If you follow what’s new in music gear, you must have heard of NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants), the music industry’s trade organization. Each year there are two conventions which are made up of instrument manufactures, wholesalers, retailers, and shredders from all walks of life.
As I entered the main hall I was stopped dead in my tracks by a line of about sixty people which wrapped all the way around the Dean Markley String booth. It took me a few minutes to focus on what was going on. As I looked over I saw Yngwie Malmsteen striking the typical drunken Yngwie rock poses and loudly signing autographs.
My next stop was over the Ibanez booth which was the central hive for shredders. This year Ibanez released four new signature models for Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Paul Gilbert and Andy Timmons. All of these guitar gods were on hand to pose for pictures and sign autographs. I got a chance to talk to Andy for a few minutes about his new guitar. “I’m very proud of this guitar, I could pick one off the rack and play it at a show.” He was cool enough to take a few minutes off from wondering around the show to take a quick picture with me.
Joe Satriani also made an appearance at the Peavey booth where he unveiled the new Peavey JSX combo amp. Meanwhile upstairs, Fender was pleased to announce the long awaited Eric Johnson signature strat. Eric performed later that night to a standing room only crowd.
2005 marked the return of Charvel Guitars with Eddie Van Halen as the chief endorsee. Eddie has joined forces with Charvel/Jackson to design the EVH Art Series line of custom guitars. These guitars are replicas of his original, now infamous hand made striped guitars. They are available in black and white, yellow and black and the signature red white and black stripes.
On Friday night I was invited to attend the Paul Reed Smith 20th Anniversary party where I got a chance to see Pat Travers and Carlos Santana as well as nu-metal mongers Dave Navarro and Mark Tremonti!
Saturday the convention center was packed wall to wall people with a grand total of 78,091 spectators breaking all time attendance records. As the show came to a close, I am pleased to announce that 2005 will be a most excellent year for new shred oriented musical gear.
