Just outside the halls of the Montreal Guitar Show, the Montreal Jazz Festival’s
family-friendly atmosphere delighted children and adult music lovers with
whimsical street performers, delicious food, and cool tunes at every turn.
Features that turn heads at other musical-
instrument trade shows—things
like fanned frets, side soundports, armrests,
exotic woods, and scalloped fretboards—are
standard fare at the Montreal Guitar Show.
Now in its fifth year, the invitation-only
annual gathering of cutting-edge
luthiers from all over the world—including
from Turkey, Malaysia, Brazil,
and Germany—was held July 1–3 on
the fourth floor of the Hyatt Regency
Montreal. If you’re a journalist covering
the show, it’s easy pickings: Every direction
you look, there’s a masterpiece worth
photographing, filming, verbally dissecting
with its creator—and perhaps even playing
if you’re lucky.
When we say “creator,” we literally mean
the person who built the instrument with
her/his own hands. Luthier attendance is
mandatory for any outfit exhibiting at the
show, and most of the exhibitors are oneperson
operations. Because of this, there’s
also something else wonderful going on just
beneath the surface of the MGS—something
that benefits players and the industry
at large alike: These passionate builders
don’t just come to show off their eye-and
ear-grabbing instruments, they also come
to share, learn, and help each other perfect
and innovate the instruments that will
shape both the music and the instrument
building of tomorrow.
This year marked the third year
Premier
Guitar has covered the event, but it was
no less charming and inspiring this time
around. Because the MGS is actually part
of the Montreal Jazz Festival—the world’s
largest jazz festival—covering it meant
weaving our way through crowds buzzing
with French conversation (much of it powered
by Heineken, official sponsor of the
extravaganza), elaborately costumed street
performers, and the joyful tones of more
than 750 free outdoor concerts. It was
impossible not to have a great time.
As always, our mission was to bring the
Montreal Guitar Show to you in as many
ways as possible, beginning with the pages
before you. When you’re done here, be sure
to visit premierguitar.com to see
nearly 40video interviews with acoustic and electricluthiers from the show, a
hefty photo gallery
that includes the instruments shown
here and more, and
Montreal Jazz Festivalperformance videos from Kaki King, EricBibb, Laurence Juber, the California GuitarTrio, and Jake Shimabukuro.
Without further ado, let’s begin marveling
at the masterpieces from Montreal.