The Guitar Summit 2024 - part 3

Joe Striebel

There were some really interesting acoustic designs and this guitar by Joe Striebel was one of them.

Here's a close-up of the inlay work by Kian Farzar. Colonel Hati rules!

Jordan Guitars

I will file the Jordan Magnetic Sound Expander under "Things I never expected to see". It's hard to see exactly what it is from picture, but basically it consists of two magetic shields (one for each pickup) put on rails and then they can be moved by the knobs under the bridge. When the shield is moved over the pickup it changes the tone of the pickup.

Kemper

Kemper Creator Christoph and Kemper Enthusiast Mats having a very interesting discussion about octave dividers and stuff I'd like to see included in future firmware for the Kemper Profiling Amplifier.

Koch Amplifiers

I've always liked the sounds of the Koch amps and now they also have some cool looks.

König Guitars

König Guitars was new to me and it was a very pleasurable surprise to find such versatile builders with a vison of their own.

This one was my favourite of the bunch.

Love the way the color match and contrast their designs.

The men behind the guitars: Mario Brüggen and Robin König.

Yes, they also build solid body guitars.

Limitless Custom Guitars

I don't why but I'm facinated by the design of the Opus (purple and sunburst in the middle) as I recognize a lot of their design influences.

Lollar Guitar Pickups

Jason Lollar and his nice crew were on hand with a number of his acclaimed pickups. I have a set of humbuckers in a guitar and I'm so happy with them.

Lundgren Pickups

A common sight at guitars shows all over the world is Johan Lundgren from Sweden and his black test bed guitar where you can slide in any combination of pickups you would like to try.

I asked John for an interesting combination of three pickups and he suggested a Firebird in the neck, a Vertigo Tele in the middle and a Hot Tele in the bridge. I tried the combination and that Firebird in the neck was so good. This is food for serious consideration.

Magneto Guitars

I have a thing for Magneto guitars. So does Eric Gales as he has had a signature model for many years.

The Velvet and the Starlux. Personally, I think the Starlux is a brilliant design. I imagine it is very difficult to design a new guitar that looks traditional but still isits own thing and not just a clone of a vintage guitar and it is here the Starlux really shines. And, trust me, it looks even better in sparkle red.

This Velvet has a finish called Silk Red. It's a very seductive finish.

Designer of these guitars is Christian Hatstatt.

Malwood Guitars

I was please to notice that there were builders from all over Europe carrying on the long standing European traditions of luthery. Malwood comes from Poland. This angled cutaway is an interesting idea.

The clean lines and natural finish of the woods makes this a very attractive jazz guitar.

Manson Guitar Works

This is the Matthew Bellamy Signature from Manson and to me this is one of the most fun guitars at the Guitar Summit. Apart from a passive humbucker and an active single coil it has a few more exotic appointments at hand. On the top bout there's a kill switch (much fun) and in the neck pickup there's a Sustainiac system for infinite sustain (also much fun). Behind the bridge is a Kaoss style x/y pad which sends out MIDI Controller data via a 5-pin MIDI output and if your somewhat familiar with MIDI continuous controllers, then you'll realize that this guitar in combination with a few MIDI enabled effects pedals or processors can give your playing a totally new expressive realtime dimension. Matthew Bellamy and Manson has really hit it out of the ball park with this one.

The round tuning pegs lets you put the guitar in a gig bag without going out of tune. Apart from that practical concern, they also look darn cool!

In case you don't want to get into MIDI but still want to convey some sonic mayhem, look no further than this Manson model which has a built in Z-Vex Fuzz Factory which sends out loads of gain at almost any setting. Imagine sending the Sustainiac through the Fuzz Factory and then hit the kill switch in differnt rhythms. Having tried it fairly extensively, I can vouch for the enjoyment factor and how it inspires new ways how to approach music.

The Manson Meta series is made to a lower price point by Cort but it still has the Sustainiac and the kill switch so this may be my first Manson to see if those kinds of sounds belong long term in my music. I keep thinking of the kill switch in combination with some interesting panoramic delays and how that could create some very cool rhythmic landscapes. I love instruments that inspires me!

Manuel Ali Guitars

These guitars from Manuel looks like a cross between a Gibson Les Paul, a Gibson RD and an Ibanez Iceman. but with its very own headstock shape.

Maybach

Every time I seen and tried a Maybach I've been impressed by the quality.

Prior to the Guitar Summit, all the Maybach models I've seen and tried have been more or less vintage clones. But here I saw this cool strat.

Also for the first time, I got to try a hand made Maybach. It's more expensive but it is definitely worth the extra. This is one of two new 335-style guitars I have played that I feel rivals the feel and sound of a few of the best vintage Gibson ES-335 guitars I've had the pleasure to play.

Meigel Handcrafted Guitars (Gitarrenbau Meigel)

On the upper floor was the acoustic department and I saw some very fine guitars. These are from the German luthier Stefan Meigel.

This bear claw spruce is a statement in itself.

Another bear claw top. Mr Meigel's wood stash must be something extra.

Meta Guitars

Fan frets on headless guitars and basses from French builder Meta Guitars.

There are few right angles on this guitar and that makes it look quite interesting.

Mozer Guitars

Mozer Guitar was found on the lower levels of the building. I didn't get a chance to play any of the guitars but I'm very interested in seeing how they balance as it look like they are offset in the wrong direction.

Neural DSP

As it's extremely hard to find a music store that carries Neural DSP, the Quad Cortex is probably the only modeller I've never tried. So I was anxious to try it out at the summit. But no such luck! There were so many other people wanting to try it so it's qualities will remain a mystery to me.

Newman

According to the people in the booth, the Newman company was started by Keith Richards and Mr Newman, who at the time was Richards' guitar tech and Richards wanted a company to build him a 5-string guitar.

Funny thing about the logo is that if you turn it upside down ...

it still looks the same.

Bill Gibbons wanted a special model so he arranged for a Newman signature model.

Nik Huber Guitars

I've known Nik Huber for a VERY long time at it was nice to catch up again in person after Covid and all that it entailed. Nik is holding his 25th Anniversary model. If I could make guitars like that, I would also be smiling.

A closer look shows the visual depth of the maple top.

Flame mahogany back!

Bound headstock with details.

Even the back of the headstock has inlays.

My favourite sparkle finish at the summit.

An exceptionally green guitar.