lot of pedalboards to test drive but unfortunately they were all running through a small "amp" pedal, which was pretty crappy sounding. At lease give a brotha a Roland Cube, ya feel me? James Hetfield has a signature pick that makes your guitar yodel and say, "Yeah Yeah booooooooooh baby!"
In search of flamboyance I headed over to Washburn to check out the Paul Stanley signature guitars. He's got 2 V's, one white with a mirrored pickguard and another covered in crystals. Maybe to match his pumps and bustier. His Iceman-style guitars come in a cracked mirror finish (how's a girl gonna thicken her lashes with that mirror?), sunburst, and aforementioned LIberace style. They all play pretty nice and were built very well with lots of attention to detail. Should I write the comment about not being able to say the same about Kiss' music? Nah.
In search of the ultimate mullet, I returned to the Engl booth for the Marty Friedman/Jeff Loomis singing. Rage guitarist and Mullet from Heck champion Victor Smolski was jamming to a backing track…from metal to funk, this fine feathered friend can really play. In need of hot oil treatment, Jeff Loomis arrived followed by 4 feet 5 inches of ringlets called Marty Friedman, looking resplendent in 7 inch platform boots and snug trousers. I wish all of them would have jammed or at least given hair care tips.
Marshall…same amp in 23 configurations. Handwired. Signature. Signature handwired. Vintage. Modern. Bleh.
Ibanez…same guitar in 59 different configurations. However, they had some of the most consistent and quality feeling at the show. I don't know the difference between many of the models…they terms seem to get more complex with more adjustments than Marty Friedman has curls. I liked many of the fixed bridge models and even though I'm not a fan of thin necks, they guitars just had a really nice feel to them.
The DBZ Guitars (Dean Zelinsky's post-Dean Guitars venture) seemed identical from the prior year. Dean Z himself walked me through some of the specs of the guitars and was pretty nice and humble. The imports are very well built and almost indistinguishable from the USA made guitars. Some of the body styles are a bit odd and feel unresolved in terms of points and curves. But Dean is taking chances with laser-etched finishes and details and the addition of metal badges/medallions to the headstocks and bodies of many of the guitars.
Like Dean, ESP takes chances with some of it's really bizarre custom guitars, locked in glass display cases. Ultra-sculpted and carved, I can appreciate the craftsmanship in some of the customs but I can't decide if I think the guitars are beautiful or ugly. Like at all previous shows, ESP straps all their guitars to the wall. Why even have guitars? How are you supposed to judge how the guitars play and feel? The fit and finish on all levels of guitars was pretty flawless. The new James Hetfield Explorer on crack is pretty lame. My favorites were a Lynch Kamikaze star-body and a matte black pointy V with Kahler and EMGs.
Never disappointing, Jackson had the usual assortment of beautiful and questionable on display. Taking up about 1/4 of the Fender room, Jackson's imports were playable but the custom guitars were roped off. Thankfully, plenty of Jackson staff was there to assist and would allow you to play the customs if you asked. Builder Pablo Santana had some of his well built but not quite attractive guitars on display. One of the coolest guitars was a Kelly with aluminum top featuring an etched and airbrushed Mike Learn graphic. Mike told me that he "fingerpainted" with sandpaper wrapped on his index finger then added detail with rotary tools and airbrush. The final effect was almost holographic. Mike also helped create a pretty cool fingerboard on another guitar. 2 long vertical, parallel channels were routed down the length of the fretboard. The channels were airbrushed and the fingerboard was inlaid with an intricate pattern. The entire fingerboard was then finished with a secretive process (my guess is some sort of epoxy), which gave smooth, uniform finish; it was almost as if the entire neck was encased in glass. I was waiting to talk to one of the Jackson staff when a guy walks up to me and says (in a bit of a raspy voice), "Hey bro, where's Ellefson?"
"Uh, I saw him downstairs a while ago."
"Yeahhhh…ha ha! What's up DAVE???!!!" (fist bumps me)
"Uh, I'm not Dave."
"Yeah-haaa! Riiiight bro! HA HA!"
"Uh, dude, I'm not Dave."
"Oh, okay. Ha. Sorry man!"
Jackson did unveil the limited edition Ellefson Concert bass (yeah-haaa BRO!!!) which was on display in a glass case. Frank Bello stopped by the booth briefly but was in search of some Fender staff. Charvel did not stop by and wasn't present a the show. One of the Jackson staff said Charvel has some BIG announcements and surprises coming up in about 2 months and they weren't ready to talk about it at NAMM. The guy said there would be an event or announcement but wouldn't give any details. Next door at the EVH display was the new 50 watt EVH amp in a small enclosure. The EVH guitars were very nice; the set-neck models were my favorite. Really slinky, loose string tension and nice neck profile. Megadeth guitarist Chris Broderick stopped by the Jackson booth for a photoshoot with his new signature Jackson guitar, which is a modified Soloist body style with flame top, natural body binding and arched top. The guitars were prototypes and were were not allowed to be played. Chris was cool and mellow and stopped to allow some fans to take some pictures. It was a nice ending to a long day.
After dinner, my friends and I headed to the Hilton, which unfortunately has changed it's setup compared to the last time I was there. The center atrium is now home to a stage and many bars. Said stage is usually filled with crappy bands playing crappy music way too loud. It's just not an enjoyable experience anymore. So we headed to the Marriot across the street which has a similar center atrium setup but has the benefit of a large outside patio. We hung out with the Bogner crew and Pete Dee of the punk band The Adicts. Pete had a story involving pretty much any rock star you can imagine. The guy should probably write a book, but might get arrested and sued in the process, so maybe not! He's like a living version of Star magazine. What was Britney thinking??? I also met several cool people, including one of Gloria Estefan's guitarists. Later that night I shook my body and did that conga back to my hotel room in an attempt to rest for day 2.
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