The 2023 National Association of Music Merchants Show
Photos by Kevin Stevenson
The Los Angeles NAMM show is the annual trade show for the National Association of Music Merchants, held this year in April. It’s part business conference, part three-ring-circus, and part live music extravaganza. Manufactures from every continent display their products, often with celebrity endorsers on hand. It’s a large four-day event at the Anaheim Convention center (across the street from Disneyland) that creates gridlock for miles. Billed as a “trade only” event, anyone with an interest in any aspect of the music business will find much to see and enjoy.
For the bluegrass community specifically, there were a number of new products announced. The significant luthiers and manufactures exhibiting this year included Huss & Dalton, Santa Cruz Guitars, Collings Guitars and Mandolins, Deering Banjos, Dana Bourgeois and Eastman Instruments, along with Saga Musical Instruments, and Martin and Taylor Guitars.
New in their line up, Martin guitar has introduced the Street Legend D-28 and D-18. The tops of these guitars are photoetched with the wear and tear of some historic guitars from the martin museum. Extending the trend of “distressed” instruments, it’s a brand new guitar that looks really beat up. Of course, they play and sound great, as high-end Martins tend to do. So it’s a new look for their old models, or maybe an old look for their new guitars? www.martinguitar.com/guitars/new-models/D-28-StreetLegend.html?cgid=new-guitars
If you have a vintage guitar that actually is as old as it looks, and you’re looking to plug in, there is a new non-invasive pickup from LR Baggs that looks promising. The dual sensors attach to the underside of the bridgeplate (underneath the bridge pins) without needing any alteration to the guitar. The display instruments I demoed sounded awesome.
For decades, the Santa Cruz Guitar Company has produced some of the finest (and most expensive) acoustic guitars on the planet. Though not new for 2023 NAMM, the folks at the Santa Cruz booth were very excited about a line of proprietary guitar strings that emphasize string tension in addition to string gauge. To quote form their website “While gauge is simply the measurement of the string’s diameter, the tension of a string determines its relative volume to the other strings (EQ)… Santa Cruz Strings are engineered to do what others cannot, to put the exact tension on each individual string to create the appropriate download pressure. These calculated tensions determine the optimal relative volume between strings, or EQ, for your instrument”. The sample sets they gave me to try sound great, by the way!
Perhaps a personal highlight of this years NAMM show was the Saga Musical Instruments booth. Saga offers an extensive line of virtually every acoustic instrument. Affordably priced, their Blueridge guitar series compare favorably with the much more expensive brands sought out by bluegrass pickers. At NAMM this year Saga had a stage and PA set up in a center aisle that drew a crowd the entire weekend. Especially notable for me was meeting a young banjo player from Indiana named Isaac Moore. My bet is that we’ll be seeing a lot more about this young musician in future editions of Bluegrass Unlimited. (www.sagamusic.com)
Another real pleasure was hanging at the Deering Banjo booth, enjoying conversation and performances with legendary picker Jens Kruger. (krugerbrothers.com) Part of the magic of bluegrass music is how approachable many of the stars are. Jens is a kind and gentle soul, and of course, an amazing artist.
The NAMM show covers the entire range of the music industry, from German grand pianos priced like houses to tubas to fog machines. For a bluegrass enthusiast it’s an opportunity to see a wide range of instruments, and meet the folks that bring them to market. NAMM is an amazing experience for anyone, especially those interested in acoustic instruments. Next year’s NAMM will be held January 25-28, 2024 in Anaheim.
