Dallas International Guitar Show and Festival

The Dallas Guitar Show.  I usually try to go to it most years, and actually  make it every 2 or 3 years.  I hadn't been in 3 years (maybe 4 now that I think about it), so I took the day off from work and headed over this year.

I always try to go on Friday, and be there when the doors open, just to miss a lot of what can be the insane Saturday and Sunday crowds.  I got there about 15 minutes after they got the doors opened, but still early enough that I had to stand in line to get in the door. 

They really need to do something different about the way they handle tickets.  All tickets bought online have to be picked up at will call.  That's actually been the bottle neck the last couple of times I went.  The ticket is cheaper (they say) if you buy your ticket online, but then you have to stand in line to get your wrist band to actually get in the show.  I, also, would've waited and paid cash at the door had I known that they were giving a cash-at-the-door discount that made the tickets even cheaper than getting them online.  And gotten in about 15 minutes quicker because there was no one in that line.

I didn't get any pictures this year, but there was a lot of amazing and fun stuff there.  There were guitars that were brand spanking new and barely on the market yet.  There were super expensive vintage guitars (and some that were being called vintage that were just plain old).  There were guitars for every budget.  There were parts of all kinds and all prices.  There were pedals and straps and slides and pickups and every imaginable accessory you can imagine at some location in that big room.  Here are some of the more interesting things (I thought) that I saw while wandering through.

A Les Paul truss rod cover that had a price tag of $500 on it.  The price tag also gave the year it was supposed to be from (early 60s as I recall), but it was a truss rod cover for crying out loud.  I can head up to my local GC and get one for $10 I'm sure.  If the guitar I buy isn't period correct when I buy it, I'm not looking to make it original (because it never will be).  5 bills for a truss rod cover.  I totally don't get that one.

Lots of acoustics this year.  They were predominately Martins, Gibsons, and Taylors.  A handful of Santa Cruz.  I think there were even fewer Epiphones.  Outside of the a couple of Taylor 8 and 9 series, a couple of Martin D-42s, a couple of Gibsons (not quite as familiar with their price point), and the Santa Cruz, there were no high end acoustics that I saw.  In the past, I've seen some McPhersons and even an Olson one year.  They may've been bringing those in on Saturday, but they weren't there on Friday.

A couple of vintage acoustics that I saw.  Both Martins.  Both pre-war, but both D-18s.  One was a player (although still out of my price range), and the other had a mid-5-figure price tag on it and was in really nice condition.

I don't remember seeing any really expensive electrics while I was wandering around.  I saw a mid-5-figure Les Paul at one booth, and it had several signs on and around it that basically said look but don't touch.  There were several early 60s Strats and Teles around the room.  There were some really cool looking guitars too.

I noticed a lot more of those old, at one time cheaper guitars.  It would have taken both hands and probably at least one foot to count the number of Kay guitars that probably wouldn't have even made the show a few years ago, and, if they did, they would've been priced at $100 or below.  They were sitting around with prices closer to $500 - $750.  Maybe the seller was wanting to be sure they had negotiation room.  Maybe they figured some sucker was going to walk by and grab it.  Either way, these old, generally entry-level guitars, in my head, are the beanie babies of this generation.  Folks slap a "vintage" tag on it and charge a ridiculous price for them.  Give them a few more years and the buyers will realize that they waaaaaaay overpaid for them.  They weren't real good instruments when they were new.  Thirty or forty years of sitting under a bed didn't make them any better.  It just made them older.

That was probably my biggest eye-opening moment of the show.  Realizing that this all-things-vintage craze has just gotten out of hand.  There was a lot of just plain old gear there with a "vintage" tag on it that had been marked up by 500%.  Another example (like the truss rod cover).  I passed a parts table.  They had a box of screws sitting there (I forget what to) with a price of $2 a piece.  I can see almost see that.  Guitar show, guitar show prices.  You need a specific screw to fit a specific application, pay a couple of bucks and get the exact one you need rather than going to Home Depot and getting $5 on a handful of screws only to get home and none of them quite fit what you need.  Anyways, sitting right next to that box was another box with about 20 screws in it that were all rusted, but they had a price of $12 a piece on them.  Looked like the same screws to me...just rusted.  At a 600% markup.

Wandering around, I saw Greg Koch sitting at one of the booths playing quietly on an electric that wasn't even plugged in.  I saw Seymour Duncan at his booth (at least I'm pretty certain it was him).  I think I saw the Truetone (formerly Visual Sound) guy at his booth.  I was actually hoping to see TV Jones at his booth, but, if he was at the show, he wasn't at his booth either time I wandered past.  

I didn't stay for any of the festival part.  It had been raining up until the doors opened, and, since a couple of the stages were outside, they were just ramping up a couple of hours after the doors opened.  Eric Johnson was playing Saturday night, and I didn't get back for that.  Just spent a few hours wandering the aisles on Friday afternoon before heading back to the right side of the Metroplex (the west side for those of you wondering).

I ended up picking up another strap from Lakota Leathers.  They always have a table full of 2nds for cheap, so I always have to pick one up.  They make the best straps in the business.  I found an NOS VIsual Sound (now Truetone) Open Road overdrive that I picked up.  That's the only non-Tubescreamer OD that I tend to like and use.  Then I saw some cool leather gig bags that weren't insanely expensive back in the back.  I spoke with the guy that I think owns the business, and ended up getting myself a Probag leather gig bag.  Got it home and it'll fit my Strats, Tele, LP, or 339.  So it looks like it's going to be a pretty versatile bag.

I'm including a pic of the gig bag.  I totally dig its look.  I haven't had it long enough to see if it'll stand the test of time, but, so far. it looks like it probably will.  I think I had the 339 in it at the time of the pic.