The Guitar Show 2024 - 2nd & 3rd March

Danielsguitars

guitars4you said:

Danielsguitars said:

guitars4you said:

Danielsguitars said:

ArchtopDave said:

Kalimna said:

Danielsguitars said:

Just out of interest did anybody look at the BGC stand with the small makers on there.

What was the BGC stand?

Had a look. Wasn't impressed. Guitars were either somewhat bland, or trying too hard from my point of view.

I'm only interested in the opinions on the guitars, not sure what you mean by trying to hard, could you explain please.

This is interesting to me getting feedback, as a small maker I like the idea of this concept but not sure it works.

I like the idea/concept Darren but can easy see why some think it is not working - I've had a few chats with you at various shows and like your guitars and format designs - They aren't copies, but they take ideas from the past and allow you to be 'fresh' and original still  - But I'm not so sure that works with the rest of your colleagues - I still think 2/3/4/5 one man teams sharing stand space and ideas is a better concept than each of you having your own space, but maybe 'the collective' idea needs fine tuning so that customers can still see it as 2/3/4/5 individuals sharing space - Maybe it is currently seen as a mix bag of ideas under one roof - Food for thought as against anyone having a go (my 10 penneth) 

I did have a browse on the Sat morning but as you weren't there it was. fleeting browse 

Thanks Mark I'll pass this on, I think the concept needs rethinking too, I'm still working on my new models and had nothing new to take this year but I've got some good ones coming up, hopefully I'll get a review in guitarist mag with the new lightweight burst model.

Maybe have a word with @Jason about it as well - Is it seen as a 'business' called BGC that has different 'brands' and ideas going on at the same time - Or is it seen as a collective of 4/5/6 colleagues sharing space together fora. show - I think you can all work under one stand space in the form of 'guitar boutique' etc and the 'best of British' working together but probably needs stronger promotion on site - Food for thought 

I'm not sure it'll be done like that again, it didn't work for Lewis at LT custom guitars and he'll be on his own next year, so will I probably if I do it again.

prowla

I didn't make it to the show this year - I'm more inclined towards the used/parts market than new/trade fairs, so I gave it a miss.

That said, I bought a (new) bass synth on Saturday and spent a chunk of Sunday getting some sounds out of it.

PearlsPreserve

ArchtopDave said:

Jason said:

chor808 said:

Sorry to check again but arriving after 10am should still find a parking space correct?

Enjoyed my visit on Saturday.
Haven't been for a few years…the last time it was pre Covid in the previous venue. Got there just after 10 am, and easily parked across the road in the (?)Academy car park.

I went to the Live Stage to see the Neural DSP guy. His playing was decent enough, but he said very little about his usage of the Quad Cortex, which was disappointing. On the other hand, the Sound Engineer in the Room saw that I was interested in his rather fine Allen & Heath, and invited me to have a closer look, and demonstrated how it all worked. This bit of generosity really made the day for me.

Rather amusingly, I could not find the simplest of things for sale. I decided after one of our recent rare gigs, that I'd like a more substantial guitar stand (currently use a Cooperstand). Couldn't find a decent Hercules Stand for sale, though I got info off one of the exhibitors.

I went to the show yesterday and really enjoyed it.  The venue was much better than Bingley hall, so much more space and lots of free parking at the venue.  Superb.  Lots of really nice gear to look at, some great players etc. etc.

However, to echo ArchtopDave's point, I left having bought a set of strings.  I was very interested in leaving with some random miscellany, and there was barely anything to see.  I would have bought a nice guitar bar stool if there was one, not a single one in sight, no nice guitar display cabinets, no decent guitar stands or hangers.  It was a little confusing as this is usually the low-hanging fruit for shows like this.

And you'd have to be made to spend more than £500 on a guitar in there as it was impossible to play one properly and hear what it sounded like.  That's not a criticism, at all, just a reflection the 3 of us who went together all made.  I would have spoken to the seller and made an appointment to go and see whatever it was I was interested in on a different day when I could play it on my own, in a quiet environment.

Oh, and the quiet periods were great!  Of course there were always people starting to crank the volume before the hooter went.  Got to love human nature.

All in all, had a really great day out, can't wait for next year.

DarrenClewes

Really enjoyed it yesterday.

I thought the quality of the show has improved year on year. The main thing I noticed was the quality of the 'silent' options. A lot more thought has been put in to the user experience from most of the stands. I noticed a lot of two notes audio powered headphones, which made the thing so much better. 

I always find it funny when you're encouraged to try out a 3k guitar through a sh*tty headphone amp!

One thing that I thought was weird was the lack of a company selling quality cases / gig bags?

DarrenClewes

Danielsguitars said:

ArchtopDave said:

Kalimna said:

Danielsguitars said:

Just out of interest did anybody look at the BGC stand with the small makers on there.

What was the BGC stand?

Had a look. Wasn't impressed. Guitars were either somewhat bland, or trying too hard from my point of view.

I'm only interested in the opinions on the guitars, not sure what you mean by trying to hard, could you explain please.

This is interesting to me getting feedback, as a small maker I like the idea of this concept but not sure it works.

I spent a bit of time there. I LOVE what Maybury is doing with the upcycling, it's a great niche concept and at a price point that is well worth a punt (especially when they play so well). 

The Kool amps always look wicked, but didn't get an opportunity to play them. 

The Brelliot stuff was nice, one of their pedals definitely took my fancy but I got all panicky and bought a KMA instead ha ha.

The Sempiturnal guitars looked really good, but they're not for me - I'm a bit more of a traditionalist in terms of what I look for...I'm yet to see a 'new' design that turns me on.

Danielsguitars

DarrenClewes said:

Danielsguitars said:

ArchtopDave said:

Kalimna said:

Danielsguitars said:

Just out of interest did anybody look at the BGC stand with the small makers on there.

What was the BGC stand?

Had a look. Wasn't impressed. Guitars were either somewhat bland, or trying too hard from my point of view.

I'm only interested in the opinions on the guitars, not sure what you mean by trying to hard, could you explain please.

This is interesting to me getting feedback, as a small maker I like the idea of this concept but not sure it works.

I spent a bit of time there. I LOVE what Maybury is doing with the upcycling, it's a great niche concept and at a price point that is well worth a punt (especially when they play so well). 

The Kool amps always look wicked, but didn't get an opportunity to play them. 

The Brelliot stuff was nice, one of their pedals definitely took my fancy but I got all panicky and bought a KMA instead ha ha.

The Sempiturnal guitars looked really good, but they're not for me - I'm a bit more of a traditionalist in terms of what I look for...I'm yet to see a 'new' design that turns me on.

You have to pick things up and try them because you never know, it might be surprising in a good way, there's no traditional stuff that I'm particularly interested in now and I was a hardcore vintage fan for years, now all I play are my offsets built like a good LP.

timmypix

Went on Saturday for a couple of hours and really enjoyed doing a few laps, looking at various bits.

Show stealers for me were Grainger guitars. I was drawn to the stand by the wild designs but then was absolutely blown away by the quality and details of the builds. Expertly crafted, intricate carving, various woods inlaid in other woods and resins and generally the kind of stuff you don't really see done well outside of the ESP Custom Shop and costing tens of thousands - I think anyone could have happily paid £4-5k for the quality of workmanship and attention to detail on the guitars they had with them if they had the brand power.

I was extremely tempted when they told me the show prices: they're trying to build their brand a bit so they were only £1800! 

Their designs won't be to everyone's tastes - hell, they're not really to mine - but a small company hand-building guitars to that level for that money is insane.

TTony

timmypix said:

I was extremely tempted when they told me the show prices: they're trying to build their brand a bit so they were only £1800! 

First time I came across @Graingerguitars was at one of the Bingley Hall shows when they had a stand next to ours.

Guitars were impressive - quality of parts and build was faultless and VFM was impressive too.  I wasn't in the market for a new guitar at the time, and their designs aren't my usual thing, but still very tempted just based on the quality (and value).  They deserve to be successful, but really need a higher profile.

They make a lot of their own parts too - I'd use their bridges, knobs, ferrule blocks, neck fixings (and more) on every build if I could.  I went to the stand on Sunday to buy some, but none available

digitalscream

TTony said:

They make a lot of their own parts too - I'd use their bridges, knobs, ferrule blocks, neck fixings (and more) on every build if I could.  I went to the stand on Sunday to buy some, but none available

Just been chatting with Darren, he says they should be putting more into stock in the next few weeks.

Graingerguitars

timmypix said:

Went on Saturday for a couple of hours and really enjoyed doing a few laps, looking at various bits.

Show stealers for me were Grainger guitars. I was drawn to the stand by the wild designs but then was absolutely blown away by the quality and details of the builds. Expertly crafted, intricate carving, various woods inlaid in other woods and resins and generally the kind of stuff you don't really see done well outside of the ESP Custom Shop and costing tens of thousands - I think anyone could have happily paid £4-5k for the quality of workmanship and attention to detail on the guitars they had with them if they had the brand power.

I was extremely tempted when they told me the show prices: they're trying to build their brand a bit so they were only £1800! 

Their designs won't be to everyone's tastes - hell, they're not really to mine - but a small company hand-building guitars to that level for that money is insane.

Hi @timmypix, thanks for those amazing comments.  we're fortunate that we don't earn our living by making the guitars so can keep the prices far keener which in turn aid's us making more, :-)

Thanks again for visiting our stand and taking the time to feed back your thoughts on to the forum

Graingerguitars

TTony said:

timmypix said:

I was extremely tempted when they told me the show prices: they're trying to build their brand a bit so they were only £1800! 

First time I came across @Graingerguitars was at one of the Bingley Hall shows when they had a stand next to ours.

Guitars were impressive - quality of parts and build was faultless and VFM was impressive too.  I wasn't in the market for a new guitar at the time, and their designs aren't my usual thing, but still very tempted just based on the quality (and value).  They deserve to be successful, but really need a higher profile.

They make a lot of their own parts too - I'd use their bridges, knobs, ferrule blocks, neck fixings (and more) on every build if I could.  I went to the stand on Sunday to buy some, but none available

Thanks @TTony, we are pushing hard to re-stock on the hardtails and ferrule blocks which have been unavailable for a long time....the main engineering side of my business has been so busy for the last few years the guitar parts haven't been able to squeeze in to the schedules but things are easing up a bit so we are pushing to get stocks back in place.  We're also working on headless tuners, tele bridges, and some other hardtail designs :-)

timmypix

Graingerguitars said:

timmypix said:

Went on Saturday for a couple of hours and really enjoyed doing a few laps, looking at various bits.

Show stealers for me were Grainger guitars. I was drawn to the stand by the wild designs but then was absolutely blown away by the quality and details of the builds. Expertly crafted, intricate carving, various woods inlaid in other woods and resins and generally the kind of stuff you don't really see done well outside of the ESP Custom Shop and costing tens of thousands - I think anyone could have happily paid £4-5k for the quality of workmanship and attention to detail on the guitars they had with them if they had the brand power.

I was extremely tempted when they told me the show prices: they're trying to build their brand a bit so they were only £1800! 

Their designs won't be to everyone's tastes - hell, they're not really to mine - but a small company hand-building guitars to that level for that money is insane.

Hi @timmypix, thanks for those amazing comments.  we're fortunate that we don't earn our living by making the guitars so can keep the prices far keener which in turn aid's us making more, :-)

Thanks again for visiting our stand and taking the time to feed back your thoughts on to the forum

Oh brill, didn't know you guys were on here! I'm still thinking about that Hades, but I have to be honest with myself - I'm not gigging atm (new puppy!) and it'd be wasted on me. But perhaps if/when I am gigging again....

Keep up the stunning work, I honestly couldn't believe the intricacy and quality on show.

TTony

Graingerguitars said:

Thanks @TTony, we are pushing hard to re-stock on the hardtails and ferrule blocks which have been unavailable for a long time....the main engineering side of my business has been so busy for the last few years the guitar parts haven't been able to squeeze in to the schedules but things are easing up a bit so we are pushing to get stocks back in place.  We're also working on headless tuners, tele bridges, and some other hardtail designs :-)

Thats great to hear @Graingerguitars

Realise that the guitar business is a bit of a side line for you - you just need to work 25 hrs a day to squeeze it in!!

Graingerguitars

TTony said:

Graingerguitars said:

Thanks @TTony, we are pushing hard to re-stock on the hardtails and ferrule blocks which have been unavailable for a long time....the main engineering side of my business has been so busy for the last few years the guitar parts haven't been able to squeeze in to the schedules but things are easing up a bit so we are pushing to get stocks back in place.  We're also working on headless tuners, tele bridges, and some other hardtail designs :-)

Thats great to hear @Graingerguitars

Realise that the guitar business is a bit of a side line for you - you just need to work 25 hrs a day to squeeze it in!!

Who needs sleep

Graingerguitars

timmypix said:

Graingerguitars said:

timmypix said:

Went on Saturday for a couple of hours and really enjoyed doing a few laps, looking at various bits.

Show stealers for me were Grainger guitars. I was drawn to the stand by the wild designs but then was absolutely blown away by the quality and details of the builds. Expertly crafted, intricate carving, various woods inlaid in other woods and resins and generally the kind of stuff you don't really see done well outside of the ESP Custom Shop and costing tens of thousands - I think anyone could have happily paid £4-5k for the quality of workmanship and attention to detail on the guitars they had with them if they had the brand power.

I was extremely tempted when they told me the show prices: they're trying to build their brand a bit so they were only £1800! 

Their designs won't be to everyone's tastes - hell, they're not really to mine - but a small company hand-building guitars to that level for that money is insane.

Hi @timmypix, thanks for those amazing comments.  we're fortunate that we don't earn our living by making the guitars so can keep the prices far keener which in turn aid's us making more, :-)

Thanks again for visiting our stand and taking the time to feed back your thoughts on to the forum

Oh brill, didn't know you guys were on here! I'm still thinking about that Hades, but I have to be honest with myself - I'm not gigging atm (new puppy!) and it'd be wasted on me. But perhaps if/when I am gigging again....

Keep up the stunning work, I honestly couldn't believe the intricacy and quality on show.

Thanks Tim, did you give the Hade's a play?  - I'm guess it was the brown burst one?

timmypix

Graingerguitars said:

timmypix said:

Graingerguitars said:

timmypix said:

Went on Saturday for a couple of hours and really enjoyed doing a few laps, looking at various bits.

Show stealers for me were Grainger guitars. I was drawn to the stand by the wild designs but then was absolutely blown away by the quality and details of the builds. Expertly crafted, intricate carving, various woods inlaid in other woods and resins and generally the kind of stuff you don't really see done well outside of the ESP Custom Shop and costing tens of thousands - I think anyone could have happily paid £4-5k for the quality of workmanship and attention to detail on the guitars they had with them if they had the brand power.

I was extremely tempted when they told me the show prices: they're trying to build their brand a bit so they were only £1800! 

Their designs won't be to everyone's tastes - hell, they're not really to mine - but a small company hand-building guitars to that level for that money is insane.

Hi @timmypix, thanks for those amazing comments.  we're fortunate that we don't earn our living by making the guitars so can keep the prices far keener which in turn aid's us making more, :-)

Thanks again for visiting our stand and taking the time to feed back your thoughts on to the forum

Oh brill, didn't know you guys were on here! I'm still thinking about that Hades, but I have to be honest with myself - I'm not gigging atm (new puppy!) and it'd be wasted on me. But perhaps if/when I am gigging again....

Keep up the stunning work, I honestly couldn't believe the intricacy and quality on show.

Thanks Tim, did you give the Hade's a play?  - I'm guess it was the brown burst one?

Yep - not plugged in, but it was so comfortable! You've done a brilliant job of making an extreme shape comfortable for the player. and the way the wood is inlaid around the scarf joint and the side dots, the finish change from the back of the headstock to the neck... OOFT.

Graingerguitars

timmypix said:

Graingerguitars said:

timmypix said:

Graingerguitars said:

timmypix said:

Went on Saturday for a couple of hours and really enjoyed doing a few laps, looking at various bits.

Show stealers for me were Grainger guitars. I was drawn to the stand by the wild designs but then was absolutely blown away by the quality and details of the builds. Expertly crafted, intricate carving, various woods inlaid in other woods and resins and generally the kind of stuff you don't really see done well outside of the ESP Custom Shop and costing tens of thousands - I think anyone could have happily paid £4-5k for the quality of workmanship and attention to detail on the guitars they had with them if they had the brand power.

I was extremely tempted when they told me the show prices: they're trying to build their brand a bit so they were only £1800! 

Their designs won't be to everyone's tastes - hell, they're not really to mine - but a small company hand-building guitars to that level for that money is insane.

Hi @timmypix, thanks for those amazing comments.  we're fortunate that we don't earn our living by making the guitars so can keep the prices far keener which in turn aid's us making more, :-)

Thanks again for visiting our stand and taking the time to feed back your thoughts on to the forum

Oh brill, didn't know you guys were on here! I'm still thinking about that Hades, but I have to be honest with myself - I'm not gigging atm (new puppy!) and it'd be wasted on me. But perhaps if/when I am gigging again....

Keep up the stunning work, I honestly couldn't believe the intricacy and quality on show.

Thanks Tim, did you give the Hade's a play?  - I'm guess it was the brown burst one?

Yep - not plugged in, but it was so comfortable! You've done a brilliant job of making an extreme shape comfortable for the player. and the way the wood is inlaid around the scarf joint and the side dots, the finish change from the back of the headstock to the neck... OOFT.

Thanks, we've done 16 Hades builds now, one was a seven string with floating trem, two fan fret versions, a 6 string with floating trem, and the rest were hardtails.... and three bass versions on top of that.......most end up in the USA

It's certainly a statement piece!............have a look at our instagram page there's loads of pictures on there

kelpbeds

DarrenClewes said:

Danielsguitars said:

ArchtopDave said:

Kalimna said:

Danielsguitars said:

Just out of interest did anybody look at the BGC stand with the small makers on there.

What was the BGC stand?

Had a look. Wasn't impressed. Guitars were either somewhat bland, or trying too hard from my point of view.

I'm only interested in the opinions on the guitars, not sure what you mean by trying to hard, could you explain please.

This is interesting to me getting feedback, as a small maker I like the idea of this concept but not sure it works.

I spent a bit of time there. I LOVE what Maybury is doing with the upcycling, it's a great niche concept and at a price point that is well worth a punt (especially when they play so well). 

The Kool amps always look wicked, but didn't get an opportunity to play them. 

The Brelliot stuff was nice, one of their pedals definitely took my fancy but I got all panicky and bought a KMA instead ha ha.

The Sempiturnal guitars looked really good, but they're not for me - I'm a bit more of a traditionalist in terms of what I look for...I'm yet to see a 'new' design that turns me on.

Hey Darren, The Kool amps are wicked! I was working on the Kool stand. I now have four in my studio! If you ever want to come and try one, or all! You are very welcome. Same for any of you guys. I'm in Shrewsbury. 

Roland

Graingerguitars said:

….  We're also working on headless tuners …

YES!

Tuffset

stickyfiddle said:

It's days like this that make me wish I was still in the UK! 

Did anyone get a good look at the @Tuffset bridge? 

Hey! I hope we get some posts soon - Sergeant Brown (our demo guitar) was in use for the majority of the time at the show, and many folks mentioned they'd first heard about us on here!

Reception was overwhelmingly positive with everyone who played it - and one group we hadn't thought much about were the many guitar techs who struggle with these guitars on a weekly or daily basis.

It was a truly special experience as the bridge's designer to enjoy players' first moments with the bridge, seeing the look in their eyes and hearing the disbelief in their voices that they just couldn't get this thing out of tune!

Had some fantastic and memorable chats with people at the show, particularly towards closing on Sunday; Karl of Karl Longbottom Guitars came by and we all had a really interesting and friendly chat - and then later on sent one of his show reps Tom over, and it was really a special moment for me as a Brian May fan because Tom seems to have practically the whole Queen back catalogue under his fingers! Karl is in the process of making him a guitar that was planned to have a Kahler locking/roller bridge mounted to it, but as soon as he played Sergeant Brown, he scrapped the idea and wants to put a Tuffset on it!

I also popped by the Fretboard booth, was very impressed with the 3D-printed pedal board (if in doubt, order with confidence!) and had a lovely long chat with the three chaps there, showed them the bridge and packaging, and demonstrated how to adjust the bridge. Also got some great contact info! I invited them to come and play the demo guitar, but they were swamped the whole weekend - probably as a result of the innovative pedalboard concept!

If you're on the Tuffset mailing list, expect an email tomorrow with a pre-order coupon for £40 off and a link to the pre-order page on the new website. Cheers!

Dan