Another exhausting Saturday at NAMM, Anaheim.

Once again, I was a guest of Carolyn Grant and the Carlsbad Museum of Making Music.  Part of NAMM, they put on a different exhibit each year.  This was “Celebrating Hand Crafted Instruments” – including the SB Wingert harp guitar I loaned.

That’s Carolyn waving behind luthier Rick Turner, doing a Ukulele Building demonstration in his best Gepetto impersonation…

I later caught Rick with one of his old friends, and one of my original idols, below.

I was up at the crack of dawn to meet Paul Brett from the U.K., doing a harp guitar article for their Acoustic Guitar magazine. He had already spent time with Muriel Anderson and Scott Burwell.  I tool 3 vintage pieces for show-and-tell (which I hope make it into the issue).

That’s Paul (and talented partner, Michelle Breeze) in front of his brand new parlor 12-string imported by the Vintage Guitar company (modeled after his one-of-a-kind Weymann 12-string).  800 bucks and change and blows away all the Stellas, according to those in the loop.

The next day, we had a few different groups of museum visiting quests, including the museum contingent, some out for their first NAMM show.

L-R: Jayson Dobney, associate curator at the New York Met, Arian Sheets, curator of stringed instruments at NMM, Vermillion, SD, Lynn Wheelwright, collector, historian, early electric expert (remember the Smithsonian blog?), Matthew Hill, formerly of MIM, Phoenix, currently going for his PhD in early electric guitar history, and Darcy Kuronen, BMFA (and Dangerous Curves exhibit/book).  Experts all, a more illustrious group of geeks and nerds you will never meet…