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Location: Marlton, NJ | Yesterday I grabbed 2 of my kids and a girlfriend (my son's!) and made the 2 hour trek to the Greater Philadelphia Guitar Show ... which was actually in Reading, PA. Some randon thoughts and observations:
- my 10 yr. old had a great time checking out and playing all of the guitars with flames painted on them. When the time is right, it will be an Ovation that he gets.
- Al - they could have used you there! Out of the thousands of guitars there, I saw maybe five Ovations - three celebrities in one form or another, a custom legend and I forgot what the other one was. Nothing special on the pricing. I did pick up some parts though...
- What the hell was the Bathtub Refitter doing with table there?? Fell asleep during teardown of the home show???
- I can't believe how many instruments there are in the $20k to $100k plus range.
- One of the hits of the show was this thing that you tap your foot on while you're playing and it gives you a bass drum sound. It looks like a wooden stair stepper with a pickup built into it. Sounded great when they were playing the blues though.
- My 16yr old son kept spotting Eric Clapton... have to get him drug tested. Of course he kept asking me to buy him the SRV replicas (one of which was pretty damn good!).
- I love the way the Warrior guitars look... especially the ones with the oil finishes.
- I met a guy that runs a nine day Arch top guitar building class that I may take in June. The guitars were beautiful and probably worth the price of admission (must get consent from SWMBO first... :rolleyes: )
- All in all a good time was had by all and we got to see and play many fine instruments.
Was anyone other OFCers there??
Mike |
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Location: South Jersey | I did not go this year but did go regularly when it was at Valley Forge. Glad to hear that it's still a great show. I bought 3 guitars at various shows, all electric. My son's was a Fender Strat, and my Daughter's Tele (both mexican). I bought an Epiphone Les Paul. The prices were about $200 cheaper than I can get on Musician's Friend for example. My guitar is probably 10 years old. It was hard to find guitars in the $300 price range. You're right about some of the prices. It is quite a sight when you first walk in and see about 10,000 guitars! |
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Location: Marlton, NJ | Where in South Jersey do you live? |
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Location: Lebanon, TN | Hey Mike, yeah I was there yesterday. I ate my luch sat next to the guys with the bass doodad and it was really cool listening to to it while they ran through their pitch.
Yeah the warriors were beautiful things. I have to admit, the whole $100,000 for a dirty old guitar with dubious provenance doesn't get my boat floated. So I leave them happily to their '57-'59-'63 Gibson/Fender lusting.
I was underwhelmed with the lack of O's too (and not a single A). I checked out the ones that were there and aside from the celebs that were hanging off that tree rack I saw.
An older sunburst 12 String Elite that looked nice $995
A white 1717 legend that seemed nice but was strung up with 'fuse' wire light strings that had been on forever so sounded terrible.
A 2002 collector that was priced $1,000
A nice older 1617 in sunburst. Now this I might have had as accoustically it sounded great except some one had done a conversion on the electronics. Removed the factory preamp including the bridge pickup and replaced it with something else with no preamp. It was nicely done with neat job on sealing the unecessary holes, but put me off at the price when I know I might be able to find an original at the $500 they were asking.
Oh and ther was a 1615 slot top 12 string that had very heavy cracking behind the bridge back to the bowl...nasty, no stings on it and the bridge pick up held on with blue masking tape (I assume because it had no strings on). Was nasty and they wanted $300 for this 'vintage' car wreck :-)
So my budget for the day went to......the long lusted after Mandocello MC-868. A single handed dealer with no store front from VA was there. He had about 10 instruments and some misc. other stuff including a couple of 4x12 Mesa cabs. and there, four from the back, was the MC. He had it priced at $1,200 but when I said I was going to keep searching on Ebay he said what are you looking to spend. I told him I had seen them go for around $900 he said okay I'll do it for that. Quick check of the electronics at the Martin stand on the nice Fishman LoudBox they had and the deal was done. I was kinda shocked that he jumped at the price (you know that sense of damn what if I had said $800) but it's spotless and other than a white paint scuff on the bowl, I could not find anything up with it. Very happy days work and worth the drive up there for an instrument I was really interested in.
Coming back to Mike's point, it would have been nice to see one of the O' dealers there doing some missionary work, but I dont know the ecconomics of guitar shows so maybe they just don't provide the return on investment. That said there were plenty of folks pimping out Taylors and sub $3k new(er) Martins. |
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Location: Marlton, NJ | Stuart - I forgot about the Mandocello. That was pretty nice! I missed the white legend as well.
I should've asked before hand if anyone else was going... next year (or next show).
Mike |
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Location: New York, NY | Mike, can you post the info about the archtop building class? I'd like to check it out too. I'm up in NY but I'd trek down for a few days to take it!
Cheers,
JT |
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Location: Lebanon, TN | I have to agree with Mike, the examples the guy had there were beautiful. Very tempting, but with two kids in college and a very busy work life at the moment, I am not sure I can afford the vacation time right now. |
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Location: Cicero, NY | A good friend of mine goes down every year for the collectible Les Paul's. He's bought a couple. They weren't cheap but incredible through his other love - older Marshall tube amps. Every year he threatens to throw me in the car on his way out of town and I'm just waiting for him to make good on that threat. |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | PickTease... |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | I agree about the Warriors. They are fantastic guitars and I will never sell the 2 that I own!
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Location: NJ | I missed the last 2 shows, I have been a fixture there for years. Too many events going on in my life that require my attention but I will probably get back to the grind again next summer.
Ovations are not big at that show, usually everyone tries to sell them to me. althought I did purchase a really nice Adamas 1 a few years ago. |
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Location: Marlton, NJ | JT - here's the link:
http://www.finocchioguitar.com/home.html
Stuart - I have a couple heading into college in the next couple of years but I am completely fried in my current career. I need something - at least a side job with potential for more later - and this seems like a good start. I'm not kidding myself though - I know that there's not alot of money in it unless you're a master but what the hell... you only live once. I'm sure there could be more expensive mid-life crises... at least that's what I'll tell SWMBO. |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I guess the downside/fallout of the Internet and especially ebay is that guitar shows, for some time now, are no longer the place to find tons of great deals. I used to go to guitar shows awhile back, then in more recent years started tagging along with Alpep to the Philly and Ohio shows. They are now more social events for dealers and friends to meet, visit and see some cool gear, rather than a place to find a bargain. |
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Location: Sunshine State, Australia | Stephen, that wallpaper has GOT to go! |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | It's been said before :D (and more than once :o ) |
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Philadelphia Guitar Show