For quick viewing of a particular section of this article, click on the links below. Otherwise, simply scroll down this page for a complete look at Steelbender 2003 Summer NAMM coverage. 
 

For the third consecutive year,  I paid a visit to Nashville, TN for the annual summer NAMM show held in the middle of downtown Music City.   This convention, which is not open to the public, is where musical instrument manufacturers and dealers gather to display and explore product lines for the upcoming months.  There are also a variety of extracurricular events planned to coincide with the trade show which can make for a nice extended musical weekend.

In a sense, if you've been to one NAMM show, you've been to a lot of them.  Many companies display in the same locations from year to year.  Aside from the actual new products that are unveiled at the event, one sees many of the familiar faces in familiar places from shows gone by.  There is a certain routine that seems to prevail; though someone is always making their first trip and participating for the initial time.  Having worked both sides of the booth, from demonstrating products to simply observing the proceedings, I can say that by the end of each day, one is ready for a good meal and some fun on the town...if not sleep.  A typical day at NAMM can be exhausting for all parties involved.  I find myself trying to cram in all that I can...figuring I can recover when I return home.

The thing I probably enjoy the most about the NAMM events I've attended is the personal networking.  Not only have I been able to visit with old friends from years past, I've been privileged to make a lot of new ones and maintain correspondence with them long after the show's doors have closed.  These relationships are far more rewarding to me than simply seeing a new piece of musical gear.  It is also good to put faces with the products and establish a working rapport with people in the industry.
 
 

My traveling companion for this journey was my friend Jeff Weatherspoon of Raleigh, NC.  A longtime music enthusiast and guitarist with one of my favorite collections of old blackface Fender amplifiers that I've ever played, Jeff shares a lot of the same interests that I have when it comes to gear and electronic gadgets.  Talk about a high-tech trip!  We were prepared  for any "real" emergency....if your definition of emergency is not having enough CDs to listen to on the ride out.  I don't know how many cameras, minidisc recorders and coolers we had between us but it required Jeff's Chevrolet Tahoe to get everything out there.  So much for traveling light.  We did put the GPS navigational system to good use as we took a 30-mile detour off I-40 east of Knoxville on the way back due to a massive traffic tie-up.  It was actually a blessing in disguise, though, because we were treated to some of the most beautiful mountain scenery on the backroads that we would've missed otherwise.

Besides being a good road partner, Jeff was my invaluable "media assistant" for this trip and was of great help in taking many of the photos in this presentation.  Overall, we had a very memorable and enjoyable excursion.
 

When I cover a NAMM show for Steelbender.com, I am not trying to be a one-stop comprehensive source for what transpired at the event.   There are other sites out there that more than compensate for this with their reporting.  As with just about everything else here, the content is reflective of my personal interests and I offer it in hopes that our readers will find it entertaining and informative.  This report is part personal journal/photo essay  and part product expose.  If you were lucky enough to be in Nashville for the 2003 Summer NAMM show or if you've never been to one of these events, I hope you enjoy this account of what I encountered on my trip.

Wow.  That about sums up this year's edition of Muriel Anderson's annual All-Star Guitar Night at the historic Ryman Auditorium.  Last season, we were treated to an all-star tribute to Chet Atkins.  This time around was just off the scale....the show honored arguably the greatest musical icon of the modern era....Les Paul!   Les Paul is credited with inventing the electric guitar and multi-track recording among other things.  He's been referred to as the "Thomas Edison of modern music."  His contributions have had more of an effect on the way music is made and preserved today than just about anyone.  I shouldn't fail to mention that the guy is a pretty fair guitar player too! 

Muriel Anderson is a very talented and beautiful person who orchestrates these events.  She is a former national fingerpicking champion and has studied with Chet Atkins and Christopher Parkening.  I would characterize her style as very melodic and delicate...almost angelic.  There's also a great degree of humanity in her presentation....she was dissatisfied with a feedback issue during one of her songs and had to re-start the tune.  Throughout it all, she never lost her composure and was completely in control of things.  She seems down-to-earth and adds a relaxed quality and affability to the concerts.

As with the 2002 show, the performance was divided into a predominately acoustic segment followed by a rocking electric portion.  There were so many astounding players representing all genres that it became almost numbing.  Okay....you want to know who was there?   Try this:

Impressive list, huh?  To say there was some great music being made would be a huge understatement.  The amount of talent on one stage was staggering; but then again that is what makes the All-Star Guitar Nights so much fun.

Click here to watch Bela Fleck and Victor Wooten entertaining the Ryman audience

The star of the night, though, was Les Paul.  After a stellar opener of some of the world's finest acoustic players, the Ryman's lights were dimmed and a movie screen was lowered to the stage.  A brief video documentary ensued detailing some of the highlights of Les Paul's career.  Part of the feature included footage of Les Paul and his late wife Mary Ford playing on the very same Ryman stage some 60 years previously during the first telecast of the Grand Ole Opry.

After the video, Les Paul and his Trio took the stage for over an hour of beautiful music.  His whole band featured the perfect accompanists for Les' distinctive and highly-melodic style.  At 88 years old and following heart surgery, Les Paul has still got it!  The man is a pistol.  Case in point:  his banter with his gorgeous young bassist Nicki Parrott left the crowd in stitches all evening long.   "I feel like a condemned building with a new flagpole out front," said Les.  "I'd like for her to come over and I could show her my Microsoft",  offered Paul, alluding of course to his new computer.
 
 

After Les Paul's set and a brief intermission, the Ryman went into full rock-out mode.
 
 

Steve Morse, one of the world's foremost all-around guitarists and founder of the renowned Dixie Dregs, closed the show and brought out 13-year old prodigy Chelsea Constable who went toe-to-toe and  lick-for-lick with him on a couple of his most technically-demanding compositions. 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Click here to witness Steve Morse onstage at the Ryman Auditorium with 13-year old wizard Chelsea Constable

On Saturday morning, Jeff and I hooked up with effects guru Robert Keeley and his wife Tiffany, who had driven all night from Oklahoma to stay with us.  Still basking in the glow of seeing Les Paul the night before, we found out that there would be an interview session with Les at the Country Music Hall of Fame in the afternoon.  We also discovered that space was extremely limited in the museum's theatre to somewhere in the neighborhood of 100-125 seats.  By the time we arrived, there were no more passes available for the event; but Lady Luck, who graced us with her presence on a number of occasions during our visit, provided us with admission at the last moment.

The Ford Theatre at the Hall of Fame is a very intimate venue and was a wonderful backdrop for a conversation with Les Paul.  It was a chance of a lifetime to have an audience with someone as esteemed as Les.  He imparted a great deal of knowledge and anecdotes during the session and continued with his fiery wit that was in abundant display the previous evening.

Les gave a firsthand account of his famous Log guitar...
 
 

Click here to watch a video of Les Paul discussing "The Log" guitar

 

As I've mentioned before, Les Paul has a fiery nature and doesn't miss a beat.  It's hard to believe that some people don't have enough sense to turn their cell phones off at appropriate times.  Watch the next video and see how Les reacts when the audience member's phone rings...
 
 

Let's take a look at some product highlights from the 2003 Summer NAMM show...

I was very interested in a product made by Aviom of West Chester, PA called the A-16 Personal Monitor Mixing System.  This device strives to address the commonplace problems of bad monitor mixes and allows the user to custom-tailor a variety of monitoring levels for individual musicians in an ensemble context.  Suppose the keyboard player needs to hear more of his instrument and wants that darn guitar player to turn down.  At the same time, the drummer can't hear the bass player while the guitarist wants the keyboard player shipped to China because he's so loud.    No problem...the Aviom's 16-channel system makes it easy for the engineer to give each player what they want on demand. 

While the A-16 will work in a live situation, I see a real value for this product in a recording studio where multiple headphone mixes are required.  Compatible with virtually any audio system, the A-16 offers an easy-to-use interface that should appeal to even the weekend recording hobbyist.

According to Aviom, "The A-16 Personal Mixer gives each performer control over channel volume, grouping, pan, stereo spread, and master volume.  Each and every A-16 Personal Mixer in the system can create a unique monitor mix for a performer.  Users can save and recall up to sixteen custom mixes saved as Presets in their Personal Mixer.  The stereo output from the Personal Monitor Mixing System can be used to drive in-ear monitors, headphones, floor wedge monitors, or spot monitors."

After demoing the unit on display, I think the A-16 seems like it would be a very flexible and intuitive accessory for any sound engineer.  I fully intend to have one of these for my studio before all is said and done.
 
 

For more info, contact Aviom at : (610) 738-9005

or visit their website at:  http://aviominc.com/
 

It's hard not to drop in on the Fender folks every year.  Fender is one of the truly iconic companies in music history.  Very few electric guitarists haven't had at least one Fender guitar in their past.  I must say, though, that it was very difficult to spend more than a few minutes in the exhibition due to the overbearing crowd onhand to witness the new offerings.  Dealers were everywhere lining up their inventories.  It was reminiscent of a zoo.  Now that Fender has its sights set on world domination with all of the companies they've been acquiring lately, I  expect to see Strats made on the red planet when the Martian factory facility is completed.  (They have less-stringent finish restrictions there and are not bound by the requirements of the EPA).

I've known Alan Waite, a Vice-President at Fender, for a long time and now that he's moved to company headquarters in Scottsdale, AZ, we rarely get to see each other except during these events.  With extended passages of time between encounters, the rigors of having such mammoth responsibilities can become much more evident from a physical standpoint.    I swear he's getting taller and thinner.   Alan said he gets lots of mail from people who saw him in the photo from last year's Steelbender NAMM report.  He asked if we could take an updated picture to "make amends" for it.   I said "Sure, but remember that you're still going to be in it."    You can compare last year's photo to the following and decide for yourself if things have improved for either one of us.
 
 

Here's a quick trip through this year's Fender exhibition:
 
 

Marshall... the "other" great name in amplifier history.  Well, okay...Vox is another one.  Since they are distributed by the same people, let's put them together here.
 
 

Roland/BOSS has always produced innovative, reliable and reasonably-priced gear for musicians.  The BOSS division seems to aim more of its products toward guitarists, and it's interesting to see what they come out with every year.  I've always enjoyed the practicality and performance of BOSS pedals throughout the years.  Aside from the new OC-3 Super Octave box, there wasn't much new displayed on the pedal front this season; but I was intrigued by the new BR-864 8-track digital studio.

Many of my students ask me for advice on affordable multi-track recorders.  After seeing the demo of the BR-864, I think I now have a good recommendation for them.  With a projected street price of under $500, the BR-864 is evidence of how practical and technologically-advanced all-in-one recording devices have become in just the last few years.
 
 

With 64 Virtual Tracks, BOSS' COSM effects, built-in mic and rhythm machine, the BR-864 promises to offer a lot of recording bang for the buck.  I was suitably pleased by the onboard bass simulator which lets the player lay down bass tracks with a standard guitar.  The 864 can run on AC or battery power and features a USB interface for linking to your computer.  Compact Flash cards are the media of choice for this BOSS product.

Does this unit sound as good as a more elaborate system with assorted rack gear and expensive mic preamps?  I would not go far enough to say that; but when you factor in the portability and good digital sound of this unit, I think BOSS has a real winner on its hands.  I have not logged enough time on one of these units to comment on the ease-of-use factor.   However, from what I experienced at NAMM, I think the 864 has to be considered the cream of its class.  It seems like the perfect songwriting tool for musicians on the go.
 
 

About two years ago, I wrote an article discussing hearing protection and my experience with Westone Laboratories products.  These custom-fitted hearing protectors have served me exceptionally well at concerts or when I've been onstage playing.  I remember getting a set back in the mid-80's when I was in San Francisco.  Westone was onhand in Nashville to demonstrate their updated line of services and it was an educational experience to watch them in action.   In fact, they had a temporary on-site lab to fit customers for their products.

In addition to producing hearing protectors of the highest quality, Westone also makes in-ear monitoring systems for onstage use.  To be honest, I've never had much experience with in-ear monitoring; but I enjoyed the demonstration presented by the "Westone Band" that was onhand in the booth.  NAMM officials are very strict about noise levels on the exhibition floor and to hear the fullness and control-ability of the sound levels from the band was a good thing.  Granted, they were using an electronic drum kit and everything was being run directly to the mixing board; yet I still could project that there is promise in this type of setup for louder live applications.
 
 

Contact Westone Laboratories at:  1-800-525-5071  or visit www.westone.com
 

Most Steelbender.com readers are probably aware of Keeley Electronics and the fine pedals that Robert Keeley makes.  In fact, since the initial Steelbender Spotlight profile of the Keeley Compressor in August 2002, I have received a large volume of correspondence regarding that unit and the other products he offers.

Robert, his wife Tiffany, Jeff and I spent some time together this past week in Nashville and had the opportunity to discuss a wide range of topics including some new products that are about to hit the market. 

Keeley requested that Steelbender.com debut a forthcoming addition to his product line:  The Keeley Japanese Apartment (it's so new there isn't an official Keeley link yet !)

Robert has a big following in Japan and one item that he has been asked to build by that market is a looping device allowing guitarists to remove effects from their signal chain when the pedals are not being used so that signal integrity is preserved.  In a sense, this is like turning any effect into a true bypass affair without having to modify anything.  Keeley has responded with the forthcoming Japanese Apartment, dubbed as such due to the unit's extremely small size.  This elegant box is about the size of two average thumbs placed together and can work as a powered or unpowered unit.  Power activates the LEDs while non-powered use disables them, yet non-power does not affect the function of the pedal.  Tentative pricing is in the $60 (US) range.  While the Japanese Apartment may not be an earthshaking development, it is a highly useful device that features Keeley's typical level of workmanship.
 
 

I'm filing the following bits under "Miscellaneous" not because they aren't important; rather because there were so many things to do and not enough time to conduct a full exploration of these exhibitions.  Here are a few more things that caught my attention at this year's Nashville NAMM show:

Roger Linn's new AdrenaLinn II is a fun unit integrating beat-synched filter effects, amp modeling and drum machine sounds into one package.  It's somewhat hard to explain if you've never tried one; but you can see some demos at the Linn website.  The new AdrenaLinn II improves upon the performance of its predecessor with a simpler interface, more amp models and filters and longer available delay times.  Whenever I plug a guitar into one of these I have a good time experimenting with all of the rhythms and sounds.
 
 

Taylor has evolved into one of the premier acoustic guitar manufacturers for the masses.  They definitely had one of the best smelling displays at the show (not including that unnamed guitar maker's booth which featured all of the scantily-clad models). 
 
 

After all of these years, George L's cables still get the mythical Steelbender Stamp of Approval.  Reliability issues have been greatly improved with the introduction of form-fitting jackets which keep connectors snug and secure.  A wide assortment of connector colors are available. 
 
 

Paul Reed Smith Guitars put up their usual exhibition in the same place they've been for a number of years.  Like Fender, their booth is often swamped with dealers and businessmen stocking up on inventory. 
 
 

O'Brien Amplification of Minneapolis,MN has been turning heads with their luxury-grade cosmetics and expensive price tags. The patented Variable Gain design is one of the big selling points. 
 
 

Zion Guitars is located in my neck of the woods in Raleigh, NC.  Beautiful craftsmanship and silky-smooth playability are hallmarks of this line.  Carr Amplifiers provided a Slant 6 combo for demoing purposes.
 
 

Cornford Amplification from the UK has become a major player in the boutique market.  Featuring point-to-point wiring and a versatile line of different designs, the Cornford booth was full of activity.
 
 

Sometimes you have to drive across the country to run into people you know from back home.  Jack Briggs of Briggs Guitars is building some top-notch guitars in Raleigh, NC and gaining overwhelmingly positive international attention for his instruments.  Jack is an enthusiastic guy and a pleasure to talk guitars with.  Check Jason's Corner for some great videos of Jack discussing Briggs Guitars as well as Indoor Storm's Eddie Berman demonstrating a fabulous Briggs goldtop for a Steelbender.com exclusive.  Mark it down:  Jack's star is on the rise.
 
 

John Chandler of Pedaltrain, who has been mentioned in previous Steelbender reports, continues to enjoy great success with his popular pedalboard creation for guitarists.  John was raving about Nashville's Tim Creek, who is producing top-flight pedal effects and restoring/modding/duplicating vintage devices.  I've been looking over some of Tim's spec sheets and am hoping to conduct a profile for some of his products in the future.  In the meantime, for anyone interested in reaching Tim Creek, contact him at (615) 260-5651 or drop him an e-mail by clicking here.

One highlight of the trip was getting away from the hustle and bustle of the main exhibit hall and getting to sit down for awhile with John, Robert Keeley, Gordon Kennedy, and Jerry McPherson.  All of these guys are nice people who have made formidable marks with their respective musical endeavors.  It was truly a pleasure discussing a variety of topics with them.
 
 

It's just not right to go to a NAMM show without paying a visit to  Frank "Silk" Smith.  Frank  and Lorenzo German (Klein Electric Guitars) were onhand once again with a number of great instruments to check out.  I might add that Frank was sounding good through the in-demand Carr Mercury amp that graced the display's presence.  A Klein through a Mercury is a beautiful combination indeed!
 
 

Now for a little treat that will either make you want to throw all of your guitars away or inspire you to practice!

Here's the mind-boggling Johnny Hiland tearing it up at The Bluegrass Inn on Broadway in downtown Nashville.  There isn't a lick in the world that he can't play.  I assumed my customary stance outside behind the stage once again this year and shot these through the window.  You won't see much beyond the reflections of shocked people passing by on the street and listening to the Telecaster torture going on inside.  Every time I've spoken to him, he's been very gracious and enthusiastic about playing for people.  Where do these guys come from?
 
 
 

This can't be over can it?  Folks, I don't think I could type any more if I tried.  I hope you found this look at the 2003 Summer NAMM show to be informative and enjoyable to read.  As I mentioned earlier, it's always a great pleasure for me to interact with people at these events. 

There are rumors that the July NAMM convention might be moving away from Nashville as early as  2005.  Possible future sites include Indianapolis, IN, Washington,D.C., and Austin, TX.   It will be interesting to see how everything works out.  In any event, Music City has been a good host for the past dozen years.

Thanks for reading and don't hesitate to drop me a line if you have any questions or comments about this article.
 

Jason