Namm at Nashville 2008

Just came back from Summer Namm in Nashville, TN.  Namm stands for National Association of Music Merchants for those who don’t know.  Anyway, twice a year they hold shows where dealers, vendors, manufacturers and other industry folk get together to show or see new product.  We were there for 3 1/2 days and even though it was small by comparison to the winter shows, we barely got to see it all.

It was a lot of fun but I have to say I didn’t see much, especially from the larger manufacturers, really groundbreaking.  New colors, some new options but most of the innovative stuff was coming from the smaller companies.  I was excited by some of the models I saw at the Vintage (that’s the brand name) Guitar booth – relic versions of vintage guitars but much more affordable than the Fender Custom Shop stuff, revamped classic designs.  Michael Kelly guitars and Traben basses also had some great products with really cool options and woods.  There was lots of interesting new gear at the Digitech booth.  I was especially excited by the Hardwire series which are boutique style pedals with greater versatility and more reasonable pricing compared to a lot of the boutique stuff.  We should have some of those in pretty soon.

Some non product related highlights for me was meeting many members of our independent dealer group, the MSO (www.musicstoreowners.com) for the first time face to face.  This group is dedicated to preserving the independent dealer, you know, the ones that actually teach, repair, service, etc. your instruments.  Our group also got a lot of recognition from Namm, the vendors, the music press and people in general, so that was great.  Also, I can’t forget meeting Cousin Dean (Dean Campbell of Campbell American Guitars, no relation) in person.  Great guy.

We also got to see Muriel Anderson’s All Star Guitar Jam at the Ryman Theater.  Players included Muriel, Tom Bresh, Richard Gilewitz (who’s done clinics for us), Rick Vito, Larry Carlton, Victor Wooten, Ladd Smith, Rob Ickes and special guest, James Burton.

If I think of anything else….