I was there, it was fun. I think there were approximately 35 lefty bassplayers attending, so not an awful lot, but for a first time this certainly was a success. All attendants had brought at least one bass along, offering a wide selection of lefthanded basses ready to be played by anyone curious to try them out. Among others there were Arni's two Alembic 5-strings, Arni's Wal Mk.II fretless, Arni's Hamer Chaparral 12-string, an Ibanez ATK305 that belongs to Arni's son, two identical Stingray 5's, a '77 Jazz, a Turner 5-string fretless, a nice custom Sandberg, an incredible (and incredibly heavy) Warwick Thumb doubleneck (6-string fretted + 5-string fretless), a Carvin 5-string, my MIJ Jazz, my Italia, my Rickenbacker and my Ibanez Musician. Especially the Rickenbacker received a lot of attention
The store itself had an interesting (and large!) stock of lefty basses too, most of which were of German (Sandberg, Clover, Phantom, Waja, Börjes, Basslines, Esh) or Polish (Maruszczyk) origin. From some German brands luthiers were present on the meeting to provide more information about their instruments and take orders. Some incredible basses there! I especially enjoyed the old Ibanez RS924 hanging there. The electronics need some work but the bass is great fun to play and sounds good. It belongs to the owner's daughter who played it as her first bass. All in all (both store inventory and basses of the attendants) there probably were approximately 50-60 lefthanded basses at hand.
An amazing stock of amps too, lots of TecAmp stuff and Aguilar and Glockenklang.
CMS Music lefty stock:The clinics were fun to watch and great to listen to as well. I especially enjoyed Maruszczyk-endorsee Armin Alic with his Royal Street Orchestra, who mixed gipsy jazz with classical and pop music in a very interesting way. Well worth checking out and listening to.
Most attendants were from Germany, but there was one Danish guy and some 8 or 9 Dutch people. Everyone got along nicely, the atmosphere was very pleasant and everything was perfectly arranged. Store personnel was very kind and friendly too and had thought of everything. There were plenty of refreshments and great food free of charge, and there was no entry fee whatsoever. Very well organised. And Arni is a very kind and friendly guy, and very enthousiastic too. I had a great day, met some interesting people and played some incredible instruments I would otherwise never see. Well worth the 2,5 hour drive!
And of course everyone got to sign Arni's 'autograph bass'
Me signing Arni's autograph bass, an old Hohner Precision copyThere will probably be another Lefty Bass Day next year