The Guitar Show 29th Feb & 1st March 2020, New Bingley Hall, Birmingham

CountryDave

@Jason - another good event and can only echo the praise for the 30/30. Earplugs are a must for the noisy 30, or do as we did and escape to either the acoustic room upstairs or the food tent for a belting curry/coffee.
Lots to see and tempt us with. Despite proclaiming to @CasperCaster on the drive down that I thought I had GAS beaten, I walked away from the event with a new list of ‘stuff wot I want’.
Highlights were stands from the usual suspects, Neil @IvisonGuitars with 5 beauties. That Filtertron loaded thin line was something else. Mark @guitars4you had a corking collection including a nice blue CS Cabronita. @RiftAmps - as we walked past, someone was playing a strat into the Wheelhouse and as nice a sound as I heard all day was coming from the speaker. 

Hope you made a bob or two for the Prostate Cancer Charity too.

Roll on next year.

digitalscream

In case anyone's still reading...I'd just like to say a massive "THANK YOU!" to @Roland and @Bridgehouse for manning tFB's stand today in my absence. Apologies for not being around to meet all you Sunday folk, but...well, the spirit was willing but the rest of me's broken.

Still, good to meet everybody who popped by on Saturday, and I promise there will be something a bit more eventful at our stand next year...

Graingerguitars

TTony said:

Just back ...

Great to see so many friendly faces again this year


Excellent again @Jason, and the 30/30 arrangement works *really* well.  Same again next year??  Seemed like there were more smaller and fewer bigger stands this year - which is great to be able to get a look at things that you wouldn't normally get a chance to  get a look at.  Although the absence of a PRS stand this year means that I'll have to delay a purchase.  Good to see your glamorous assistant @Guitar_Slinger again too.

Good to have a quick chat with @RiftAmps ;; ... @Jalapeno; all your fault 

I never knew that beard brushes were a thing ... and @Thorpyfx clearly has heard that news either  

Good to see @guitars4you again - and Mrs G4u of course - see you again in a few weeks.    Keep on keeping on though because I'm sure the dinosaurs are due a revival.

Chance encounter with @chickenbonejohn ;; who came over to tFB stand whilst I was there chatting with @Roland. ;; Go for it John, do some publicity here, and I'll tag you in something I'm planning on doing next week.  Some really interesting looking guitars on your stand too - I'm pretty sure I didn't spot many of those designs the last time I saw you.

I only made a slight faux pas on the @OilCityPickups ;; stand - although it was really @4string 's fault for not introducing me to Mrs Ash!  Mr Beta here, ready & able guys.  Just as soon as you're ready.  And a big "WOW" for some of the updates from TIm.  Deserved!!

I was planning on refilling my parts cupboard on the @Graingerguitars stand, but sadly no parts left   Some tasty looking guitars though.

Saw a good number of fellow fretboarders wandering around too - and apologies for not remembering most of your real/forum names at the time or here       I'm OK with faces (usually), but slightly less good with names!    We should have badges.  Or baseball caps ....

And I had a choice of parking slots in the main carpark when I got there - don't know what all the fuss is about.



[edit]
And of course I couldn't forget the uniquely coiffured @Handsome_Chris. ; Well, OK, I did forget him, but only briefly ... Then I remembered the Handsome_Hug ...

Apologies @TTony weve been manufacturing like mad over the last couple of months and been working on new products but sadly due to break downs on our polishing equipment and plating issues time got the better of us....

Graingerguitars

vasselmeyer said:

This was the first year I didn't buy anything at the show, but I had a good chat with some old friends and put a few faces to familiar names.

Maybe I'm going off amps, but nothing really jumped out at me from the noisy side of the business. However, I loved Grainger guitars stand; they have built some fabulous instruments. They were so nice, I'd feel afraid to play them at a full-on bouncing sweaty gig!

The most interesting thing was a chat with Smoothhound, who make my favourite wireless system. For the last couple of years they've shown their Siva multi-fix prototype and it looks almost cooked. It sounds great and I just like the idea behind the system and I also like to see this sort of innovation from a UK company who will also manufacture the unit here. I got amazing service from them when my wireless bug got broken, so I've stuck my name down as an interested party when it is launched, probably in May.

A couple of incidental thoughts... the chicken curry was great, the 30/30 was the best compromise all round, I saw lots posters for the raffle but not much information about where to buy tickets, didn't bother with the live stage but it sounded fun, great to see a lot of younger kids trying gear out, and good to see a lot stands with hand sanitiser...and using them.

Good job, @Jason and see you next year.

Thanks for your kind words on our stand and guitars, much appreciated

Graingerguitars

We thought this years show was great, awesome job @Jason.  Certainly busier than last year and folks less reserved about trying our guitars and basses

the quiet time was bliss (particularly being in between 3 amp stands

mark_jwedge

I really enjoyed the show again this year. Checked out Rebea on the live stage who came across really well and also saw Lawrence Jones who was a bit of an unexpected bonus as didn’t really know much about him but really enjoyed his set.

Managed to catch a quick chat with @RiftAmps and @IvisonGuitars. Spent a while chatting with Core Guitars and thought their whole concept was interesting and thought provoking. 

Really liked a black with white grain fill Gordon Smith GS deluxe with twin P90s and a Bigsby.

Only downsides were that I had my eye on one of the guitars on the Patrick James Eggle stand and my card was primed and ready but there was a guy trying it when I got there and he bloody went and bought it!!! Thought Marshall only made a token gesture too and just seemed to have T shirts or the SV combos in various finishes.

Top show overall, really enjoyed it

TTony

Graingerguitars said:

Apologies @TTony weve been manufacturing like mad over the last couple of months and been working on new products but sadly due to break downs on our polishing equipment and plating issues time got the better of us....

That must have been more than a little frustrating @Graingerguitars - I’ll just keep an eye on the website for the new products!

Graingerguitars

TTony said:

Graingerguitars said:

Apologies @TTony weve been manufacturing like mad over the last couple of months and been working on new products but sadly due to break downs on our polishing equipment and plating issues time got the better of us....

That must have been more than a little frustrating @Graingerguitars - I’ll just keep an eye on the website for the new products!

Very much so.....if you’re on Instagram search for our page (Grainger guitar parts) and you’ll see videos of the bridges and saddles being machined.....if I could figure out how to post a video on here I could put some stuff up if it’s of interest

digitalscream

@Graingerguitars - videos work best on here if you upload them to YouTube, then just post a link here and it'll embed it.

Slimbert

danny_777 said:

Thought I’d check out ThorpyFX to see what the hype was about and ended up with one of his compressors too!

You won't regret buying that Fat General. Amazing pedal!

Jason

A Mr Matthews of Lemington won the raffle, he was a very happy chap when I phoned him

Teyeplayer

IvisonGuitars said:

Teyeplayer said:

Roland said:

These look awesome as ever. What’s the guitar on the left @IvisonGuitars is that an f hole I spy at this angle? 

Thanks @Teyeplayer! Yes, the guitar far left is a custom build for Tom Spencer of The Professionals. We collaborated on it together, he wanted a Single Cut style body but larger as he felt a standard size always looked like a toy on his 6ft 5" body so it's my Hurricane shape with an added 20mm diameter. He also fancied something Gretsch flavoured so we went with a mahogany body, semi-hollow with a flame maple cap and "S" Hole. It's my '56 neck profile, a Faber Wraptonate bridge and the pickup is hand wound by Stu at SunBear Pickups, it's his Grizzly BearTron, a filtertron style with a bit more bite. Tom collected it today and brought wine, cheese and biscuits!

That needs to be a regular model mate, looks so good!

AlexHunter

Jason said:d

A Mr Matthews of Lemington won the raffle, he was a very happy chap when I phoned him

Lucky sod. Hope he enjoys it and hope a decent amount was raised for charity.

Thought it was the best the show yet; liked the 30 minute slots for a noise break, regretting not buying the Valenti guitar that was oh so metal, not so me but absolutely sublime.

IvisonGuitars

Teyeplayer said:

IvisonGuitars said:

Teyeplayer said:

Roland said:

These look awesome as ever. What’s the guitar on the left @IvisonGuitars is that an f hole I spy at this angle? 

Thanks @Teyeplayer! Yes, the guitar far left is a custom build for Tom Spencer of The Professionals. We collaborated on it together, he wanted a Single Cut style body but larger as he felt a standard size always looked like a toy on his 6ft 5" body so it's my Hurricane shape with an added 20mm diameter. He also fancied something Gretsch flavoured so we went with a mahogany body, semi-hollow with a flame maple cap and "S" Hole. It's my '56 neck profile, a Faber Wraptonate bridge and the pickup is hand wound by Stu at SunBear Pickups, it's his Grizzly BearTron, a filtertron style with a bit more bite. Tom collected it today and brought wine, cheese and biscuits!

That needs to be a regular model mate, looks so good!

Thank you! Funnily enough I've got an order for another one from a gentleman in Hong Kong - we're going with a Firemist Gold top, Lightning Bolt 'F' Hole and screaming P90!  

rsvmark

Roland said:

danny_777 said:

Bought a set of the Oil City Tele pickups on the spot after plugging their Tele in - holy moly what a TONE!!!

That would be Ash’s personal Tele.

I had a quick go on that as well. What a weapon. Nice to meet @OilCityPickups and have a chat. @jason great show and +1 for the 30/30 thing. Well done to you and your team

OilCityPickups

Roland said:

danny_777 said:

Bought a set of the Oil City Tele pickups on the spot after plugging their Tele in - holy moly what a TONE!!!

That would be Ash’s personal Tele.

And pur instruments (especially my personal Tele) were using Rotosound strings (we are now dealers). I was very pleased with how the strings took a beating from all insundry for two days and still sounded fresh. A shout out too to Lynx Leads who helped us out when one of our cables went down ... I'll be using those in future! 

Teyeplayer

IvisonGuitars said:

Teyeplayer said:

IvisonGuitars said:

Teyeplayer said:

Roland said:

These look awesome as ever. What’s the guitar on the left @IvisonGuitars is that an f hole I spy at this angle? 

Thanks @Teyeplayer! Yes, the guitar far left is a custom build for Tom Spencer of The Professionals. We collaborated on it together, he wanted a Single Cut style body but larger as he felt a standard size always looked like a toy on his 6ft 5" body so it's my Hurricane shape with an added 20mm diameter. He also fancied something Gretsch flavoured so we went with a mahogany body, semi-hollow with a flame maple cap and "S" Hole. It's my '56 neck profile, a Faber Wraptonate bridge and the pickup is hand wound by Stu at SunBear Pickups, it's his Grizzly BearTron, a filtertron style with a bit more bite. Tom collected it today and brought wine, cheese and biscuits!

That needs to be a regular model mate, looks so good!

Thank you! Funnily enough I've got an order for another one from a gentleman in Hong Kong - we're going with a Firemist Gold top, Lightning Bolt 'F' Hole and screaming P90!  

Filterton at the bridge and p90 at the neck and you’ll have created perfection!

IvisonGuitars

Teyeplayer said:

IvisonGuitars said:

Teyeplayer said:

IvisonGuitars said:

Teyeplayer said:

Roland said:

These look awesome as ever. What’s the guitar on the left @IvisonGuitars is that an f hole I spy at this angle? 

Thanks @Teyeplayer! Yes, the guitar far left is a custom build for Tom Spencer of The Professionals. We collaborated on it together, he wanted a Single Cut style body but larger as he felt a standard size always looked like a toy on his 6ft 5" body so it's my Hurricane shape with an added 20mm diameter. He also fancied something Gretsch flavoured so we went with a mahogany body, semi-hollow with a flame maple cap and "S" Hole. It's my '56 neck profile, a Faber Wraptonate bridge and the pickup is hand wound by Stu at SunBear Pickups, it's his Grizzly BearTron, a filtertron style with a bit more bite. Tom collected it today and brought wine, cheese and biscuits!

That needs to be a regular model mate, looks so good!

Thank you! Funnily enough I've got an order for another one from a gentleman in Hong Kong - we're going with a Firemist Gold top, Lightning Bolt 'F' Hole and screaming P90!  

Filterton at the bridge and p90 at the neck and you’ll have created perfection!

That sounds like a winning combination to me!

TateFX

Good fun this year, being in a Dover / Peavey sandwich was loud. But the Dover amps sound so good I wasn't that angry lol

timhulio

mburekenge said:

timhulio said: Fredric Effects 

A couple of things on there I've never seen before... you got some new toys out @timhulio ?

I've got a couple of the small pedals back in stock - Scrambled Brainz, Demon Fuzz. The newish things might by Regent Preamp and the smaller wedge version of the Super Unpleasant Companion - probably my best seller at the moment. There was another pedal I wanted to launch at the show, but PCB manufacture is suffering from delays due to Coronavirus precautions.