It’s all about the music at NAMM Show
Thursday and continued through Sunday at the Anaheim Convention Center during the yearly confluence of business, music and indescribable cacophony from the demonstrations of every manner of band instrument and accessory under the sun. NAMM is where manufacturers and distributors hammer out deals for the coming year with retailers in hopes of getting their new instrument or gadget into the hands of consumers.
The toys on display can range from guitar picks that cost a dime through inconceivably sophisticated synthesizers or ultra- high- end grand pianos that retail for the price of a luxury automobile. For tens of thousands of invited guests, it’s simply an eye- and ear- popping celebration of what musicians from amateurs to professionals use to make music.
Attendance was a record 101,000- plus registered participants, up 2% over last year. The projected economic impact of this year’s show on Anaheim and surrounding regions was more than $ 91 million.
Hundreds of exhibition booths f illed the 800,000plus- square- foot interior of the Anaheim Convention Center with more than 1,700 exhibitors representing 6,000 brands — including more than 400 new this year. Attendees came from 125 countries.
At the Fender Musical Instruments booth, the longrunning company best known for its electric guitars and amplifiers displayed a one- of- a- kind Telecaster guitar boasting 1,005 diamonds, 325 pearls, 38 sapphires and 20 feet of 18- karat rose gold wire inlay. The guitar was designed and built by one of the “master builders” at the company’s custom shop division in Corona.
Meanwhile, downstairs at the booth of the C. F. Martin Guitar Co., celebrated for its high- end acoustic instruments, CEO C. F. Martin IV showed off a 100th- anniversary special- edition “Dread- nought” guitar that revolutionized guitar playing upon its introduction a century ago amid World War I.
The celebrity guests included veteran rock singersongwriter Graham Nash, recipient of NAMM’s “music for life” career achievement award, Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh, the Roots’ Questlove, Dr. John and musician- producer- label exec Don Was.
Exhibitors often recruited heavyweights for demo sessions, including the likes of recording engineer Derek Ali, who has worked with rapper Kendrick Lamar and other top hip- hop acts, and heavymetal rocker Zakk Wylde, whose performance to introduce his line of Wylde guitars prompted a queue with hundreds of fans on Friday.
Guitarist John Jorgenson, a member of the 1980s-’ 90s country group the Desert Rose Band and who subsequently toured for years with Elton John, gave a performance for ESP/ Takamine guitars on Friday afternoon, then headed downstairs to meet with the makers of a line of Greek bouzoukis that he plays. “You f ind out all these amazing things you might never expect,” he said. “This is what I love about coming to NAMM.”
Representatives from Wild Customs guitars, a French guitar manufacturer, brought along a one- of- akind electric guitar the company is raff ling off in memory of the victims of the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, where dozens of fans attending an Eagles of Death Metal concert were killed.
The guitar is painted red, white and blue in the colors of the French f lag and incorporates a sculptured metal eye with a single tear dropping down the guitar’s face. It also contains the French national motto “Liberté, égalité, fraternité,” ( liberty, equality, brotherhood).
Raff le tickets were sold for 10 euros ( about $ 11 U. S.), and the instrument will be autographed and played by Eagles of Death Metal frontman Jesse Hughes when he brings his group back to Paris for a Feb. 16 concert, during which a winner will be announced. Proceeds will benefit the U. S.- based Sweet Stuff Foundation, which helps musicians and their families who struggle with illness and disability.
“We didn’t want to auction it off,” Wild Customs rep Blaise Rodier said. “Then it would just go to one rich person. This way, everyone has an equal chance. We would love to see it go into the hands of some young kid.”
The “kids” at NAMM are not necessarily young. At the Funguy Mojo Guitar booth, onlookers four to five rows deep looked on and cheered as a trio of bearded guys wailed away on two guitars and a drum made out of cigar boxes, part of a renaissance in recent years of homemade instruments.
It’s the kind of scene that might seem odd — anywhere except at NAMM.