Tags
Blue Microphones, Flagg Audio, Gretsch Guitars, Lee Rocker, National Guitar, stainless steel guitar, Tempe Guitar Show, vintage acoustics
Well, last weekend I went to the 4th annual Tempe Guitar Show in, you guessed it, Tempe, Arizona. It was a small show held in the Antique Electronic Supply Company parking lot. (wish I’d known about this company when I was searching for cloth-covered wire for my rebuilt Blues Jr. — instead I ended up ordering a few feet online from a motorcycle shop …)
There was an interesting collection of local, regional and national vendors. I was surprised how many companies were from out-of-town — a Bigsby rep from Minnesota, Republic Guitars from Texas, Flagg Audio from San Francisco and more. Gretsch Guitars sponsored the Twang-O-Rama Concert Stage that featured Stray Cat’s bassist Lee Rocker. Bigsby was offering free installation of their guitar vibratos on-the-spot. There was a pleasant cacophony of guitar, amp and microphone demos.
Blue Microphones showed a nice variety – studio, USB and an iPhone stereo mics. Flagg Audio showed a lo-fi telephone mic
As expected, there were lots of guitars on display … some I’d never seen before like the red Fiberglass National MAP guitar below…
Copper and stainless steel hollow body guitars and fiddle. Fiberglass National from 1962, tweed covered tele with leather pickguard
There were luthiers and a luthier school, recording studios plus a bunch of amp builders.
The Guitar Tree brought a boat-load of vintage acoustics including a (Do not Touch!) 100-year-old – Empire – Brazilian rosewood parlor guitar made by The Ditson Company
The Republic rep couldn’t resist rockin’ a resonator with a blues song
Steel Seat showed a groovy bench in a case … the ‘transformer chair’ with a power strip
Gretsch! In all the springtime colors. Thank you Gretsch for sponsoring the stage!
and finally, Stray Cat Lee Rocker was there signing autographs … darn, I missed his show!
A “pin-up girl” waiting for an autograph
It was an enjoyable show with a good variety of products to browse … well worth the cost of admission … FREE! A nice excuse to get out and bask in the southwestern spring weather. I’m already looking forward to next year’s show … I’d love to see this event continue to grow.
While I’m waiting, I’ll go practice … I wonder if I can get some twang on my Eastman archtop…