Things have been a little disjointed, the past eight months. I’m having physiotherapy to straighten my legs, but I’m still forced to live in a damn’ wheelchair, which severely restricts both what I can do and where I can go.
The bug that caused my knees to lock up has yet to be identified, but, rather than waiting for the doctors to isolate it, I’m pressing ahead with the physio. Luckily for me my therapist is also a wannabe guitar-player – so I am trading him guitar lessons for extra therapy sessions.
No more gigs as yet. The Harry’s Kneipe gig, a couple of months back, was great fun, but one gig in a wheelchair is enough. The next gig I play will be on my own two feet.
The Austin NAMM Show was surprisingly good, though, if NAMM decides to go there next year, I would hope that the city would participate more. (Actually there was absolutely no visible participation this time around, despite banners at the airport boasting that Austin was ‘the live music capital of the world’!)
However, Austin surely is the friendliest town to ever host a NAMM Show. Everyone, from the hotel staff down to the folks at the convention center went right out of their way to be helpful.
Fingers crossed that NAMM decides on Austin for next year.
As far as new stuff at the Show went, I saw very little – and many big companies either stayed away, or opted to choose smaller booths. After the disaster of last year’s Summer show, who could blame them? Those of us who bit the bullet and turned up, however, seemed satisfied with the business that we did. As one put it, there were no ‘tire kickers’. All the buyers who attended were there to buy.
Now, if the city gets behind the Show, Austin could far outshine Nashville as THE place to hold the Summer Show.
Rick Shubb and I managed to maintain tradition of sloping off early each day to relax in the hotel’s executive lounge - there have to be some perks to being the bosses of our companies – and, over glasses of passable wine, we both decided to attend the Shanghai Show in October.
I have already been forced to switch manufacturing of my handmade Ol’ Reliable capo from the US to the Czech Republic in order to maintain the street price, and I can see another manufacturing price hike looming on the horizon when I next reorder. If we are to maintain our price to the end user we have to look elsewhere…hence my decision to attend Shanghai – though ,unlike Rick, as a potential buyer rather than as an exhibitor.
The quality of guitars coming out of China has also made me consider the possibility of a China-made guitar to be added to our catalogue – if I can find a factory who would produce a guitar to my rather exacting specifications. It would be very nice to be able to offer players an instrument that could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the finest American factory-made instrument – but at a fraction of the cost.
I am already compiling a ‘wish-list’ ready for Shanghai. In addition to locating sources for the manufacture of some of my accessories, I would like to find a company that could make a chromatic tuner that I’ve developed. One that is far more accurate than those that are currently available. I also need to find someone to make a hybrid pickup for guitar.
So, though a twelve-hour flight being unable to leave my seat is daunting, I am very excited at the prospect of being able to add neat new products to our line…plus being able to maintain the prices of our existing accessories in this economy of escalating costs.
Wish me luck!
