Chances are if you are a musician, instrument manufacturer, member of the music press or in the retail music business, the NAMM show is a key component of your life, or at least your career. If you are not one of the above, you probably aren’t even aware of the NAMM Show because it is not open to the public. In fact this year, was the most stringent I can recall with regards to non-members getting in. For over 100 years, the non-profit National Association of Music Merchants has been showcasing the latest products to the industry through these annual shows; one in winter and one in summer in the US, and one in March in Frankfort, Germany (mostly for European distributors).
My first NAMM experience was when my band mates in GAMBLER and I attended in the early 1980’s. We had a major recording deal with Capitol/EMI and we were there to look at new gear and hopefully walk away with an official endorsement which meant that we most likely wouldn’t have to pay for the new gear. Back then, endorsements were pretty simple because manufacturers knew that a free guitar, amp or drum kit was a small price to pay for all the exposure a brand would receive, particularly if an artist or band hit it big. With the advent of MTV, it became more important than ever to have an artist promoting your products through a trendy new national showcase. Eddie Van Halen alone brought Kramer guitars to the forefront of guitar business when he played their guitars (along with the exclusive Floyd Rose Tremolo that allowed a player to “dive bomb” the strings like Ed). Thousands of little “Eddies” made Kramer the number one selling guitar in the nation – for a short time anyway.
That first NAMM show, I remember talking to Dean B. Zelinsky, a young guitar master builder who had launched his Dean Guitars a few years before and was already gaining notoriety through MTV darlings like ZZ Top, Heart, the Cars and Kansas. Dean’s designs were somewhat based on some of Gibson’s less traditionally shaped guitars like the Flying V and Explorer (which were actually launched in the 1950’s but didn’t find a following until much later on). Dean didn’t have a large booth like the big kids on the block, such as Fender and Gibson, but he added the coolest Rock n’ Roll aura to everything he did. A few years later, Dean gave me my start in the guitar business in sales and marketing for his company and I never looked back. After Dean, I moved on to Washburn and then for the past fifteen years I have been at the industry leader, Fender Musical Instruments.
What has changed since my first NAMM Show? Not that much – musicians are still looking for endorsements, dealers are looking for the “wow” factor with major artists appearances in manufacturer’s booths, but instead of new designs, guitar shapes have become more and more standardized with virtually every company having a version of the Fender Stratocaster, Telecaster, P Bass or Gibson Les Paul (for non-musicians, these are the models played by most of the world’s top artists since the dawn of Rock n’ Roll). But what was most exciting to me were all the new companies who are attempting to bridge the gap between video games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero, with guitars that can be played as real instruments or used as controllers in conjunction with the games. Pretty exciting stuff if you are a guitar manufacturer because now you are speaking to the next generation of potential players in their own language.
Even after an up and down year for the music industry, this was one of the best NAMM Shows I have ever attended. There was enthusiasm throughout the show, almost as if we made it past the “great recession” together and now we’re ready to get back to business. The gamers, who used to be our competition, have now joined us as our partners to lead us into this brave new world where traditional melds with the future – kinda like MTV did in the 1980’s. The overall mood of the show? Let’s celebrate our industry!
Coda: What about Dean and Washburn? Dean sold his company and is back at it again with cool new designs on not just guitars, but amps as well, with his new venture, DBZ by Dean B. Zelinsky Guitars. Washburn was sold to another company but their booth looked about the same as in years past so they seem to be holding their own. I wish them both the best!
