Acres upon sprawling acres of instruments and ever-flowing taps of ale (or
bier, as the locals say) aren't all that differentiate Musikmesse from its gear-show counterparts in America and elsewhere.
Of course, the NAMM shows in Anaheim and Nashville have tons
of titillating tone toys, too, but this annual gathering of music manufacturers in Frankfurt,
Germany—which was held this year from April 6–9—is a refreshing opportunity to sample
sonic and design flavors that aren’t quite as common at stateside gear shows.
Here, luthiers like Switzerland’s Claudio Pagelli and Hungary’s Balázs Mihályi, Zoltán
Mihályi, and Zoltán Ughy (from Blasius Guitars) parade eclectic designs while heavyweight
European manufacturers like Warwick, Framus, and Hughes & Kettner host visitors in
huge, bustling, and often
loud exhibit spaces. US-based outfits like Fender, Gibson, and
PRS usually take advantage of Musikmesse’s springtime schedule to unleash at least a
couple of new items, too. And then there are promising upstarts like Stark Amps and Nick
Page Guitars turning heads with unique, beautifully built designs.
LEFT: This dashing dandy at the Gewa Bags booth
had us wondering if we weren’t letting our sartorial
standards slip. In the end, we decided our garb was
rock ready but that we could also use a little more sun.
Still, Gewa’s gigbags are pretty nice way to tote your
axe. gewamusic.com RIGHT: Frankfurt’s New.MusicAcademy promoted its
forward-thinking educational efforts by deploying several
young ladies with a portable Vox amp, a Vox Virage
electric, and an iPad stocked with song transcriptions.
LEFT: While we totally dig classic instruments, we also contend there’s not enough envelope pushing
going on when it comes to stringed instrument design. That’s why we were psyched to come
across the ViolaFon, an axe that lets you play standard guitar on frets 1 through 9, and then rip
like Stéphane Grappelli—in wicked fi ddle style—higher up on the neck. We couldn’t help wondering
what Page would have done to “Dazed and Confused” with one of these. violafon.com RIGHT: Bassist Alain Caron (left), drummer Damien Schmitt (behind Caron), and Frank Gambale tear it
up for a big crowd at the plexiglass-enclosed Markbass performance booth. markbassit.com
LEFT: A crowd gathers to watch Hiwatt’s Alfonso Pinzon (back), an unnamed demo player, and PG’s
Charles Saufley (right) and Shawn Hammond (middle) shoot a video demo of the new Hiwatt
Custom 20 and Custom 50 heads (hiwatt.com), which are now being handwired in the US. Watch
this and other Musikmesse demo videos at premierguitar.com.
Premier Guitar perused all this and more as we tirelessly walked the aisles of
Musikmesse to chronicle the newest, most intriguing guitars, amps, and effects we could
find. Actually, “tirelessly” isn’t quite the word—our dogs were barking pretty hard as we
journeyed back and forth from one cavernous hall to the next—but the coolness of it all,
in addition to our steadfast commitment to bring you as many drool-worthy demo videos
as possible from the floor, kept us trudging onward despite the blisters and parched
throats. So be sure to visit premierguitar.com/video to check out our lineup of professionally mic’d HD videos after reading about what we’ve assembled here. Enjoy!