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Underneath the hood of Epiphone's semi-hollow Les Paul Ultra

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But aside from all this gear and star spotting, as 'important members of the media' we get invited to all sorts of evening events. Now, we're jet-lagged, we've walked miles and haven't eaten (unless you count the lime in the top of the Corona) and we then have to hang around, drinking more Corona awaiting the evening's entertainment. This can be very good - Dick Dale at the Fender bash was a personal highlight, as was a two number 'set' by David Grissom, and a great southern boogie set by a band who's name I forget at the Orange event. Perhaps the highlight, however, was John Mayer with just his signature Martin guitar and voice. I think the Americans would call it awesome.

But what, you ask, did we see? Well, Vox's new Virage guitars are certainly something we'd hope Guitarist readers will enjoy. It might be too early to say but there's plenty of evidence to suggest numerous companies want to more the guitar forwards. The single-cut is a favourite platform and semi and hollow construction seems to be increasingly common too. The archtop is making quite a comeback - Godin had a very affordable and good sounding acoustic archtop on show which illustrates that this trend has gone mainstream. PRS had the SCJ (Singlecut Jumbo) on display as a limited edition but also have a hollowbody Singlecut. Nice. More manufacturers are filling in the middle ground between acoustic and electric -- Epiphone's new Ultra II and Ibanez's Montage are good examples. And Taylor isn't the only acoustic company branching into electrics. Breedlove and L'arrivee are two more examples and let's not forget Collings.

Of course, not all the new products will get reviews in Guitarist. A self-tensioning bridge, spotted by Mick, seemed to have the specific aim of flattening out string bends. Hmmm. A biodegradable plectrum made out of compressed wheat that is seemingly prone to instant breakage, anyone?

But that's NAMM. Four days of madness (and not just the gear). We wouldn't miss it for a thing.

Dave Burrluck
Gear Reviews Editor
Guitarist magazine

Guitarist magazine's NAMM coverage starts in issue 300, on-sale 14 February 2008.

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