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Most Fun, Exciting and Enjoyable NAMM Ever

 
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alexkhan



Joined: 10 Sep 2004
Posts: 2783
Location: Chino, CA

PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 4:09 am    Post subject: Most Fun, Exciting and Enjoyable NAMM Ever Reply with quote

I've been going to NAMM in various capacities since the early-90's when I started working at Fender. At Fender, it was mainly about meeting up with the Asian OEM suppliers. At Tone Merchants, it was looking around for new boutique gear to bring into the shop. At Suhr, it was about being the main presentation and selling guy at the booth for four grueling days. As the manager of the Aristocrats and an independent industry consultant the past few years, it was about networking and making connections. But now, as a manager at the sourcing division of the largest MI retailer in the world, I'm on the buying side and that sure is a lot better than being on the selling side. Mr. Green

Being on the selling side, I remember losing my voice by the end of the second day repeating the same sales pitch over and over again and answering the same questions for hours on end. That is certainly something I don't miss from the boutique days: "What is the difference between alder and ash? Rosewood fingerboard and maple board? Ceramic and alnico magnets? Nickel and stainless steel frets? EL34's and 6L6's?" And on and on and on... I'm so happy not having to answer those kinds of questions anymore. Now I get to ask just a few questions that pertain to the work I do with the current vendors and some potential new vendors. The pressure is on them, not me. Very Happy

Now, I get all my NAMM business done by the middle of Saturday and go home. Also, a lot of the business is conducted off the convention floor - dinner meetings, suites and meeting rooms in hotels, etc. Some vendors use the hotel rooms at the Hilton and the Marriott to strictly meet with select customers for meetings and product presentations. That sure beats dealing with the crowd and the noise on the convention floor. After all these years, I definitely don't care to roam the floors for more than one full day (8 hours). Part of my job was also do a general recon of what's going on and identify some vendors or products that have potential for the products I deal with. I was able to leisurely browse through the aisles and exhibits for several hours at a time and take notes, which is not something I've ever been instructed to do before. So that was fun and quite productive at the same time for the work I do.

Of course, the real fun part of NAMM is getting to see all the people in the business I've known for a long time as well as meeting some new people. Obviously, Guthrie is on the top of this list and he and I hooked up on Wed night before NAMM for a catchup hang at a local Korean restaurant and then a few cold ones at a bar afterwards. It seems I only get to see him only a few times a year now with my job at GC and his constant touring with the Aristocrats and Steven Wilson, so we try to make the most of the time when we're in the same vicinity. I will be flying out to SF this coming weekend and Guthrie and I will both stay at a good mutual friend's house while the Aristocrats are there to play a gig there on 2/1. That show will be the last of the band's annual NAMM West Coast Tour and I'm really looking forward to enjoying the weekend there with Guthrie and the guys and also see the show.

Gear-wise for my personal usage, I'm only interested in a few things these days. For work, I keep my eyes open on a very wide-ranging number of products across a broad price range, but only a few things are of personal interest to me anymore. On that end, the two guys I've become good friends with over the past year are Ola Strandberg of Strandberg Guitars and Tom King of Atomic Amplifiers. I hung out with them checking out Ola's splendid guitars at the booth and a new 8-string prototype with the True Temperament fretboard in the hotel room. I was absolutely enamored by the 8-string TT. It was so much easier to get used to than I thought. It didn't feel unwieldy at all. I have relatively small hands and I could still easily get my left thumb over the neck for string bends and the Eudur neck has an incredibly ergonomic feel. As far as I'm concerned, it's the most innovative and interesting "new" solid-body electric guitar since the Parker Fly debuted in the early-90's. At the same time, it isn't too quirky or weird. It plays as good as or better than anything else I've ever played, is 4 pounds, and is amazingly resonant. Just beautiful... Here are some pics:





The white 8-string with the TT board is the first of its type. I've got one for myself in the works and I just can't wait. It's just an amazing experience to play something like that and it isn't that weird at all. It feels quite empowering actually. I'd want dots on the fingerboard and I'm thinking making the two low strings black could make it visually easier to get around on. Still, it's very easy to play and having all those low notes is quite cool. Cool

Moving on, I've been in touch with Tom King of Atomic Amps ever since I got a pair of the CLR cabs for the new AxeFx II rig but the cabs sound so good that they're being used more for hi-fi audio than playing the guitar through. Tom was demo'ing the cabs and a new modeling pedal/preamp called the Amplifire at a Hilton hotel suite. So I paid a visit, hung out with Tom and demo'd the new product. Two years in the making, it took me by complete surprise. The CLR cabs have already become the de facto standard for amplifying the very best modeling/profiling amps like the AxeFx II and the Kemper, so I wasn't expecting a preamp product from Tom at all. And, you know what, the thing sounds awesome and is super easy to operate. A definite highlight for me this NAMM as far as guitar amplification device was concerned...



Then on Friday afternoon while doing my general recon, I finally wandered up to the Fender booth to check out the Charvel GG Signature Model guitars. Guthrie had told me about the new flame maple version that he was getting but I hadn't seen it yet. It sure was extremely nice looking but I've become quite partial to the Birdseye top and I think I'll stick with that for the one I've got on order.



I know that a few of the things that the Charvel Custom Shop people were working on for Guthrie were the bridge's arm assembly and the radius of the saddles to match the fingerboard's compound 12~16" radius. Well, it seems they've finally got that issue worked out. The arm felt just as secure, firm and smooth as the Gotoh 510 and the bridge radius matched that of the fingerboard perfectly. It really played, sounded, and felt as good as any superstrat I've picked up before. For me, this guitar and the Strandberg 8-string with the TT board would take care of my guitar GAS for a very long time to come. Well, I hope so! Wink



Onto Friday night... I had a big dinner meeting with a member of a key supplier and my bosses at GC (including the Senior VP of the division I work in), so I could not get out of that in time to see the Aristocrats perform at the Grove. No biggie as I will see them at the much cozier confines of Biscuits & Blues in SF next week... I arrived at the venue with my boss at GC (who's now also a big Guthrie fan) while Periphery was finishing up and I ran into various people I knew at Fender (including guys I've known there since '91). Fender has changed a lot over the years and many people have come and gone, but I'm still surprised by how many people that I used to work with during the 90's are still there - including one of my first bosses at Fender who is now the VP of Global Quality Assurance.

So it became an evening of mingling with Guthrie, the band members, and all the old and new Fender friends along with some GC people. So we went backstage, watched the girls getting ready for the Coffin Case fashion show while sipping some beers, and just chatted about all kinds of stuff - reminiscing about the old days and excitedly talking about all the new projects everyone has planned for the new year. It was definitely the most fun I've ever had at NAMM and there was no pressure or feeling burnt out at all - just a lot of excitement and good feelings all around. A tad bummed out that I missed out the Aristocrats' 40-minute set but the Grove seemed too big and boomy for what this band is about anyway. The dinner meeting was far more important and I can look forward to Guthrie in a very intimate setting next week.

The week after NAMM has some lingering things going on - including more meetings with visiting suppliers, etc. For me, it will all come to closure after the visit to SF and hanging out with Guthrie and some good friends there. Here are a couple of photos of Guthrie in action (courtesy of Charvel's site) on Friday night at the Grove in Anaheim.





It's been an amazing NAMM for me personally. The coolest feeling is that I actually feel relaxed, refreshed and energized afterwards. I can envision some great things happening this year on so many levels. This is going to be a really big year for Guthrie as well. 2013 was great but will seem meek by the time this year is over. Very Happy
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Ed Yoon
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.strandberg* Guitars USA
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alexkhan



Joined: 10 Sep 2004
Posts: 2783
Location: Chino, CA

PostPosted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 4:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just got back from a great weekend in SF staying over at a good old friend's place, watching the Aristocrats' last show of the NAMM West Coast Tour at the Biscuits & Blues club, and having a good hang with Guthrie and the guys. The Aristocrats' show and Guthrie's playing on Sat night might very well be the best gig of the band's I've seen to date. They were totally on and Guthrie just continues to get better and better.

And what do I mean "better"? It's not that he's doing any more technically mind-blowing things or is faster or anything like that. It's the music that's flowing out that is just getting better as time goes by. It's his endless creativity, the sheer inventiveness, the effortlessly flowing musical ideas and everything else going through his head and his heart that makes every concert of his such a great experience.

I watched both gigs on Sat night (over 90 mins each) - the second one around 5 feet away right in front of him - and I found myself just closing my eyes and listening to the music, not watching what's going on even though I had the best seat in the house. Bryan and Marco were also totally into what they were doing and the energy level was very high. After nearly 3 week of touring, the guys are definitely settling into a groover as they now embark on a 10-week tour of Europe.

Sound-wise, I can honestly say that this is the best I've heard of him to date although I think Guthrie is still tweaking the amps with Victory Amplification. The old Cornford sound is his comfort zone but these new Victory amps are voiced slightly differently and Guthrie is still trying to get familiar with what it can and can't do. New amps take a while to get used to. It's as much about how an amp feels as how it sounds.

As far as the Charvel guitars, Guthrie seems quite happy with 'em although he and the folks at Charvel are still honing in on the arm attachment matter for this revised vintage Floyd bridge. That's a major undertaking. I know what's involved in making changes to an existing bridge. It's just never as easy as it seems but it seems that Fender/Charvel have made the commitment to getting things exactly as Guthrie wants it. Kudos to them. The lengths they've gone to accommodate Guthrie has been an amazing thing to observe.

So here are a few pics from my short weekend getaway to the Bay Area - certainly one of my favorite places on earth.

Feb 1 Sat was an absolutely gorgeous day in the Bay Area. Here's a photo of the view from the dining room of the friend's house in the outskirts of SF.



Crossing the new Bay Bridge to get into downtown SF and see the gig... The topography of SF is quite unique amongst the major metropolitan areas I've seen - nothing quite like it.



Guthrie's new rig with the Victory V50 The Earl tube amplifier head and 2x12 cabinet. Hearing Guthrie play it during the soundcheck, it definitely had the Cornford flavor since it was Martin Kidd who designed all the old Cornford amps, but this sounded a different. It was a little smoother and bigger sounding while still retaining the tightness and the fast transient attack that those amps were known for. Here's a review of the amp as well on Music Radar:

http://www.musicradar.com/reviews/guitars/victory-v50-the-earl-587431



A closeup photo of the Victory V50 2-channel 50w head with a pair of EL34 tubes.



Guthrie's pedalboard for the current US/Europe tour. Guthrie advised me that now that he's using the Victory V50 with its two channels and a boost switch, he's not using the Koko Boost much except for layering on another gain stage on the metallic 'Living The Dream'.



Guthrie and Marco during the soundcheck before the first gig at Biscuits & Blues.



Guthrie mingling with his adoring fans outside the venue after the first of the two gigs on Feb 1 Sat. As you can see from this photo, there are quite a few female fans. Guthrie/Aristocrats gigs aren't sausage fests like you normally see at instrumental fusion type of gigs. Laughing



The second gig starts at around 10pm and I've got the best seat in the house. Very Happy It was a truly magical night. I just can't be happier to see Guthrie's career in a continual upward trajectory. I'll be working ever harder to take things to the next level this year and beyond. Some big things in the works! Smile


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Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc.
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Edovinus



Joined: 10 Sep 2004
Posts: 92

PostPosted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 8:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice! Thanks for the report! I hope to visit NAMM one day.
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