Winter NAMM 2021

kaleidoskope

Inspired
Hi there!

It's been a while since I wanted to go to NAMM at least once in my life. I live in Brazil and I am thinking of doing just that, next January (hopefully the whole virus situation will permit it). Since it's the first time I'm planning that trip, any experience you guys have that might help will be most welcome. The NAMM site seems pretty professional oriented. Could not find the place for general public ticket prices or vending, or even what days can I visit, as a simple music curious. Any pointers? How long before, should I start booking stuff? Where are the best value hotels and such (obviously I plan to stay most of the time out visiting stuff, but a little bit of comfort in a good location would certainly help :)

Anyway, that's it. Any advice will be very welcome.

Take care! Stay safe!
 
There won't be a 2021 NAMM. The virus will still be with us.
Is this already official? I did not find that on the NAMM's website. In fact they even say that hotel bookings would start in august 2020.
I also think, based on the experts' info, that the virus will be with us for a while (heck, it may even never leave), but most of them say it will be a lot less people infected and that we will reach some kind of "new normalcy" by then... hopefully.
Anyway, if it is notteh winter NAMM, then I'll try the summer NAMM. Hopefully one will happen.... :(
 
Hi there!

It's been a while since I wanted to go to NAMM at least once in my life. I live in Brazil and I am thinking of doing just that, next January (hopefully the whole virus situation will permit it). Since it's the first time I'm planning that trip, any experience you guys have that might help will be most welcome. The NAMM site seems pretty professional oriented. Could not find the place for general public ticket prices or vending, or even what days can I visit, as a simple music curious. Any pointers? How long before, should I start booking stuff? Where are the best value hotels and such (obviously I plan to stay most of the time out visiting stuff, but a little bit of comfort in a good location would certainly help :)

Anyway, that's it. Any advice will be very welcome.

Take care! Stay safe!

NAMM is not open to the public. It is only for members and press, and membership is limited to MI industry and retailers. I wouldn’t bother with summer NAMM, it is small and I certainly wouldn’t travel far to see it.

In any case, I can’t imagine a worse place to be these days than NAMM. I didn’t get sick afterwards this year, but that’s the first time I’ve ever been that lucky :). Even with a vaccine, I suspect NAMM is one of the many things that will be gone forever, or will be a shadow of what it once was, as a result of the pandemic.
 
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Why go to NAMM? Just watch the review videos and then once you see a few guitars you like, Try them out [when you can]...

The great thing about NAMM is it's the one place where you can see virtually every piece of gear you've ever heard of. And speak to everybody in the business. Plus, it's one big party. The live music you can hear the week of NAMM is incredible. It's truly a spectacle. I'm not sure it's viable any longer though.
 
The great thing about NAMM is it's the one place where you can see virtually every piece of gear you've ever heard of. And speak to everybody in the business. Plus, it's one big party. The live music you can hear the week of NAMM is incredible. It's truly a spectacle. I'm not sure it's viable any longer though.
And it's like Disneyland. You have to go there at least once, even if it's only to check it off the list :)
 
I got to practice my French, Italian, and German, and saw an absolute plethora of cool gear. I met Bruce Egnater in person, whom I had chatted with occasionally in a FB tube amp builders group.
20200511_195331.jpg

Saw these really cool guitars:
20200511_200134.jpg

Pretty sure I saw Marco Fanton jamming on one at this booth while I was talking to the company rep.
 
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i'm surprised people didn't spread covid at this year's namm. it was definitely going around the world at that point. that would have been terrible.

even if the 2021 show is still on, there's no way i'm going. until there's a vaccine that everyone has access to, there's no way large gatherings would be safe. who knows what the virus will be like at that point anyway. if it's truly already mutating, we might not see a solution by then anyway.

as far as booking things for NAMM, you want to start by september at least. all the close hotels get booked super early by all the companies. Airbnb also gets booked pretty fast, and there are few options by december.

the NAMM show isn't open to the general public, or at least it mostly isn't. you should have some sort of music related company get you a pass.
 
i'm surprised people didn't spread covid at this year's namm. it was definitely going around the world at that point. that would have been terrible.

even if the 2021 show is still on, there's no way i'm going. until there's a vaccine that everyone has access to, there's no way large gatherings would be safe. who knows what the virus will be like at that point anyway. if it's truly already mutating, we might not see a solution by then anyway.

as far as booking things for NAMM, you want to start by september at least. all the close hotels get booked super early by all the companies. Airbnb also gets booked pretty fast, and there are few options by december.

the NAMM show isn't open to the general public, or at least it mostly isn't. you should have some sort of music related company get you a pass.
Yeah, book early or pay $60 a day to park within a mile's walk of the place.... My hotel was at Newport Beach. :D
 
...

the NAMM show isn't open to the general public, or at least it mostly isn't. you should have some sort of music related company get you a pass.
I didn't know that. I thought it was like in other music related fairs around the world (I went to some in Paris, Lisbon and São Paulo), where most of the days are only for professionals, but you have one or two days open for just general public :(

I have no idea how I would get a pass. I live in Brazil, so my guess is that the stores here have no relation to NAMM. An even if they had, I pretty much stopped buying here since, when I reached the local Suhr representative in order to buy a custom strat he just answered me that "it was too expensive", without even bothering to check if I had the cash (ended up ordering directly and paying to and get in NY), so...

The only 2 brands I have regularly dealt directly are Suhr and Fractal...
 
I got to practice my French, Italian, and German, and saw an absolute plethora of cool gear. I met Bruce Egnater in person, whom I had chatted with occasionally in a FB tube amp builders group.
20200511_195331.jpg

Saw these really cool guitars:
20200511_200134.jpg

Pretty sure I saw Marco Fanton jamming on one at this booth while I was talking to the company rep.
That is sick Joe, did you try that fretboard ?

also did you try any of those other “metal fretboards?”

how about an Oni e-scale? I was curious to see that fretboard

really cool man
The great thing about NAMM is it's the one place where you can see virtually every piece of gear you've ever heard of. And speak to everybody in the business. Plus, it's one big party. The live music you can hear the week of NAMM is incredible. It's truly a spectacle. I'm not sure it's viable any longer though.
Oh your right of course man; I was implying in light of the virus i would just think a 4K live stream or a nicely edited video of the show might be more advantageous ... and the money you save on travel Can actually pay for the boutique you want ! ;)
 
That is sick Joe, did you try that fretboard ?

also did you try any of those other “metal fretboards?”

how about an Oni e-scale? I was curious to see that fretboard

really cool man
I tried one of the Aluminium guitars. Didn't get a pic. Might have been the blue one pictured, but there was so much to take in those two days, that some details got buried....
 
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