Anyone ever been to the Bristol Guitar Show?

[molan]

Saw a post for this & it claimed there was bass interest as well as guitar.

http://www.ukguitarshows.co.uk/

Not desperately impressed as their 'latest news' talks about who's playing at the event in February and the main headline across the top of the site is for last Feb's event as well!

[Pinball]

I haven't been to the Bristol one but went to the one in Birmingham. I overheard someone saying that they were disappointed in the last Bristol one as it was smaller and quieter. This isn't surprising as it is trying to establish itself. I intend go along this year to support it and have a mosey about.

The Birmingham one was excellent IMHO. There were parking problems and big queues of people waiting to get in. It had plenty of specialist gear, mainstream manufacturers and large retailers. I saw a great demo of TC helicon gear and some amazing guitar work from Chris Wood that on their own made it worth the trip. There was also lots of bass interest and some superb playing on the stands.

Hopefully the Bristol show will develop into something similar. There is an excellent music scene around here so the support should be there. The Bristol show has recently moved from September to October. The site is a bit all over the place for the last Birmingham show but the experience was much better than the web site. I i recall important content being added only a couple of days before the event!

[steve-bbb]

travel all the way to bristol to see some spotty teenager showing off their dream theater chops ?

do they have a big neon sign at the event ? [color=#b22222]PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO MAKE FUNNY JOKES ABOUT 'THIS ONE IS SO LOUD IT GOES ALL THE WAY UP TO ELEVEN' OR YOU WILL BE ESCORTED FROM THE PREMISES BY SECURITY STAFF WITHOUT A REFUND[/color]

(is this actually the cynical smiley?? it's the closest i can see so it'll do for the moment thanks)

[funky8884]

Just a short walk from home, I'll be there.

[Pinball]

I see some of the exhibitors are listed and a direct link here:
http://bristolguitarshow.co.uk/

[Mornats]

Well I'm up for going if anyone else (I'm thinking Pinball here!) wants to go.

[Pinball]

Yep sure, I'll look forward to it. We can share a lift if you like and compare notes!

[Mornats]

Sounds good! And we can stop each other buying more guitars when we both have too many.

[JapanAxe]

Had this in my calendar for a while as a maybe. As a guitard, there is potentially more to interest me, and as an MU member I can get in free! I hope Jam Guitars will bring their stock - they have closed their Clifton shop, and it was one of the few 'booteeks' in the area.

Otherwise bass interest seems limited to Bass Barn and Guitar & Bass Mag...

[MoJoKe]

Just spotted my mate Conrad is playing on the live stage... that'll definitely be worth a watch..!

[Pinball]

Well, I had a good day out at the show.

Not many basses but the ones that were there were nice. There was a stand with 15-20 Volume Eleven's. Very nice basses, pretty original, well made and a big "bang for the buck", starting around £550. Definitely worth checking out. Most were "J" types but they also had a nice original shape as well. 3 different pickup options to suit most tastes.
There were also some awesome Polish OM??? basses that sounded great and some vandalised err I mean relic'd basses.

Anyone into lead guitars would have had plenty to keep them occupied, hundreds of them of all shapes sizes etc. I won't even try and go into detail.

The show seemed nice and lively but no big queues so it was still relatively easy to try out gear. I'd go again as it was a grand day out!

Edited October 15, 2012 by Pinball

[StephenYork]

I had a good day. Tried out a couple of those Volume Eleven basses and was very impressed for a new company and I like the new shape they have.

It was just a long way to go for the lack off bass manufacturers. Was good to see lots of new and smaller brand luthiers at the show.

[Mornats]

Here's my favourite Volume Eleven bass:

[attachment=121168:20121014_131616.jpg]

[bottomfeed]

hmm... Well I was disappointed with the last one at Ashton Gate.... Over priced (for what it was) limited bass gear, stuffy demo room up the stairs at the back, noisy....
Came out with a headache from the constant testosterone charged guitar w@nking! ...bah humbug!