Winter NAMM 2019

All the fun of the fair.

It's that time again when instrument manufactures once again parade their new wares. Gibson actually made the show this year after their company had slipped into turmoil last year and were a no-show. They now have a new CEO which I hope will return Gibson to the top. However, there's always a however, new from Gibson are a hell of a lot of old Gibson's. As with many manufactures it would seem a colour change for most of their range and a change of model names would seem to have been what they think of as new? Well, there are only Strat's and Les Paul's after all and obviously that is what guitar players seem to only want.

naaahhh!

Fender showed pretty much the same old same old too. Their new hopes seemed to be in their wacky things such as the Alternate Reality Meteora HH, a duel humbucker version of the Meteora Tele mess of a few weeks ago. There are a couple of versions of the Jimmy Page Telecaster from his Yardbirds days (who?) and their big one they have spent millions on is the American Acoustasonic™ Telecaster®. Fender seem to think this expensive American hybrid is going to set the world on fire and slot in nicely with todays new music. Mmm? What Teleplayer will settle for a Tele bridge pickup and half a dozen moddled acoustic sounds? It certainly is beautifully made and with all the publicity and social media chat going down it could be a winner. If only it wasn't yet more Tele abuse and it didn't look so crap.. nah, it's not my cup of tea anyway. Good luck Fender.

Vertical burst.. nice.

Ibanez have a few dozen new metal machines but once again it just seem like new paint jobs to my eyes.

mmm? Gold knobs I think.

Gretsch had a few newies or should I say new paint jobs. They have updated (or down-graded) their budget line Streamline models. They've changed the large block fingerboard inlays to their old humpy blocks, changed the black pick guard to a turtle one and the wonderful numberless see-through gold knobs to black. I have to say I do like this blonde version of the Streamline.. the G2420

Will the Les Paul and the Stratocaster ever die? Doubt it.