Today my friend 
The show has expanded a little on each visit. This time there were stands in the lobby. This concerned Martin as that's usually where we eat lunch and there was no sign of the usual curry stall. The noise hit you as you entered the main hall. It's the sound of 100 guitarists showing off. Many stands had amplifiers blaring out. Others had headphones which means the players can actually hear what they are doing and perhaps appreciate the sound of what they are trying out. At several times during the day a hooter sounds and all amplifiers must be turned off for a half hour to give the ears a break and all acoustic instruments to be heard.
I'm not sure if they had this before, but some stands had silent demos where they supplied lots of headphones for the listeners.
There's actually a separate acoustic area upstairs since last year. Some of the stands are selling new and used guitars. Here's a nice selection of Fenders plus a Gordon Smith like mine on the left. The latter is a British company and there were a lot of their guitars around.
Several guitar companies were represented. Good to see the old Höfner company is still going. You can still get a 'Beatles bass'.
Patrick Eggle always have some beautiful guitars. I love their falling leaf neck inlays.
You see some really gorgeous examples of luthier work. Maybach had some lovely Les Pauls. I know Gibson are having financial issues, but if you want a high end version of their guitars you may get better value from a smaller company who can customise it to your requirements.
One of the joys of these shows is that you see some odd guitars that you are likely to see at your local store. Best example of this were Wunnadem. Check out the driftwood bodies. The necks are metal and are scalloped at the sides as well as on the fretboard. I only played one acoustically, but it resonated nicely. These would definitely get you noticed.
I had wanted to try one of these Bohemian ukuleles. They have an oil can for a body and a pickup. I didn't get to plug it in, but I soon realised it was no good without an amp as it's really quiet. It's odd to play a uke with metal strings. It's maybe a little too specialist for me. I would like a uke that can be amplified, but I'll probably get an acoustic one with a pickup. There were some there, but I can wait.
You also see wonders like this headless, fan fret, 8 string by GNG.
We spent about four hours there. There's a performance area, but we only visited that briefly. The band there were insanely loud so the audience were all pinned against the rear wall. The performance we really loved was this young man looping ukulele and acoustic guitars on the Ortega stand. This was part of While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
Martin got his curry in the end. I'm not sure it was as spicy as last time. We got in before the rush. It's good value food unlike many such shows.
You never know who you will meet at these shows.
I ended up buying more that at previous shows. I needed some strings and another cable. I'd had suggestions on Steemit that I needed a Tubescreamer on my board and couldn't resist this mini example. I am always looking to try different guitar picks and got one from Chicken Picks. I also picked up lots of free promotional picks for my collection. I'm running out of space to display them.
In all a great day out. It made up for the earlier hassles with an online parking system that nearly made me miss the train. It's quite probable that we will be back next year.
Rock on!
I'll buy guitar picks for Steem Dollars
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