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My Guitar Show report


Rabs

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Well ive only been back a few hours.. Some of you may know that I did the Birmingham Guitar show this weekend. One of (if not the) biggest in the UK... I did go last year but only as a visitor cos I was a bit too late to book a stand..

 

And wow... just wow...

 

Im still a bit dazed and confused from it all.. A lot to take in.. Plus the hotel I picked must be one of the worst hotels I have ever stayed in (which is a whole other story) and it lead to me getting like 3 hours sleep Friday night and maybe 5 on Saturday night, so needless to say im completely knackered. (and a two and a half hour drive back too)

 

For those who have never seen it.. Let me introduce you to Birmingham city centre... Not the prettiest place ever (and the one way road systems and flyovers were a nightmare driving around)... anyway :)

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and at night

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And here is my stand... Pretty modest but I made the best of it

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And wow what a show... apparently record numbers and indeed I didn't stop all day, both days... Had many many amazing comments, wows and questions about my guitars.. LOADS of great feedback from so many people I cant even remember, contacts with some wood suppliers and several other industry businesses and even many possible custom orders. I mean really, I cant even explain how good it all was.

 

 

 

THEN today about two hours before the end...

 

Spot the difference in these pics

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:D [thumbup]

 

I was in shock for about an hour after.. lol.

 

Also had LOADS of people test my guitars out.. all sorts of ages and types.. Heres a few I snapped (without them knowing :unsure: :))

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More in the next post

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DSC_1989_zps7nd38rgi.jpg

 

Then there was this lady called Jane.. And its a bit of a story

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She was walking around with her husband (or partner or whatever) and he was actually looking at the stand next to me and she was standing behind him.. So she made some comment and we got chatting and she was saying that she really liked the look of my guitars... Now you have to understand she was totally unassuming, walking with a cane and I didn't think she was even in to guitars.. Then she said slightly to my surprise that she wanted to try one.. So of course I was like cool...

 

Then this happened (I only filmed a little cos I think I was putting her off but I kinda wish I had got more but you will get the idea from this short clip)

 

Holy moly... She was so awesome it actually blew me away.. Anyway she sat there and tried three of my guitars and must have been there for about 40 mins playing like the above and better, to the point where she was drawing a crowd of people who heard this awesome guitarist playing, came to see who it was and then their jaws dropped in astonishment.. It was classic... :) Then there was one point she was playing my guitar with the tele type hardware which has quite low volume pups... then she went on to play a double hummer guitar and I didn't change the volume settings (it was on the overdrive channel and nearly full up) and she started playing A Whole Lotta Love (really well by the way) and it was so loud everyone in a 30ft radius stopped in their tracks (and I instantly turned it down before I got told off for making too much noise) .. (and I was very proud of my little Slash amp, it performed amazingly)

 

As I say.. Such a great weekend.

 

Next will follow random shots of stuff at the show so you can see what was there.

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[thumbup] [thumbup] [thumbup] [thumbup] [thumbup] [thumbup] [thumbup] etc...

Cheers.. I thought it only right to share this with you guys who have followed me on this journey.. And hopefully this may get the ball rolling for me.. Heres hoping [thumbup]

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Then there was this lady called Jane.. And its a bit of a story

 

She was walking around with her husband (or partner or whatever) and he was actually looking at the stand next to me and she was standing behind him.. So she made some comment and we got chatting and she was saying that she really liked the look of my guitars... Now you have to understand she was totally unassuming, walking with a cane and I didn't think she was even in to guitars.. Then she said slightly to my surprise that she wanted to try one.. So of course I was like cool...

 

Then this happened

 

 

 

Jane would be Susan Boyle's sister I presume?

 

[thumbup]

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Ohhh and in all this excitement I almost forgot.. I also met Pesh who came along, nice guy... Thanks for coming and saying hello man.. Always good to meet people who we talk to so much on here in real life [thumbup]

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That's great...from what I have seen, you deserve all the attention you get. I hope more sales for you in the future. One question, what do you charge? Does the sign say 600 pounds? I'm not a fan of double cut solid body guitars, but you sure make them look nice. Have you ever done a Telecaster style guitar?

 

Thanks for the pix.

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nope - it was intended to be completely nice, as in never underestimate people...

Ohh right... that makes much more sense.. Sorry.. :)

 

And yes.. It was TOTALLY like that... Just an utter shock and shows how even now we are still a bit biased based on peoples looks... Life shows me I am wrong yet again ;)

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That's great...from what I have seen, you deserve all the attention you get. I hope more sales for you in the future. One question, what do you charge? Does the sign say 600 pounds? I'm not a fan of double cut solid body guitars, but you sure make them look nice. Have you ever done a Telecaster style guitar?

 

Thanks for the pix.

Thanks man.

 

And well yes and no... But then I often seem to do some strange things.. If you look at the pics of my stand and see the bottom 3.. The one on the left was sort of meant to be a double cut tele but then I finished it more like a Gibson with a strat bridge? :) and then the one in the middle is another of my designs and is kind of like a cross between a LP and an SG but I decided to finish it with tele style pups .. So no, not a straight up tele. But if someone wants a tele they can buy a fender ;)

 

And yes I had three levels.. 5, 6 and 7 hundred pounds. And yes I spent half the show explaining why my guitars are that price and its because I work from a garage, my outlays are minimal and mostly my guitars (not all) have non big name hardware..Im not trying to rip anyone off just cos it says hand made.. I make good guitars that speak for themselves and want to be honest and upfront about things.... Plus im trying to get some out there in to players hands so this batch are going to be cheaper from that side too... I could go in to it a bit more but its a lot to type.. Lets just say that once I explained why they all went, yeah that makes total sense.

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Good for you! Congratulations Man! [thumbup]

That has to make all the hard work so worth while.

And it must feel really cool to know there are folks out there playing YOUR guitars!

The more you sell, the more the word spreads too.

Soon, we'll probably see your wonderful guitars gracing the pages of Guitar Player magazine and music catalogs everywhere. [biggrin]

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Good for you! Congratulations Man! [thumbup]

That has to make all the hard work so worth while.

And it must feel really cool to know there are folks out there playing YOUR guitars!

The more you sell, the more the word spreads too.

Soon, we'll probably see your wonderful guitars gracing the pages of Guitar Player magazine and music catalogs everywhere. [biggrin]

Thank you..

 

And yes.. it does feel very good.. even though right now im so tired I don't think im quite with it.. It was funny though, on the way home I would forget it for a bit.. then all of a sudden the picture of the Sold sign would pop in to my head and a huge smile would then appear on my face.. And also what you have to realise is that not that many people (sort of surprisingly) actually buy guitars at these shows.. The last one I did, I didn't sell anything and was told by many people to expect not to sell, its more about making contacts and talking to people and showing your stuff off.. A sale is a total bonus.

 

So yes.. one step at a time, and this is one more step forward..

 

Also I will use this opportunity to thank everyone on here who has followed me and commented (be it good or bad) and helped me and supported me... Im not sure I would have made it this far without that.. So really thanks one and all it means the world to me [thumbup] [thumbup]

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Ohh yes and I almost forgot.. I also did a video interview (which will also be a podcast) for a youtube channel...

 

Right now I cant even remember what I said, I hope I didn't say anything too embarrassing :unsure: (really hate being on camera but thought it a good opportunity so did it anyway)

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Congrats Rabs on having a great show and even bigger than that, your first sale!!!

 

I've been watching you progress from the start and am actually thinking about trying to build a guitar (or a few) from scratch now too. And I guarantee that if I do, and when things go wrong (and I know they will), I'll be cursing your name for inspiring me to do it [flapper] .

 

Way to go Rabs!

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Ohh and by the way. I don't know how many of you have been to a musical instrument show... Man its so noisy and its annoying noise too... just try and imagine like 20 guitars, basses and whatever else all playing at once, all trying to be heard.. it is deafening. Constant guitar widdle all day long [rolleyes]

 

They did have what they called quiet times.. When for an hour every couple of hours everyone is banned from playing through an amp. Man those times were nice :)

 

I found this vid taken today which will give you some idea (its way worse in real life)

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