The Guitar Show 2019 - 23rd - 24th February, The New Bingley Hall, Birmingham

EricTheWeary

Jason said:

EricTheWeary said:

Just watched Bumblefoot and now found somewhere to sit down for five minutes. 
Such an enjoyable set, not very busy in the marquee. Anyone coming Sunday catching him is a must do - learn about string lengths and dentistry! 
Mick Taylor of TPS lurking backstage, Chris from the Guitar magazine, Bradders and Neville Marten also spotted. Chris Buck has his set in a bit and has been around ( jamming with Aynsley Lister earlier). Aynsley's guitar tone was amazing, I presume it was @RiftAmps although I missed most of the set and the explanations. 
Right, I shall carry on spreading my germs around the hall...


Ooh Aziz Ibrahim by PRS. 

At one point I had Paul Sayer leaving as Ryan Roxie and Bumblefoot arriving with Aziz outside my office, slightly surreal but bloody amazing at the same time. 

On an aside Olvertheweary has been brilliant, so thank you

Thanks Jason  

I thought the marquee arrangement worked well this year, much more isolated from the main hall. 

Just on the parking there was a bit of a flash point in past years just outside the exit of the car park but that seems not to have happened/ been managed this year. There is a lot of on street parking, although  I guess if people don’t know the area at all it can be frustrating.

Enter the venue car park, if there are no spaces ( unless it’s very early or very late in the day there probably won’t be) exit and turn right. Lot of spaces up that street or take the next right which is an industrial area with lots of parking. I was three minutes walk tops yesterday. 

prowla

Jason said:

prowla said:

Well, I went today; the car parking was nowhere near adequate for the venue (I expect I'm not the first person to make that observation), so I ended up parking about half a mile away.

The show was pretty good, but in faffing around looking for parking I forgot to take my earplugs, so I bought a pair off a stand; the darned things were difficult to get out at the end of the noisy periods. I have to say that all of the exhibitors were really good at responding to the klaxon and observing the changeover from noisy to quiet.

As for the show and stuff itself, Rotosound forgot to take any bass strings, I bought a multi-pack of Dunlop purple plecs, and I got a lanyard off the Markbass stand.

I did get a demo of the new Boss reactive load amp and it looks like it does what it says on the tin; it's going to be priced around £1150, so it's not cheap, but it might revolutionise guitar recording.

At 2 hours drive each way, I wouldn't call it my most successful day out, but I had a rack of ribs at TGI's on the way home, so it wasn't entirely wasted.

You’re not the first and certainly won’t be the last, I know what it is, but moving means NEC parking which is £16 and a half mile walk, at least this way it’s free with a half mile walk.

Plus nec means £25 to get in, curry and chips being £15 not £4. You cant have Waitrose on Aldi money. If I move I lose what I do have and gain a whole lot more pain. 

Its the the biggest show in the UK and is affordable to all, the trade love it, most visitors love it, the venue love it and I love it. Not bad for £12.50 in advance and a 10 minute walk

I did buy a T-shirt, too...

The thing I would have really liked was more parts & s/h gear.

Fortheloveofguitar

prowla said:

Jason said:

prowla said:

Well, I went today; the car parking was nowhere near adequate for the venue (I expect I'm not the first person to make that observation), so I ended up parking about half a mile away.

The show was pretty good, but in faffing around looking for parking I forgot to take my earplugs, so I bought a pair off a stand; the darned things were difficult to get out at the end of the noisy periods. I have to say that all of the exhibitors were really good at responding to the klaxon and observing the changeover from noisy to quiet.

As for the show and stuff itself, Rotosound forgot to take any bass strings, I bought a multi-pack of Dunlop purple plecs, and I got a lanyard off the Markbass stand.

I did get a demo of the new Boss reactive load amp and it looks like it does what it says on the tin; it's going to be priced around £1150, so it's not cheap, but it might revolutionise guitar recording.

At 2 hours drive each way, I wouldn't call it my most successful day out, but I had a rack of ribs at TGI's on the way home, so it wasn't entirely wasted.

You’re not the first and certainly won’t be the last, I know what it is, but moving means NEC parking which is £16 and a half mile walk, at least this way it’s free with a half mile walk.

Plus nec means £25 to get in, curry and chips being £15 not £4. You cant have Waitrose on Aldi money. If I move I lose what I do have and gain a whole lot more pain. 

Its the the biggest show in the UK and is affordable to all, the trade love it, most visitors love it, the venue love it and I love it. Not bad for £12.50 in advance and a 10 minute walk

I did buy a T-shirt, too...

The thing I would have really liked was more parts & s/h gear.

That’s why I didn’t go this year and won’t for the foreseeable as it’s mostly new gear and I’m all about the secondhand stuff 

mrkb

Had a great time yesterday- arrived at 10, left at 4.55, so got value for money!

This was the fifth show I’ve been to, and feel the show is now a good mix of distributors, stores, bespoke builders, small uk companies and stage demos - the Focusrite area and marquee stage seem to have found the best locations for that kind of stuff. Coffee queue was much improved!

Thanks to alll that organised a great event!

WeZ84

I went along yesterday and enjoyed it. I got there for about 9:30am and there were still some spaces left out the front. Great to see some cool stuff. The Aynsley Lister / Chris Buck demo was great. Reminded me that I need to stop buying gear and practice more!

I agree it was very loud at times but with a combination of earplugs, going upstairs to the acoustics, going to get food and going to the marquee to watch one of the shows, it is possible to get a break. Looking forward to next year already.

vasselmeyer

Bloody hell. The M6 is foggy this morning and also full of Man City fans on the way to Wembley.

Quick pit stop then off again...

Jason

prowla said:

Jason said:

prowla said:

Well, I went today; the car parking was nowhere near adequate for the venue (I expect I'm not the first person to make that observation), so I ended up parking about half a mile away.

The show was pretty good, but in faffing around looking for parking I forgot to take my earplugs, so I bought a pair off a stand; the darned things were difficult to get out at the end of the noisy periods. I have to say that all of the exhibitors were really good at responding to the klaxon and observing the changeover from noisy to quiet.

As for the show and stuff itself, Rotosound forgot to take any bass strings, I bought a multi-pack of Dunlop purple plecs, and I got a lanyard off the Markbass stand.

I did get a demo of the new Boss reactive load amp and it looks like it does what it says on the tin; it's going to be priced around £1150, so it's not cheap, but it might revolutionise guitar recording.

At 2 hours drive each way, I wouldn't call it my most successful day out, but I had a rack of ribs at TGI's on the way home, so it wasn't entirely wasted.

You’re not the first and certainly won’t be the last, I know what it is, but moving means NEC parking which is £16 and a half mile walk, at least this way it’s free with a half mile walk.

Plus nec means £25 to get in, curry and chips being £15 not £4. You cant have Waitrose on Aldi money. If I move I lose what I do have and gain a whole lot more pain. 

Its the the biggest show in the UK and is affordable to all, the trade love it, most visitors love it, the venue love it and I love it. Not bad for £12.50 in advance and a 10 minute walk

I did buy a T-shirt, too...

The thing I would have really liked was more parts & s/h gear.

It all comes down to which companies want to do it, many more are asked, but I am limited by space. There was loads of secondhand gear on Guitars 4 You, The Little Guitar Shop, Big Deal Music, Fair Deal Music, Express Music & PMT

Jason

mrkb said:

Had a great time yesterday- arrived at 10, left at 4.55, so got value for money!

This was the fifth show I’ve been to, and feel the show is now a good mix of distributors, stores, bespoke builders, small uk companies and stage demos - the Focusrite area and marquee stage seem to have found the best locations for that kind of stuff. Coffee queue was much improved!

Thanks to alll that organised a great event!

Thank you

spark240

Jason said:

prowla said:

Jason said:

prowla said:

Well, I went today; the car parking was nowhere near adequate for the venue (I expect I'm not the first person to make that observation), so I ended up parking about half a mile away.

The show was pretty good, but in faffing around looking for parking I forgot to take my earplugs, so I bought a pair off a stand; the darned things were difficult to get out at the end of the noisy periods. I have to say that all of the exhibitors were really good at responding to the klaxon and observing the changeover from noisy to quiet.

As for the show and stuff itself, Rotosound forgot to take any bass strings, I bought a multi-pack of Dunlop purple plecs, and I got a lanyard off the Markbass stand.

I did get a demo of the new Boss reactive load amp and it looks like it does what it says on the tin; it's going to be priced around £1150, so it's not cheap, but it might revolutionise guitar recording.

At 2 hours drive each way, I wouldn't call it my most successful day out, but I had a rack of ribs at TGI's on the way home, so it wasn't entirely wasted.

You’re not the first and certainly won’t be the last, I know what it is, but moving means NEC parking which is £16 and a half mile walk, at least this way it’s free with a half mile walk.

Plus nec means £25 to get in, curry and chips being £15 not £4. You cant have Waitrose on Aldi money. If I move I lose what I do have and gain a whole lot more pain. 

Its the the biggest show in the UK and is affordable to all, the trade love it, most visitors love it, the venue love it and I love it. Not bad for £12.50 in advance and a 10 minute walk

I did buy a T-shirt, too...

The thing I would have really liked was more parts & s/h gear.

It all comes down to which companies want to do it, many more are asked, but I am limited by space. There was loads of secondhand gear on Guitars 4 You, The Little Guitar Shop, Big Deal Music, Fair Deal Music, Express Music & PMT

I would say that some vendors were offering some excellent Show special prices, though they were not advertised in a big way, I.e. I got a new Axis Super sport for a fantastic price I thought, and there was no price tag on any of the EBMM stuff....so there are opportunities to be had.

vasselmeyer

Fuck me. I'm glad I brought my earplugs.

fandango

vasselmeyer said:

Fuck me. I'm glad I brought my earplugs.

Pardon

fandango

mrkb said:

Had a great time yesterday- arrived at 10, left at 4.55, so got value for money!

This was the fifth show I’ve been to, and feel the show is now a good mix of distributors, stores, bespoke builders, small uk companies and stage demos - the Focusrite area and marquee stage seem to have found the best locations for that kind of stuff. Coffee queue was much improved!

Thanks to alll that organised a great event!

How the blazes did I avoid bumping into you? Were you hiding in the bogs? 

Slimbert

Thoroughly enjoyed yesterday and well worth the journey from Norwich and the cost of a hotel.

Great mix of big names and smaller independent sellers. It was well run with nice venue/event staff. The food was great, no stupid prices for drinks. Plenty of bargains to be had on the stalls. Pretty much everything you could want from a guitar show.

The only downside was the crazy loud volume...it was almost impossible to talk to the people running their stalls. It meant that outside the quiet times all you could do was look at things. Such a difficult thing to tame though.

Lovely to meet a few of the Fretboard lot...all genuinely nice people.

I'll definitely be back next year!

mrkb

fandango said:

mrkb said:

Had a great time yesterday- arrived at 10, left at 4.55, so got value for money!

How the blazes did I avoid bumping into you? Were you hiding in the bogs? 

It took a lot of effort, but I managed it !

I thought you might try to sign me up for the jam organising committee

Gadget

spark240 said:

I would say that some vendors were offering some excellent Show special prices, though they were not advertised in a big way... there was no price tag on any of the EBMM stuff....so there are opportunities to be had.

Totally agree with this.

Many manufacturers weren't displaying prices at all, nevermind 'show deals'.

On the former, I'm from the school of "if you have to ask, you can't afford it", so potential sales are lost.

On the latter, having show deals you don't display is pointless. I overheard one manufacturer telling a potential customer how "others are doing show deals, so we thought we'd better do one too, so there's 10% off..." yet there wasn't one sign or sticker to say so.

I go to a few such shows in other industries and those businesses who are hoping to sell and / or have 'show specials' make sure they have clear signage.

sweepy

Just got back from the show..oh bugger, time to order a Rift Aynsley Lister amp, sounded immense . The other highlight for me was the Blackmachine headless for £9k

Gadget

sweepy said:

...The other highlight for me was the Blackmachine headless for £9k

How much!?!!!!

I had a look at that too. Lovely guitar. But just goes to make my point above - "if you have to ask, you can't afford it"!

mark_jwedge

I went yesterday. I have been to three now and each one has been better than the one before.

I throughly enjoyed the show and spent easily 5-6 hours there. Spoke to loads of exhibitors and got to see a Seth Bacchus and Gordon Smith GS1000 in the flesh and tried both which I had wanted to do since I saw them on the exhibitor list on the website.

Gear of the weekend for me; the Hampstead 60w head, Rift Aynsley Lister signature and the Thorpy team medic.

Congratulations all on a great show. Look forward to next year

bermudianbrit

really fantastic experience this afternoon. Thanks especially to a few stands who were very patient with blind musicians who couldn't always orient very well in the space! It was sometimes difficult to know when I could speak with the staff, as they just look in my direction...and I of course cannot see that. For future reference, guys, a tap on the shoulder to indicate you're listening is not seen as rude or impolite. Highlights were the Feline Les Pauls, the Atkin acoustics, and the Turnstone acoustic (wow!)

TTony

THANKS @Jason - for putting on another excellent show and making it so that I couldn’t not come.


Really enjoyed wandering around incognito this year, and seeing lots of friendly faces about the place.  Maybe it was my timing, but it didn’t seem that loud this year?  

Or it could just be the creeping deafness.

Rhino’s session was excellent.  Get him back again next year.

Now go have a lie down ....