I will give a full report with pics after i gather my wits tomorrow.
Here's a couple of quicky highlights:
Ben Hall confirmed to me that lefty Ric 4003's will be available in the 2nd half of 2011. As will other models yet to be decided. I put in my 2 cents for 660-12's, he seemed receptive to the idea. Dealer's will not be able to pre-order, as Ric doesn't want to create another backlog. Ric will just ship 'em out according to some arcane scheduling process which is guaranteed to piss off a lot of dealers. The best way to find out if Ric shipped something is from their website. According to Ben, the listings are tied to their shipping system and updated daily.
On another Ric note, I met the son of Roger Rossmeisl, who co-incidentally enough, is named Roger
. He was hanging around outside the entrance with his family in tow and I just chatted them up not knowing who he was because he has an adorable child.
So, I saw the name on the badge and asked if he was related and of course he was. Incredulously, he knows next to nothing about his dad's heritage other than his dad is in the guitar history books. He doesn't play an instrument, and isn't involved in the business. This was his 1st NAMM show (they live 20 minutes away, and never knew NAMM existed!) and only found out about it because he recently ran into someone who knew his dad and invited him to get together with some of his dad's old friends who he knew as a child. In my mind this is just an incredible story. I hope Roger jr gets to dig into his roots a bit more.
For more on the Rossmeisl story:
http://blog.beatletracksband.com/2009/05/20/the-beatles-rickenbacker-guitars-and-roger-rossmeisl.aspxRejoice! Modulus will resume making lefties Q4's and Q5's in 18 to 24 months. Production halted due to the moulds wearing out, and it was not cost-efficient for them to retool at the time. The VIP I talked to said Q4 and Q5 sales averaged 8 to 10 units per year. So, as they had limited financial resources (those moulds ain't cheap!) and they had other product ideas they wanted to introduce, lefty production took a back seat. The recession didn't help their product-intro schedule either. It sounded to me that if things hadn't bottomed out, they would be available by now.
Best of breed lefty bass: Wyn had a stunner Koa topped lefty 5 string. Tom Bowlus of TB/Bass Gear magazine managed to convice Randy to send him a bass (righty) to review in the near future. Which is a neat trick in itself as Randy mentioned he has an 18 month waiting list. BTW, as you probably already know, I am totally hooked on my Wyn bass, so my trophy giving is just slightly prejudiced.
Runner up: Elrick had a single cut 5 string. It was a very well built instrument, but for whatever reason it did not turn my crank. Maybe it was the Bart pre and pickup, 'cause the wood and workmanship were great.
As usual the selection of lefties in both the bass and guitar category was disappointing. Did you expect anything less? I made a point to evangelise at every stop I made, and to profusely thank those who brought some.
General thumbs up: Crafter guitars; Prestige guitars -> both make lefties and alltho budget models, I was really impressed. I'd buy either offerings, no hestitation.
TA-DA moment: Fender Squier Jazz basses. I was completely blown away by how good these are. Highly recommended. About the only thing I'd change are the pots. Not becasue they are bad or cheap, they are in fact pretty darn good pots. Just not up to my usual CTS-snob-appeal standards LOL.
I got to spend a lot of time in the Santa Cruz, Huss & Dalton, Goodall, Bourgeois and Collings (boutique acoustic guitars) booths and learned more than I can possibly remember about acoustic guitar construction. But man, those are some damn fine instruments.
People & places: Last year I ran into Victor Wooten. A lot. He was everywhere I was. This year? Nada, didn't see him once. The guy I kept running into this year was Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter. Go figure. Not a bad thing tho, as I love his playing.
I got to walk to the show one morning with Brooke White and her entourage, the American Idol finalist from a couple of seasons ago. We're both from the metro Phoenix area, so that was cool. She is a real sweetheart. 15 minutes later I'm standing in line at Starbucks and talking with some guy with a bass slung over his shoulder. We were basically knocking around Bootsy Collins and other B.S. topics. He left and the other dude we were haging with tells me it was Stu Hamm!! OMG!!!! i had no clue. A super nice guy with a great sense of humor ...
Hung with Rodent quite a bit and got to play his (righty) basses. I will say that if you are on the fence about buying one, you should pull the trigger. He makes a great instrument. He finds some great woods and knows how to put together a bass. His was the first bass i had ever heard that had a neck adjustment done in front of me and made no sound whatsoever.
Spent a good deal of time playing the Jaguar bass amp. Cool amp. More details to come. Hung out at the Mike Lull and Nordstrand booths a lot as well. Also spent a lot of time playing Carr guitar amps.
And if ou're into lefty resonator instruments, forget about National and Dobro and save your money for a James Beard product. Absolutely killer.
Ok, the brain is fried and I'm sigining off now. More to come ......
