NAMM Show 2006 Day 1

I've been slacking off last couple of days and I'm gonna continue to slack off by writing about NAMM show in Anaheim, California.



I had no idea that there were so many different finishes for Strats.







And more Strats....













Had enough?















Fender now owns Gretsch.


















I've got get myself one of these...











Can anybody loan me... Better yet, give me a couple of thousand dollars?









Fender also owns Charvel who makes the Eddie Van Halen guitars!















List priced at $3,299.99, they are certainly overpriced, but then again, Eddie's not making music lately, so I'm sure he has to make money somehow...














After all, my favorite at the Fender showroom had to be the Hello Kitty guitar! Yes, Hello Kitty guitar is coming to your local music store!




Moving on to the Ibanez booth, these are their artist series jazz guitars. From the top, Pat Metheny model, John Scofield model and George Benson models.












A close up of one of Steve Vai models.
















More of Vai guitars. Man, that Satriani dude sure is hairy!

















Little Stevie now has his own acoustic guitar as well.










A puzzle finished guitar from Ibanez.











Ibanez guitar designed by that guy who designed "Alien".










Moving on to the Yellow Submarine guitar from ESP.










George Lynch model form ESP.












For those of you not familiar with the NAMM show, it is not only for guitars. They have pianos....





Drums...

Microphones...
Trumpets...















Accordions.... Well, you get the idea.















Marshall stacks plugged in and ready to go. Wait, a minute....








That's Yngwie Malmsteen! It seems that Diet Pepsi is not really working out for him. Who cares, he shreds!





PRS guitars. They are soooooo nice.












More PRS.














The guy on the left with grey hair and glasses. His name is Paul Reed Smith. I wonder what he does for this company?





Ok Paul, I'll take one of those. Can I write you a check for it?










Coming up on the Dean booth.











What the....














How are we supposed to play this thing? Oh, they don't even want you touching it.







Dean Girls and a lucky guy.












More Dean guitars.













Hello again. I swear, I'm not following you!










Yamaha has a whole first floor at the Marriott Hotel across the street, but they also have a separate booth for guitar, bass, and drums for rockers.


Those are nice looking guitars.













This one looks like an iPod.











I don't know if it does something special, but it sure looks cool.









Ernie Ball / Music Man.













Peavey.














Mesa / Boogie Amps. Oh, yeah!












Parker guitars.












More Parker guitars.



















Washburn's N6. Nuno should've stuck with N4. The pick guard doesn't do it for me on this new one. Heck, what do I know, he shreds....


Martin Guitars.



















Felix trying to close the sale.













Back of a $100,000.00 Martin guitar. That's right. $100,000.00!










I don't remember what company makes these, but they are very colorful.









I don't remember who these guys are either, but it's pretty happening.









Another nameless beauty.



















Oh, no! That one's on fire!













I think this one was called Goldfish. Just a wild guess.


















Zemaitis guitar. Looks expensive and the name sounds even more expensive.















German guitar maker, Dusenburg.












More from Dusenburg guitar.















Funky basses from the unknown part 1.












Funky basses from the unknown part 2.










Funky basses from the unknown part 3.












Funky basses from the unknown part 4.











Mother of all funky basses from the unknown. What do you mean you can't play a barre chord on the 7th fret?















Rickenbacker guitar.



















Rickenbacker red. Their guitars would be half the price if it weren't for the Beatles. Damn it, John!






Left-handed Rick bass.


















Cool looking and sounding pedals from Zvex. Only reason I remember their name is because they had a free sample CD-Rom. Smart idea, guys.


More pedals from Zvex.












Some Spanish guitar maker. I don't dare talk to them anymore because when I asked one of them if I could try out their guitar a few years ago, this guy told me, "No".


More nice guitars from stuck up Spaniards.











Bluegrass jam session.












That's it for Day 1. I won't make it for Day 2, but I'm planning on being there again for Days 3 & 4. More pictures coming up!