# The Axe Palace's NAMM 2010 Pic/Vidstory Spectacular! (~300 Pix: 2.0GHz+/1GB+ Warning)



## zimbloth (Jan 20, 2010)

Wow, what a great time we had at the 2010 NAMM show - both inside the show and in the Anaheim/Los Angeles areas a whole. I really need to move out here someday! Beautiful weather, friendly people, gorgeous women, roads with more than 2 lanes, and tons of fun things to do.

From a business standpoint, there were some ups and downs. Some of the brands I was coveting I succeeded in striking deals with, and with some others just didn't work out at this time due to proximity conflicts. You win some you lose some right? All in and all I left the show very excited and happy about how things went.

I'll give a bit of a chronological lowdown of how the trip went, and then of course post the hundreds of photos (and even a few videos) with commentary when necessary. Enjoy!!


*01.12.2010*

Tuesday morning was our flight from Boston to Long Beach, California. I traveled to the show with my bandmate/friend Buddy (who occasionally posts here under the name 'Abaddon'). The flight was awful for me as I got air-sick, but the feeling once we touched down in sunny California was worth it. It's cold and miserable here in Boston, and California was the complete opposite 

After we got off the plane we chilled outside the airport, basking in the warmth and sun, just taking it all in. Then I saw a friendly face, Dave, who is the regional sales rep for *Fryette Amplification*, *G&L* guitars, etc who of course I've been working with. We chatted it up a bit and talked about checking out the *Flaxwood *line (which he also represents) which I heard so much about.

After this we decided to pick up our rental car from Enterprise. I had booked the trip in advance of course, and when I did I selected a basic car. The very cool Enterprise guy offered us to upgrade to a new Ford Mustang convertible for only $10 more per day. We said "fuck yeah" and hopped in! I can't stress enough how badass this car was to drive all week. Drives so smooth, nice engine, and ultra comfortable. Good to see at least one American auto-mobile company still knows how to build a sweet ride! Sucks having to go back to my 1988 Toyota :'(

So we hopped in the Mustang, popped in NILE's "To Whom The God's Detest", engaged convertible mode, and hit the freeway towards Anaheim with much joy. This was probably the most satisfying drive of my life. Just felt great going 80 MPH, feeling the wind destroy my hair giving me that 'Nick Nolte Mug Shot' look, and just feeling so happy to be away from shitty Boston for a change. Eventually we arrived at our hotel in Anaheim, The Castle Inn. It was a hotel that looks like a castle on the outside. Cheesy? Yes. Awesome? Yup. On the inside it was just your token Ramada Inn type look, nothing fancy, but had everything we needed.

After some much needed rest, we decided to hit up a restaurant as Jet Blue airlines does not serve food on their flights. We went to this place called Tony Roma's. Guys, seriously, best...steak...ever! If you're ever in an area that has one of these places, GO IMMEDIATELY! I think they have some locations in Florida as well as in SoCal. Buddy and I both got some wicked ribs/steak combos that were to die for. Best shit ever!

Later that night we hit up this really cool complex they have near Disney called "The Garden Walk". It's like this upscale out-door mall complex, with really nice shops, restaurants, a fancy bowling alley, and IMAX movie theatre. We decided to catch "Avatar" which we both had never seen, in 3D naturally. We were both blown away by the movie, what an experience! It's not just that it was awe-inspiring visually and aurally, but the movie was just great. Really intense, powerful, and mind-blowing. When the movie ended I was left with very few words, just crazy shit. That movie is a work of art on every level and I'm glad to see it's been piling up the awards.














*01.13.2010*

On the day before the show, we decided to take advantage of the free time by seeing some cool places and having a little fun. Originally I was scheduled to visit Bernie Rico's shop on this day, but due to some family/schedule conflicts it just didn't work out. It's cool, hopefully next time!

We DID however accept an invite from the fine folks at *G&L* to get a tour of their shop which was a blast! G&L is in Fullerton which is about 15 minutes from Anaheim. Fullerton was a nice town as well, we ended up hanging around there for much of the day. 

Anyways, we arrived around 9:30AM and met up with a REALLY nice fellow named Steve Grom who is the Director of Manufacturing for G&L/BBE. This dude really knows his shit, having been in the industry for over 30 years (primarily with *Fender*). His office was right next to Leo Fender's original lab/office which they have left untouched since he passed away many moons ago. We talked shop for a while in his office, and he was very outgoing, genuine, and friendly to us. He even went out of his way to enthusiastically answer Buddy's 2304820482 questions about guitar building (he wants to start building his own guitars someday).

Some of the highlights of the tour was seeing the PLEK machine in action, seeing a few of the badass guitars I have on order in various stages of development (which looked GREAT), checking out Leo Fender's lab (complete with ancient schematics/parts/etc), and just getting a general sense of satisfaction seeing how much care and work goes into making these wonderful guitars. It really solidified my warm feelings for the company, I'm stocked to be working with them \m/

After this we decided to hit up Guitar Center to "rent" some cheap guitars/amps to keep at our hotel room. As guitarists and primary songwriters in our band, we figured it could be cool to do this so we could write some cool shit in our down-time, and that we did! We picked up two of those *Roland *Cube things which were pretty sweet for the price actually! The guys at Guitar Center here were infinitely more friendly than the ones back home, much respect to those guys. There was one awkward moment though when they asked us if we knew about the NAMM show. We were like "uhh, no what's this NAMM you speak of?" 

After this we attended a private party at a fancy-shmancy hotel that US Music Corp put on in this nice ballroom. For those who don't know, USM is the parent company of *Washburn*, *Parker*, *Randall*, *Eden*, etc. As a Parker dealer naturally I was invited. They were very gracious hosts, but honestly this event was super corporate and kind of lame, but it was free booze/appetizers so who could turn that down? George Lynch and the drummer from Shadows Fall performed an acoustic set and we schmoozed with random corporate types. This event wasn't really our speed so we bailed to find something else to do.

Later in the evening, we hit up this awesome futuristic bowling place at the aforementioned Garden Walk spot. It was like it was from the year 2135 in there. Crazy ambiance, beautiful girls, beer, friendly competition, fun times. I lost the first two games, but rallied to win the final two sets! One thing that was funny was, they had massive HD video screens everywhere playing music videos and every time a terrible song would come on (ie: Black Eyed Peas "Meet Me Half Way" gibberish), Buddy would get angry and bowl angrily. I've never seen a more violent bowling delivery, but it worked as he'd get strikes almost every time - even though he was practically throwing the damn things haha. When there was decent music playing, his scores would drop significantly so we joked that he needed a shitty song to come on to inspire him to victory.

Here are some pics of the G&L factory tour!











































































































*01.14.2010*

This was the first day of the show, and naturally I was a bit nervous. It can be pretty overwhelming, especially since day 1 was when I had most of my important meetings. It ended up being awesome though for the most part. I had meetings with *Paul Reed Smith*, *ENGL*, *Fryette*, *Flaxwood*, *G&L*, *DiMarzio*, *Framus*, *Elixir*, and others. With the exception of PRS, all the meetings had a casual/friendly vibe and it was more like talking to friends than businesses.

Here is a quick video I took as Buddy and I walked to the convention center from our hotel. I can't stress enough how much I miss being there.




Now I'll break down how some of the booth visits went...


*Paul Reed Smith*

They had an impressive display as well, with many cool new '25th Anniversary' models that were really nice. They also had some stunning private stock stuff with decked out dragon inlays, etc. Some of the new USA Mira/Starla models are really nice for the price. My favorite was the Korina Mira model. 

As for myself, I met with them about becoming a dealer. It was a little bit awkward as they are a lot more serious and no-nonsense than I'm used to with manufacturers, but I think we can work something out soon. Nothing was finalized at the show but more on this in the future!





*Fryette Amplification (formerly VHT)*

I'll remember the time hanging out at the Fryette Amplification booth a lot. They are the coolest people I've met out here. Their artists relations guy Marc is hilarious and awesome; talking shop and hearing stories from Steven Fryette (what a character!) was great, and even their awesome Pantera-loving accountant gal Hitomi was great. Just great people, super friendly, really made me feel proud to be associated with them. The fact their new amp (the Memphis) kicked my ass was secondary to that.

Speaking of the Memphis, that was their only new product at the show. It was my favorite new amp at NAMM. I'm too tired to ramble on and on about how awesome it is, but all I'll say is it's the best tube combo I've ever heard. Insane cleans taken from the Sig:X and killer distortion tones more like the Pittbull series and everything in between. I love this amp. I need one. I will have one for myself soon!

All the other stuff there was great but I've been a Fryette/VHT diehard for years now so it was nothing new. It was fun seeing people getting their minds melted by the CLX though, that's definitely my favorite amp at the moment.






































*Flaxwood Guitars*

Okay guys, this was by far the highlight of the entire NAMM show for both of us. These are honest to god the finest guitars I've ever played, no joke. The way they play, feel, and sound is so outstanding that I was nearly moved to tears  

We're most likely going to be switching to these guitars ASAP, they're that good. 

Flaxwood guitars are made in Finland and are made from a unique Spruce composite that encompasses the body, neck, fingerboard, and resonating backplate. These guitars are 100% consistent, with all their guitars being identical save for pickups and colors. They're each immune from changes in humidity/temperature, never need a setup, sound incredible with superior sustain/resonance, play perfectly (no resistance, just breathtaking comfort and performance, killer neck profile), and are just generally badass in every way. *Talk is cheap*, but everyone who stopped by the booth seemed to come to the same conclusion as us. This is a relatively new company, but these are going to blow up and I want to be there when it does so needless to say, I signed up immediately!

Read more about them here: Flaxwood - Home. You guys need to try these, they're the real deal and not very expensive.

















































































*G&L Guitars*

This wasn't ultra exciting since we had just been to the factory the day before, but they did have some cool stuff. However most of my enthusiasm with G&L resides with their custom shop stuff, and most of the pieces here were fairly standard traditional stuff. That said they had some nice pieces, and the new Jerry Cantrell models sound/play great.

Here are some pics of some limited run Jerry Cantrell Rampage models. For those who haven't seen the ASAT Deluxes I got in last week, you can see them in these threads: Honeyburst Blackburst




























*Hughes & Kettner *

I didn't snap any pics of these, but I just chatted it up with them and noodled around on some of their cool amps like the Duo Tone, Coreblade, and the Triamp MKII. I've already commented in my H&K thread how I feel about these amps, simply awesome! 



*Rivera Amplification*

Pretty much the same deal here. I'm already a Rivera dealer so I just stopped by to chat it up with Paul Jr and Rich who are two of the coolest guys ever. I always love talking to them. We talked shop and they said they could introduce us to Mick Thomson from Slipknot which was cool. We ended up not being able to but it's the thought that counts!


*ENGL*

This ended up being one of my favorite moments at the show. I had expressed interest in becoming an ENGL dealer way back in February of 2008 when I was starting out. The head of their US distributor Tyme was always very direct, honest, and up front with me. He said they couldn't work with me now but liked what I was about, so if a spot opened up in the future they'd definitely hit me up. Well, a few weeks before the show I got an unexpected email from them asking for a meeting. I assumed that meant they had interest, but his emails were very vague so I was a bit anxious to talk.

We approached the ENGL booth around 5PM for our scheduled chat, and Tyme was a super chill, very friendly, and direct guy. We talked for a bit and were 100% on the same page on all issues, which was relieving. I was honest with him that I wasn't a huge fan of all their models (though I do dig some), but that I'd really love to deal them because they're cool and I get a ton of requests for them.

Needless to say, I was very happy when he said he'd like to have The Axe Palace as an ENGL dealer. We chatted about what pieces I'd like to order when I returned from the show and I got to meet Paul Allender from Cradle of Filth (one of my favorite bands) who was hanging out there. His girlfriend or whatever was super sweet and friendly to us, and super cute as well naturally. We talked about Cradle for a bit and he answered all the questions I had with a great attitude. Apparently they just wrapped up a new album (with our own 7DyingTrees aka James McIlroy back in the fold for those who don't know) It was a fun time!

As for the amps, they have a new model called the Powerball II which was pretty cool. The regular Powerball is my least favorite ENGL so I was happy to see a new-and-improved version. Tyme said the final version is even going to see more tweaks than the one they were demoing at the show. It was definitely an improvement. I also dug the Fireball 100 and of course the Invaders are always killer.

































*DiMarzio*

This was brief, but I did get to finally meet my guy Jeremy Johnson at DiMarzio who was super cool. We had a funny moment where I was trying not to act surprised he was black. Over the phone I had a mental picture of him that could not have been any more inaccurate. He was awesome, great guy!

They came out with a few new models, and they now offer their Cliplock straps & cables in new colors/finishes (including nifty neons ones, orange, pink, etc).


Anyways, day 1 of the show was pretty much over by now. It was meeting after meeting, running around like a madman, etc. I didn't have time to visit many other booths, but I took care of that on day 2 and 3 (we didn't show up on day 4, more on this later)

I honestly forget what we did on Thursday night, do you remember Bud? All a blur now...


*01.15.2010*

Today was day 2 of the show. This day I only had a few meetings and spent a lot more time taking photos, meeting guitarists, and trying to make sense of the Diezel USA nightmare/debacle going on right now 

First up was...


*Parker & Washburn*

As a huge fan of the original Parker Fly models, I was not pleased with their decision to push their new Dragonfly models and reduce the number of regular Flys. However I was pleasantly surprised by how the Dragonflys came out. The shape looks a lot nicer in person than in photos I had seen, and they have cool finishes/neck profiles. They have a high-end version with the typical Fly specs, and a less expensive bolt-on version that will sell for around $1500. They are really cool but I really would never buy a Parker that wasn't a normal Fly Deluxe, Mojo, Artist, etc. 

Washburn had some really cool models that were dirt-cheap which you can see below. One of them in particular really tickled my fancy. It was a super strat with mahogany body, archtop, and overall great feel/look for only about $399. I'll probably snatch some of these. I didn't see many USA Washburns that caught my eye but I'm sure there were some.

Here are some pics. Oh and we also saw Nuno Bettencourt there was cool...









































































*Vigier*

Ahh, Vigier. These guys were the highlight of last year's NAMM and it was a fun time once again. Vigier guitars are The Truth, pure and simple. Thierry and the guys from Vigier are some of the friendliest guys you will ever meet too. It was an honor to meet his Wife (and Vigier endorser) as well, who is one hell of a bass player.

Vigier displayed a lot of cool stuff, including their new single cuts, signature models, and other assorted goodies. They had an outstanding fretless there that I just had to buy. You can check it out in the video below as well as the pics!

Thanks again Thierry, you rule and it was an honor once again 












































































































































As for Friday night, Bud and I got tickets for this cool show being put on by Dean Guitars and Vinny Paul from Pantera at a near-by concert hall. It was called the "2010 Dean Guitars NAMM JAM" and it was VERY interesting...

First of all the venue was exquisite. Much classier and more comfortable than the places I'm used to in the Boston/Worcester area. The venue itself was called 'The Grove of Anaheim' and I highly recommend it to anyone. It had some of the best house sound I've ever heard, comfortable seating, and a great atmosphere. The only downside was the ridiculously expensive $8 beers 

The first part of the show was an 'All-Star Jam' with a bunch of random shredders playing songs and wanking randomly. There was Paul Gilbert, Warren DiMartini from RATT, Uli Roth, Michael Amott from Arch Enemy, Dan Dokken, and all sorts of guys. While I was blown away by the chops displayed, the real fun of the show started when actual bands took the stage.

The first band up was this group called 'Texas Hippie Coalition' (aka THC). You can find their MySpace here: Texas Hippie Coalition on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads. This isn't really my style of music, but they sounded great and were excellent showmen. It was pretty heavy, and a nice change of pace after an hour of random wanking.

After THC, the 80's metal band 'LA Guns' showed up. They put on the best performance of the night, simply amazing!! I never thought I'd utter these words, but LA Guns is fucking AWESOME. They sounded absolutely massive and kickass in every way imaginable. Super catchy, heavy, and melodic. Tracii Guns is a much better lead guitarist than I ever realized and his live tone was insane. I need to check out some more stuff from this band!

After the trueness of LA Guns concluded, the show headliners 'Collective Soul' showed up. This was a complete disaster. Collective Soul is an excellent band, and they were very tight, but their singer completely lost his voice during the first song and by song 3 had to quit and call it a night. I felt really bad for him, I can imagine that must be such a terrible feeling to have that happen to you on stage. He kept apologizing and saying things like "hate me if you want guys, but I can't do this, I have no voice I'm sorry" in a very defensive way. 

The rest of the show was pretty much a clusterfuck but interesting to watch anyways. Dave Mustaine and a couple other guys from Megadeth randomly showed up, played one song, and then left. After that, Phil Demmel (who we met the next day at the show and got our pictures taken with) from Machine Head showed up, as well as Dave Lambardo from Slayer and Tim "Ripper" Owens from Judas Prist/Iced Earth came on and performed some excellent Iron Maiden covers. Then Corey Taylor from Slipknot showed up and nailed an Iron Maiden cover as well as Pantera's "Walk".

We also saw Chris Jericho from WWE/WCW fame show up and mack on some smoking broads. I was surprised he didn't show up on stage and sing some tunes, as he's a singer in a metal band himself. 

It was a fun show. We just sat back and relaxed, drinking $8 beers, scoping out the hundreds of "10s" who would keep walking by, and enjoying some metal. Nice way to relax after a LOOOOOONG day at NAMM. 




*01.16.2010*

Day 3 of the show was a bit more low key. I didn't have anything official to do, so we just focused on playing around with new gear, meeting some of our heroes and taking more pics/videos that I'll continue posting below.

Saturday night we decided to scope out Los Angeles so we took a drive into town and just winged it. We ended up going to the world-famous comedy club 'The Comedy Store'. For those of you who aren't stand-up aficionados like myself, the Comedy Store is the most prestigious comedy club in the country and a place where just about every famous comedian/actor ever got discovered. I'm talking EVERYBODY. Look it up sometime.

This show was fucking SWEET! It was right in West Hollywood and had a great atmosphere. Just about all of the comedians were hilarious, and we were laughing so hard for so long that our facial muscles ached badly. There were all sorts of dudes who we had seen on Comedy Central and in movies before performing there. My favorite was this guy named John Caparulo who has had a Comedy Central stand-up special and also was featured in Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Tour (and accompanying documentary). This guy is fucking brilliant. Look him up I'm sure he has some funny stuff posted _somewhere_. Here is his MySpace: The Official John Caparulo Page on MySpace Comedy - Comic Clips, Funny Videos & Jokes

As usual, the crowd was filled with some of the most gorgeous women you've ever seen. This place just isn't fair...

After the show we drove around Hollywood. We saw our first ever Paparazzi douchebagery in action, live in the flesh. They were hounding one of my favorite actors, Crispin Glover (a _great _serious actor, but best known as Marty McFly in the 'Back to the Future' movies). We were driving and saw all these flashes, at first I thought some people were getting shot down the street. I had just never seen paparazzi in person before. A camera crew and a group of associated jerkoffs were walking backwards, filming Crispin and his stunning female companion leaving a restaurant. Mr. Glover was playing it cool, smiling and answering their dumb questions politely, but it was just bizarre. 

We then decided to hit up a spot I've always heard about: In And Out Burger in Hollywood. This place was MOBBED. It was like a United Nations of Freakshows here at 3AM. Every type of person you could imagine was here, making noise and being drunken bafoons. You had goths, you had beautiful blondes, you had gang-bangers, you had assorted Asians, you had popped-color douchebag preppy types, and just every segment of the population represented in one big melting pot of complete madness. Clearly the nearby bars just let out and everyone trekked to In 'n Out Burger to get their foodage on.

I've never waited so long for fast-food. In the end, the burgers WERE pretty sweet but the fries tasted like pure cardboard shit. I'll stick to Wendys back home! Hollywood in general was pretty weird, but a fun place. It's not a place I'd like to live though, I am much more comfortable in Anaheim/Fullerton.

We went back to the hotel and came up with some really cool riffs for a new song. Really brutal stuff, I can't wait to present it to our bandmates and see where it can go. It was amusing jamming on out $300 guitars thru Roland Cubes in a hotel room trying to come up with sick stuff, but we had fun and the results were pretty sweet 


*01.17.2010*

We decided not to go to the NAMM show on day four (Sunday). We figured we'd just have some fun outside, check out some spots, etc. This ended up being one of the craziest days of my life!

In the morning it actually rained, which apparently never happens in Orange Country. I was amused by meteorologists on the news making a huge deal over "up to 1 inch of rain" as if it was a typhoon. Back in Boston, they hardly even mention rain unless it's a major storm. However it became apparent to us on Monday why it was such a big deal to people here: it would seem as if the streets in Southern California do not have any drainage like streets everywhere else. It rained a bit and the streets became like fucking rivers in no time. Crazy.

Anyways, the first thing we did was take a drive south to check out the Pacific Coast and some beaches. We decided to drive to Laguna Beach which was about a half hour from Anaheim. This place was definitely more my speed: really chill, beautiful, with lots of fun things to do. The beaches were obviously terrific, but I really liked all the little 'oceany' spots that you only see in places like this (it reminded me of Cape Cod here in Massachusetts). There were all sorts of nifty shops, art galleries, and restaurants.

We ended up going to this awesome 40's/50's Diner type place, with old school vintage cars parked out front. This place was RIGHT out of Back to the Future guys. We were expecting Biff to come in and harass us at any moment, seriously. It had a great aesthetic to it. Lots of pastel colors and creepy Coca-Cola propaganda posters everywhere. The food was amazing and we even got friggin milk-shakes. I don't think I've had one of those since I was a little kid. They were most triumphant. The place was right on the coast and had a great view: the ocean on one side and cool mountains/hills on the other.

This concluded the wholesome portion of the day.

At this point we headed back to LA to scope out more spots. We drove around Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Glendale, LA, and other neighborhoods. It was pretty cool, we saw the famous 'Chinese Theatre' were huge movie premiers often take place and lots of rad spots. After almost getting killed by the confusing roads/lane situation, we decided to head to a Casino at the Crown Plaza Hotel in LA.

I have a very addictive personality so I try to stay away from gambling, but we thought it would be something fun to do. You know, play a little blackjack, do that whole thing. We figured it would be a somewhat upscale/cool place to do a little gambling and have a few drinks.

Boy we were wrong.

As soon as we walked in and took a look around, we were like "holy shit...". For as far as the eyes could see, it was nothing but a sea of gang-bangers, shady Thai dudes, and crack-whores. It was fucking creepy. This was not like a Casino in the movies. Buddy, who is actually a badass who routinely destroys people (its part of his line of work as a bartender/bouncer) suggested we get the fuck out of there ASAP as it was a total shithole and we were the only white guys in the entire place (which of course in a vacuum is fine, but this place was _clearly _trouble)
.
Naturally I didn't heed his advice and was like "nah man let's just play a few hands at least, we came all this way", So we make our way to buy some chips. I decide to limit myself to about $100 as I have an addictive personality and I can't afford to lose more than that, the trip was expensive enough! Then I see a sign stating that the chips I just aquired contain lead and are known to cause cancer. Great.

We head over to a blackjack table and there's a hardened, creepy Bulgarian woman was a dealer. Some of the rules they had there were a little confusing to me. She and the other players at the table did not take kindly to my newbie ways. I played a few hands, and at certain points things would happen that started to cause trouble. For example, there were 2-3 occasions when I won, but I thought I lost because I was a bit mixed up about some of the rules. People were asking me if I even knew how to play, but because I kept winning, I think some of the regulars there thought I was hustling or something, because two dudes made clear their intention to murder me in the parking lot. 

At this point Buddy's gesturing me to get to the fuck out of there, which I eventually agreed to despite my hot streak. We pretty much power-walked out there, hoping to get the our car before being stabbed or shot. Obviously we did and it's all good now, but damn what a fucking WEIRD place. Can't a dude play a few hands of blackjack without Cambodians in doo-rags not taking it personally? I'm playing against the house not them. They kept rambling on about disrupting 'the flow of the cards' or some shit I am not privy to. Whatever! Haha.

So then we're driving back, laughing about what just transpired. Eventually we make our way back to Anaheim, and my GPS was telling Buddy to take a right to get back on Harbor Blvd which is where our hotel is. However he just kept on going and I'm like "the right was back there man". He was sort of quiet for a minute, and I'm like "dude?" and then he goes "Dude...we're going to a strip club" in such a forceful, matter-of-fact way. It was hilarious. I told him "man, come on, I don't want to go to the strip club let's just go back". Then he in a very profound way explained that the only proper way to top off such a fucking weird day was to top it off with a night of debauchery at a strip club. I sort of laughed and agreed.

I've actually never been to a strip club. I'm all for naked chicks and all, but it's just not my scene. I'm more of a quiet, reserved, sort of shy guy who just doesn't like going to sleazy places. I also always sort of have a thing about people who are phonies. The idea of paying women to pretend to like you just goes against everything I stand for. As sappy as it might sound, I go for a classier type of girl. Whores never do much for me. I'm more of a brunette guy not a ditzy blonde type you know?

*Clearly I underestimated the caliber of strippers in Anaheim!.*

HOLY SHIT, the women here were some of the most gorgeous I've ever seen in my life! Perfect in every way. Honestly I felt some of them were way too smoking hot to be strippers, they could easily be models or in movies. The usual skanky whores you find in strip clubs back home (or so I'm told) were nowhere to be found. These chicks were absolute 10s and incredible at what they do. What a fucking awesome time! I got a lap dance from a chick that looked like a mix between Jessica Alba and Kylie Minogue. It was pretty awesome. We both left that place not even knowing what to say, we were just completely floored by how awesome that place was! It was surprisingly classy in there too, not a dive bar or anything.

Highly recommended spot 

So all in all, we hung out in Hollywood, ate a killer 50's dinner, almost got stabbed at a shady casino, went to a badass strip club, and administered bewildered yet brutal riffage at the hotel as we passed out from way too many beers. Night a bad day if you ask me, definitely memorable! 

After that I just checked up on the Conan O'Biren saga (he's one of my heroes, fuck you NBC!) then we collapsed for the night.


*01.17.2010*

Ah, Monday, our last day in California. Bummer. This is always the most depressing day of a trip like this. You have to get up early to pack and check out of the hotel. You have to kill time until you head back to the airport. Then the airport is always a drag, and as I mentioned earlier, I hate flying as I always get sick so it wasn't an exciting day at all.

We left the hotel and then headed back to Fullerton to return the guitars/amps we bought when we arrived. Good times with that shitty detuned Epiphone/Roland. I actually considered keeping the Roland, but I really need every penny I can get if I want to take the new lines such as ENGL, Flaxwood, and PRS. Thankfully the return was no hassle and we were on our way.

We then headed to this incredible Italian restaurant in Fullerton called Lomeli's. Honestly we werent impressed as a whole with the food out here in SoCal (that's probably the one area Boston/New York has on this area, the good stuff is up in San Fransisco I hear), but this place was simply amazing. Very reasonably priced, cute waitresses who were ultra friendly (she gave us a $12 discount on the bill for no apparent reason, she just said it was because she thought we were nice), and awesome food. Even boring things like the complimentary carrots/ranch sauce or the garlic bread were to-die-for.

I know no one cares about where we ate, you're here to see Ibanez pictures, but I felt compelled to share this in case anyone lives out there. They deserve the business. Here is their website: Lomeli's Italian Restaurant: Home

After this it was off to Long Beach. We stopped by a coffee shop so we could relax and use the internet. I caught up on some PMs and emails here, and logged on to my Slingbox @ home to watch some of the Celtics basketball game that was currently airing back in Boston. 

I should note that on the way there, we passed the most brutal, forsaken wasteland I've ever seen with my two eyes. For as far as the eye could see, literally it looked like for 200 miles in every direction was nothing but factories, refinaries, crates, and just general oddness. It literally looked like Outworld from Mortal Kombat. It didn't even look like Earth. There was a horrible Sulfur smell everywhere and I can't imagine this would be a nice place to work. It was honestly one of the most dreadful siites I've ever seen. It makes Baltimore look like Haiwaii. 

There was a bar we went to near there that was the most metal, blue collar bar ever. It might as well been the bar in the 1981 animated film "Heavy Metal". Everyone in there including the bartender was a total badass, they played heavy music, everything was black (no decorations, no signs, nothing), only one pool table, and even the bathroom was entirely made of metal (the toilet had no seat, it was just a one piece aluminum type thing). The soap dispenser didn't dispense soap, but rather this harsh, hard, rock like industrial substance that I've never seen before. I later realized this must be where the workers from the aforementioned wasteland who have calloused/tough hands and this stuff probably breaks the grime down better than our pussy soft dispenser stuff.

Much respect to those dudes. They were pretty friendly though and the beers were cheap. I downed a few Michelob Ultras before heading to the airport to head home.

This concludes the diary of the strip. Now I'll just other random pics from the show that I know you'll want to see, including stuff from: Suhr, Ibanez, BC Rich, Framus, Jackson, Charvel, Mesa, etc. Speaking of Suhr, yes I did get to try out their new 7-string model. While I wasn't super impressed with that model due to the bulky neck and rosewood board, their 6-string stuff was AMAZING. The inlay work they do is incredible. '

I honestly wasn't super excited by most of the new products the big guys debuted at the show, but to be fair after playing Flaxwoods, Suhrs, and Vigiers pretty much everything felt pretty 'meh' to me. That said, there were SOME cool stuff at the show which I'll show in part below! BC Rich had some impressive stuff, as well as an amp company called 3rd Power that looks wild but sound great! We were disappointed by the Jackson 7-strings, but they had some sweet USA models on display. The Halo 8-string they had displayed was absolutely unplayable, no idea why they made the necks the way they did.

If you have any questions about items in the pictures/videos below, ask and I'll be happy to elaborate. It took me about 8 hours to make this thread so I want to go to bed.

*Thanks for reading!*


----------



## Harry (Jan 20, 2010)

Epic.
It could be nothing less


----------



## guitar4tw (Jan 20, 2010)

A really fun and interesting read, thanks! Awesome that you're now an ENGL dealer.


----------



## Bloody_Inferno (Jan 20, 2010)

Nothing short of awesome. Thanks Nick!

Those Vigier HSH guitars are just divine. 

So what did you think of the RGD and Suhr 7 up close?


----------



## Pauly (Jan 20, 2010)

Crikey, that took a while to load but SO worth it. Guitar porn nom nom nom, thanks!


----------



## cow 7 sig (Jan 20, 2010)

fuckin excellent write up nick
you just made me decide my slat3-7 will be in the swirl finish


----------



## vampiregenocide (Jan 20, 2010)

Woah :| Epic epic thread. I so wish I was there! 

Do Flaxwood make 7s?


----------



## zimbloth (Jan 20, 2010)

Harry said:


> Epic.
> It could be nothing less



Yup, major epicness! I would have it no other way 



guitar4tw said:


> A really fun and interesting read, thanks! Awesome that you're now an ENGL dealer.



Thanks bud, I'm super excited to get started with ENGL.



Bloody_Inferno said:


> Nothing short of awesome. Thanks Nick!
> 
> Those Vigier HSH guitars are just divine.
> 
> So what did you think of the RGD and Suhr 7 up close?




I know it's a long read but I did talk about both of those in there 




vampiregenocide said:


> Do Flaxwood make 7s?



Nope. All their guitars are identical, no room for changes really apart from pickups and fixed/trem. That's how they keep costs down (start at $1449). It was funny though, all Flaxwood guitars come with Elixir 10-46. I tuned the E to B for a few minutes just to see how it would sound/feel, and to my surprise it didn't buzz at all and the notes sustained as if it was still tuned to E. Odd but awesome.


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## ShadyDavey (Jan 20, 2010)

Perhaps the greatest thread ever....I have no idea how long it took to post but it was incredibly informative and entertaining to boot - thanks for sharing!


----------



## petereanima (Jan 20, 2010)

Nick, thats nothing but pure awesome- and epicness! thanks for the review, the pics, and the vids!

congrats on the ENGL distribution deal!

man, all those pics and the review make me think of Frankfurt last year...i really just started thinking of visiting it this year again haha...


----------



## ShadyDavey (Jan 20, 2010)

(Vigier Shawn Lane? Still being made? I can never find one online....)


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## 7deadlysins666 (Jan 20, 2010)

Wow thanks for all of the pics. I was really digging that custom Bich 7 with the pearl stringers. Those Flaxwood guitars look Really nice, if you can ever convince them to make a 7 I may have to invest in one.


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## abysmalrites (Jan 20, 2010)

Man, Nick, Engl now? I might just have to get a Savage in the future. That's pretty exciting though.


----------



## mikernaut (Jan 20, 2010)

Excellent stories and pics Nick. I dig those third power cabs but being triangles you almost have to buy 3 of them just to hold your amp's head. lol

I am bummed that you didn't get to drop by Bernie's shop and get some some fresh new Rico pron. I'm surprised Bernie didn't go to the show to show off his work.

It's funny that the Slipknot guys sit there and sign autograph's in character with their masks on. I'd think that would be annoying.

I actually like Parker's new Dragonfly body but not the new headstock, but yeah Emg's in a Parker? that's just silly. Also do they not have the Piezo's? if not that's another "booo"

Jackson makes me laugh, (even though at heart I'm a Jackson fanboy) They just continue to miss the boat and just put out silly , gawdy airbrushed guitars. They finally do a 7 string but it's very "meh" too me. They shoulda just made a USA Soloist 7.

The Flaxwood's don't look too bad and sound like they are quite the guitars from your impressions.

The universe reissue looks great but the pricetag doesn't


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## Zugster (Jan 20, 2010)

Killer gear porn thread.  Thanks so much for sharing that with us. 

Hope the connections you made pay off. I wish all the success in the world with the Axe Palace.


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## bluffalo (Jan 20, 2010)

really cool.

how was parkers new headstock with the scoop?


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## Meshugger (Jan 20, 2010)

Those Vigier's and Suhr's *homerdroool*


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## HighGain510 (Jan 20, 2010)

Dang I forgot that Axe Palace is blocked at work, I'll have to check this thread when I get home to view everything since it's all hosted from you site which means all I see currently are red X's!


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## Rick (Jan 20, 2010)

Damn, someone had a good time.


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## -K4G- (Jan 20, 2010)

so much porn.


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## djpharoah (Jan 20, 2010)

Great report Nick. Stickied.

Secondly - yes SoCal is not equipped for rain. We've just had some torrential thunderstorms and what not and its fucking pandemonium


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## asmegin_slayer (Jan 20, 2010)

The Flaxwood, Vigiers, Suhrs, look great!!

I'm actually more impressed with the Flaxwood... Despite being the same shape, they really come up unique pickup placements and colors!! Prices are awesome too!


----------



## Decipher (Jan 20, 2010)

Nice pics and stories Nick! Also congrads on the ENGL deal, I'm sure you'll have good success moving those. The G & L Cantrell's are really getting my attention though.... Must resist.......


----------



## MacTown09 (Jan 20, 2010)

Amazing post Nick! I loved every second of it.

Is it just me or did anyone else think that the RGA7 looked like a Hellraiser c-7 with a Hipshot on it? I really expected a different look...


----------



## zimbloth (Jan 20, 2010)

Thanks guys! I took me literally about 8-9 hours to compose this thread so I'm glad you're enjoying it 



abysmalrites said:


> Man, Nick, Engl now? I might just have to get a Savage in the future. That's pretty exciting though.



Yeah I'm super excited about the ENGL thing!



ShadyDavey said:


> (Vigier Shawn Lane? Still being made? I can never find one online....)



Pretty sure they still are yes.



HighGain510 said:


> Dang I forgot that Axe Palace is blocked at work, I'll have to check this thread when I get home to view everything since it's all hosted from you site which means all I see currently are red X's!



Haha the Axe Palace website blocked at work eh? Nice!



djpharoah said:


> Great report Nick. Stickied.
> 
> Secondly - yes SoCal is not equipped for rain. We've just had some torrential thunderstorms and what not and its fucking pandemonium



Thanks for the sticky Mesh!


----------



## willyman101 (Jan 20, 2010)

You have my thanks for this EPIC thread Nick! Fuckin awesome.
I played a Flaxwood at the LIMS last year, real nice guitars. I can't really remember how much I dug them though really.


----------



## orb451 (Jan 20, 2010)

Hey Nick, thanks for the epic thread! When you were in LA did you get a chance to check out the Rainbow bar on Sunset??? Place fucking rules for old school metal vibes, straight outta the 80s.


----------



## synrgy (Jan 20, 2010)

Man.. I really like the look of those Floyd equipped BC Rich Assassins... Here comes the GAS..

Thanks for sharing all this! Epic thread!


----------



## zimbloth (Jan 20, 2010)

orb451 said:


> Hey Nick, thanks for the epic thread! When you were in LA did you get a chance to check out the Rainbow bar on Sunset??? Place fucking rules for old school metal vibes, straight outta the 80s.



Afraid not, we didn't really know where to go in LA so we just drove around and did random things. I wish I had known about that place ahead of time. I also just found out theres a metal burger joint in LA called "Grill 'Em All"


----------



## Bloody_Inferno (Jan 20, 2010)

> I know it's a long read but I did talk about both of those in there


 
I should have read that this morning and not late last night. Sorry I missed it.


----------



## Cheesebuiscut (Jan 20, 2010)

So how many std's do you have now 

Man I really want to hit up one of those namm shows.


----------



## Daemoniac (Jan 20, 2010)

How... did I _miss_ this yesterday?!?  Massive props to you Nick


----------



## zimbloth (Jan 20, 2010)

Cheesebuiscut said:


> So how many std's do you have now
> 
> Man I really want to hit up one of those namm shows.



None, though it would almost have been worth it. Almost 



Demoniac said:


> How... did I _miss_ this yesterday?!?  Massive props to you Nick



Thanks dude, glad you enjoyed it!


----------



## Daemoniac (Jan 20, 2010)

Those Flaxwood guitars look really nice, shame they don't make 7 strings  Maybe sometime in the future when I have money... *hopes* 

i've got to say as well, I really like the new Parkers... Sure, they're not a "traditional" parker (with all the things that make them amazing i suppose as well), but they're still some really beautiful looking guitars


----------



## zimbloth (Jan 20, 2010)

Demoniac said:


> Those Flaxwood guitars look really nice, shame they don't make 7 strings  Maybe sometime in the future when I have money... *hopes*



They're so good that I don't even care they don't make 7-strings, I'll just try and deal with it. I'll definitely try and convince them to make one in the future though.



Demoniac said:


> i've got to say as well, I really like the new Parkers... Sure, they're not a "traditional" parker (with all the things that make them amazing i suppose as well), but they're still some really beautiful looking guitars



Yeah the new Parkers are a lot nicer than I thought, even they were pleasantly surprised about them. The only thing for me is, if I'm buying a Parker I don't want it to be an alder bolt-on with maple neck and rosewood board. That's not what they're about. They may as well just put "Washburn" on the headstock. The only thing Parker-like about it is the thin neck and the Parker piezo bridge.


----------



## Daemoniac (Jan 20, 2010)

zimbloth said:


> They're so good that I don't even care they don't make 7-strings, I'll just try and deal with it. I'll definitely try and convince them to make one in the future though.



That's awesome to hear. I shall add one to the GASlist 




> Yeah the new Parkers are a lot nicer than I thought, even they were pleasantly surprised about them. The only thing for me is, if I'm buying a Parker I don't want it to be an alder bolt-on with maple neck and rosewood board. That's not what they're about. They may as well just put "Washburn" on the headstock. The only thing Parker-like about it is the thin neck and the Parker piezo bridge.



That's fair enough I suppose. I'd rather like a Majik Blue Fly Deluxe one day...


----------



## zeal0us (Jan 20, 2010)

Fantastic!! Thanks so much for sharing, Nick!


----------



## zimbloth (Jan 20, 2010)

zeal0us said:


> Fantastic!! Thanks so much for sharing, Nick!



You're welcome dude!


----------



## djpharoah (Jan 20, 2010)

Watch this thread break the forum


----------



## Daemoniac (Jan 20, 2010)

^ Is it working?


----------



## White Cluster (Jan 20, 2010)

That was great..Thanks for putting that all together for us..

But really...Where are the pics of the strippers?


----------



## wannabguitarist (Jan 20, 2010)

Half the pictures don't work for me in Chrome but they work fine in Firefox . And they look great

What did you guys find disappointing about the new Jackson 7? How does it compare to the COW7?



djpharoah said:


> Great report Nick. Stickied.
> 
> Secondly - yes SoCal is not equipped for rain. We've just had some torrential thunderstorms and what not and its fucking pandemonium



Pandemonium is putting it lightly. These people have no idea what to do in rain


----------



## zimbloth (Jan 20, 2010)

djpharoah said:


> Watch this thread break the forum



Haha



White Cluster said:


> That was great..Thanks for putting that all together for us..
> 
> But really...Where are the pics of the strippers?



They don't allow cameras in strip clubs I'm afraid 



wannabguitarist said:


> Half the pictures don't work for me in Chrome but they work fine in Firefox . And they look great
> 
> What did you guys find disappointing about the new Jackson 7? How does it compare to the COW7?



What did I find disappointing about the new Jackson 7? It's an import with a rosewood board and EMG 707s, just boring as hell to me. I think most of us were hoping for a USA Soloist 7 and they didn't deliver. It was a fine guitar but when we saw them we pretty much just shrugged and walked away. Keep in mind we both own/have owned COW7s which we like better.


----------



## wannabguitarist (Jan 20, 2010)

zimbloth said:


> What did I find disappointing about the new Jackson 7? It's an import with a rosewood board and EMG 707s, just boring as hell to me. I think most of us were hoping for a USA Soloist 7 and they didn't deliver. It was a fine guitar but when we saw them we pretty much just shrugged and walked away. Keep in mind we both own/have owned COW7s which we like better.



The other things don't bother me but if the COW really does play better there would be no point in getting one (already got a COW).


----------



## BrainArt (Jan 20, 2010)

Sweet, I was looking forward to this for a while, now. Thanks, Nick! 

I would laugh my ass off if people who are from SoCal came up here to NorCal, right now. It's raining like crazy, we get all the weather up here.  If you ever get a chance to come out to _real_ Cali, let me know. I'll give you good spots to go to and ones to avoid.


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## djpharoah (Jan 20, 2010)

IbanezShredderB said:


> Sweet, I was looking forward to this for a while, now. Thanks, Nick!
> 
> I would laugh my ass off if people who are from SoCal came up here to NorCal, right now. It's raining like crazy, we get all the weather up here.  If you ever get a chance to come out to _real_ Cali, let me know. I'll give you good spots to go to and ones to avoid.


Its raining like hell down here too....


Oh and btw 





SoCal > NorCal


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## BrainArt (Jan 21, 2010)

djpharoah said:


> Its raining like hell down here too....
> 
> 
> Oh and btw
> ...



Well, you obviously know how to deal with rain properly, I'm talking about the people who have barely seen any and make a big deal out of it. 

Oh and btw






Mid-west > Cali imo.


----------



## troyguitar (Jan 21, 2010)

I want a Vigier now more than ever. I hate this thread


----------



## BrainArt (Jan 21, 2010)

troyguitar said:


> I want a Vigier now more than ever. I hate this thread



 It should be called "The Axe Palace's NAMM 2010 GAS Spectacular!"


----------



## wannabguitarist (Jan 21, 2010)

Those Viger single-cuts are growing on me



IbanezShredderB said:


> Sweet, I was looking forward to this for a while, now. Thanks, Nick!
> 
> I would laugh my ass off if people who are from SoCal came up here to NorCal, right now. It's raining like crazy, we get all the weather up here.  If you ever get a chance to come out to _real_ Cali, let me know. I'll give you good spots to go to and ones to avoid.



There aren't any good spots up in NorCal, that's why I moved south

And it's pretty damn bad down here, my street is flooded


----------



## BrainArt (Jan 21, 2010)

wannabguitarist said:


> Those Viger single-cuts are growing on me
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Floods are nothing for me, anymore.  I've waded through them dredging out my street almost every year around this time. There are actually a few good spots up here, you just have to look for them.  But, as I said; Mid-west > Cali.  It sucks here, just in general not just NorCal.


On-Topic: I seriously would love to try one of those Suhr 7s. Or any Suhr, really.


----------



## hypermagic (Jan 21, 2010)

Awesome report Nick! Major kudos!


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## zimbloth (Jan 21, 2010)

IbanezShredderB said:


> Sweet, I was looking forward to this for a while, now. Thanks, Nick!
> 
> I would laugh my ass off if people who are from SoCal came up here to NorCal, right now. It's raining like crazy, we get all the weather up here.  If you ever get a chance to come out to _real_ Cali, let me know. I'll give you good spots to go to and ones to avoid.



If by "NorCal" you mean places like San Francisco, I totally agree. I visited there in January 2008 and it is by far my favorite spot in the country. Absolutely wonderful place.


----------



## BrainArt (Jan 21, 2010)

zimbloth said:


> If by "NorCal" you mean places like San Francisco, I totally agree. I visited there in January 2008 and it is by far my favorite spot in the country. Absolutely wonderful place.



Yeah, I'm about 45 minutes from SF; in the Wine Country area. Lots of amazing scenery, barely anything to do if you're under 21. Hahaha.


----------



## m3ta1head (Jan 21, 2010)

glad you enjoyed socal nick. your descriptions sound pretty damned accurate, it is awesome here.


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## vontetzianos (Jan 21, 2010)

OMG gas is running WILD. 

I'm most interested in those Flaxwoods however. Does this mean you'll try and stock a few of them Nick?

I think that Aija might just be my next sixer.


----------



## Xanithon (Jan 21, 2010)

Farking epic!

Thanks for the picstory man! ^.^


----------



## Apophis (Jan 21, 2010)

wow, what an awesome topic, thanks for all of this


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## Troegenator (Jan 21, 2010)

Fuck SoCal, the REAL California is Northern California. Specifically the Bay Area, theres nothing like going down the coast via Highway 1 from Pacifica all the way down to Monterey, its the best scenery you'll ever encounter.


----------



## signalgrey (Jan 21, 2010)

i want a Sig:X....nao!

new york > the world


----------



## vigil785 (Jan 21, 2010)

Thanks man! Thats awesome stuff!


----------



## Fionn (Jan 21, 2010)

Yeah, def the greatest thread ever, thanks Nick, for taking the time to do it, you sir are a legend!


----------



## B36arin (Jan 21, 2010)

Great thread! Those Flaxwoods look really interesting, I'll have to see if I can try one of them sometime... The grey one looks HOT!


----------



## Zugster (Jan 21, 2010)

Troegenator said:


> Fuck SoCal, the REAL California is Northern California. Specifically the Bay Area, theres nothing like going down the coast via Highway 1 from Pacifica all the way down to Monterey, its the best scenery you'll ever encounter.


 
As a former resident of nothern CA, I have to agree.  Point Reyes is one of my favorite areas.


----------



## etiam (Jan 21, 2010)

Great story, thanks for all the information and updates. 

I'm glad you followed up on those Flaxwoods, and obviously also that you liked them so much. I'm going to have to look into those again, because last I remember, they were going for a lot more than $1400. As in pretty much twice that....

Anyway, congratulations on your successful trip, and best of luck with these new dealers.


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## Mattayus (Jan 21, 2010)

I can't even look at this on the downstairs computer, it's simply not powerful enough to load the page  I'll have to wait til I go upstairs to have a peep, and peep i ruddy well shall!


----------



## djpharoah (Jan 21, 2010)

I just edited the warning tag on this thread from 56k to make sure you have a 2.0GHz processor and 1GB of ram otherwise this thread will rape your pc


----------



## Abaddon (Jan 21, 2010)

Just to reiterate guys, those Flaxwoods may very well be the best playing guitars I've ever held. There's the perfect amount of tension and resistance. I swear I could play everything 40bpms faster than normal on these things. 10 out of 10. Get one...period. !!!


----------



## zimbloth (Jan 21, 2010)

vontetzianos said:


> OMG gas is running WILD.
> 
> I'm most interested in those Flaxwoods however. Does this mean you'll try and stock a few of them Nick?
> 
> I think that Aija might just be my next sixer.



Yep I signed up as a Flaxwood dealer literally 5 minutes after picking one up for the first time. I just ordered 6 pieces, I should be getting 3 of them next week including the Aija.



Fionn said:


> Yeah, def the greatest thread ever, thanks Nick, for taking the time to do it, you sir are a legend!



Thank you for enjoying it dude 



etiam said:


> I'm glad you followed up on those Flaxwoods, and obviously also that you liked them so much. I'm going to have to look into those again, because last I remember, they were going for a lot more than $1400. As in pretty much twice that....



The pricelist I was given that I will adhere to, has the models selling for around $1449-2089 USD. If you see dealers selling them for "pretty much twice that", then they're pretty much greedy jerk-offs. 

The Aija is $1449, then most of the other models such as the Rautia and Vasara are around $1900. All the guitars are identical though, there's no low-end and high-end. THe only differences are the pickups, colors, and bridge.



djpharoah said:


> I just edited the warning tag on this thread from 56k to make sure you have a 2.0GHz processor and 1GB of ram otherwise this thread will rape your pc



 Fair enough, I considered doing thumbnails and taking steps to reduce the load on the computers, but this thread took long enough as it is. I didn't want to reduce the epicness 



Abaddon said:


> Just to reiterate guys, those Flaxwoods may very well be the best playing guitars I've ever held. There's the perfect amount of tension and resistance. I swear I could play everything 40bpms faster than normal on these things. 10 out of 10. Get one...period. !!!



 



m3ta1head said:


> glad you enjoyed socal nick. your descriptions sound pretty damned accurate, it is awesome here.


----------



## Lakeflower (Jan 21, 2010)

Holy shit! Nice! Thanks, Nick, it seems you had a good time.


----------



## yevetz (Jan 21, 2010)

thanks


----------



## zimbloth (Jan 21, 2010)

yevetz said:


> thanks



No problem


----------



## playstopause (Jan 21, 2010)

As always, Nick's NAMM thread > any other NAMM thread.


----------



## Daiephir (Jan 21, 2010)

Of course, J-F, it's Nick, what did you expect?
Nick, that was awesome, truly I enjoyed reading through watching all of the guitar pornz.


----------



## etiam (Jan 21, 2010)

Well, then either my memory is off or things have changed. When I sat in on a salesman's pitch meeting last year, the presentation included how these were priced around what some US custom shop models might cost from major manufacturers, but that the uniqueness of them was an added bonus. 

For example: 

MAKE'N MUSIC GUITAR SHOP: Electric Guitars: Flaxwood: Liekki LI-T Trem

I think they've had them for a while, so it may indeed be that the prices have come down. 

That, and maybe Make 'n' Music are jerk-offs, anyway. 

Regardless, sweet guitars. I hope to make it out to Summer NAMM this year, so maybe I'll see them there, if they come back.


----------



## zimbloth (Jan 21, 2010)

Daiephir said:


> Of course, J-F, it's Nick, what did you expect?
> Nick, that was awesome, truly I enjoyed reading through watching all of the guitar pornz.



Awesome, pretty much all the pics/vids I took I did so for y'all enjoyment so I'm very glad to hear that!



etiam said:


> Well, then either my memory is off or things have changed. When I sat in on a salesman's pitch meeting last year, the presentation included how these were priced around what some US custom shop models might cost from major manufacturers, but that the uniqueness of them was an added bonus.
> 
> For example:
> 
> ...



Yeah man, Like I said many dealers count on people not knowing what the real prices are and just make shit up. In that dealer's case they have the correct price actually though. For me, I always stick to the _actual _street prices or less.

Just to set the record straight, here are the prices (f = fixed, t = trem)


Aija F - $1449
Aija T - $1619
Vasara F - $1999
Rautia F - $1909
Rautia T - $2089
Liekki F - $1979
Liekki T - $2199
Voima T - $1979
Laine T - $2089
Again, all guitars are identical save for pickup configuration, colors, and bridge.


----------



## Hollowway (Jan 22, 2010)

Whoa! Thanks for taking the time, man! After every NAMM I spend a day googling and trying to pull up photos, etc. You just saved me the time this year!

And this is probably going to make me sound like a total nerd, but that's a pretty sweet Gary Kramer F-1/Turbulence behind the Skull Crusher girls. (I know, I know, "there was something else in that picture?)


----------



## sevenstringj (Jan 22, 2010)

So many guitars, so little money.


----------



## DarkSaga (Jan 22, 2010)

Awesome picstory man and glad you had fun here in Cali!

Oh and thanks for returning my calls so we could meet up at the show HAHAHA just kidding man but it would have been nice to meet you though!
Instead i got stuck hanging out with this guy


----------



## zimbloth (Jan 22, 2010)

Hollowway said:


> Whoa! Thanks for taking the time, man! After every NAMM I spend a day googling and trying to pull up photos, etc. You just saved me the time this year!
> 
> And this is probably going to make me sound like a total nerd, but that's a pretty sweet Gary Kramer F-1/Turbulence behind the Skull Crusher girls. (I know, I know, "there was something else in that picture?)



My pleasure bro.. and yeah I noticed the Kramer too so you're not alone 



sevenstringj said:


> So many guitars, so little money.



I hear ya man. Even though I have access to all this crazy shit, it just makes my GAS even worse, because I can't afford to keep 99.9% of the stuff I stock so it's even MORE of a cock-tease. That said, I can't complain it's a pretty sweet job 



allisa said:


> Excellent one. I really enjoy this, its funny and interesting in read.



Thanks man, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I was hoping it would entertain you guys.


----------



## God Hand Apostle (Jan 22, 2010)

zimbloth said:


>



Did you get to play this zim? If yes, give me your thoughts please.


----------



## zimbloth (Jan 22, 2010)

God Hand Apostle said:


> Did you get to play this zim? If yes, give me your thoughts please.



The Eleven Rack or the 3P poweramp? If you meant the Eleven, no I didn't. It looks like a nice unit but the Axe-FX does so much more, apart from acting as a mic-pre/interface. I have no real opinion on it though, all I know is from reading the manual.


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## God Hand Apostle (Jan 22, 2010)

Yeah, I was talking about the Eleven. Glad you mentioned the Axe-Fx doing more, as that's where the conversation was going to go if you could compare the two. Just wanted to get your thoughts, as I value them. I'll continue doing the research on the two units (Axe and Eleven).

Thanks again.


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## zimbloth (Jan 22, 2010)

God Hand Apostle said:


> Yeah, I was talking about the Eleven. Glad you mentioned the Axe-Fx doing more, as that's where the conversation was going to go if you could compare the two. Just wanted to get your thoughts, as I value them. I'll continue doing the research on the two units (Axe and Eleven).
> 
> Thanks again.



If you're looking for IMO the best guitar tone modeler in the universe, get the Axe-FX. If you want something that can double as a world-class effects processor, get the Axe-FX. If you're looking for more of an 'all-in-one' solution that has a few cool amp sounds along with everything else it does, get the Eleven Rack. 

The Eleven Rack is an audio interface along with mic preamps like you'd find on a MOTU or Presonus Firewire/USB unit but also has a limited number of very convincing sounding amp models too. I hear good things about its sounds, but being an amp modeler is not its focus. It only has a few sounds on it. It's really designed to be a one stop solution. The benefit of being an interface/modeler all in one is that latency would be pretty much non-existent, however if you have a fast computer latency should never be an issue with the Axe-FX either.


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## God Hand Apostle (Jan 22, 2010)

Eleven Rack Axe-FX Comparison


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## Pewtershmit (Jan 22, 2010)

I had the pleasure of playing an 11 at namm. I was pretty impressed I can't really comment on how it compares qualitywise to the axefx, although I'm very familiar with line 6 stuff and it totally killed that. 

Considering the price, it would be a great all in one recording deal. Although in terms of features the axe kills it.


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## zimbloth (Jan 23, 2010)

God Hand Apostle said:


> Eleven Rack Axe-FX Comparison



Yep seems like my run-down was pretty accurate then. I'd stick with the Axe-FX unless the 'all-in-one' aspect is a must for you.


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## AeonSolus (Jan 24, 2010)

Damn Nick, every January NAMM thread gets better and better each year, that "morning after christmas" kind of thing this thread creates when you wait for it to load feels really fuzzy inside  endless rep for you man


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## zimbloth (Jan 24, 2010)

AeonSolus said:


> Damn Nick, every January NAMM thread gets better and better each year, that "morning after christmas" kind of thing this thread creates when you wait for it to load feels really fuzzy inside  endless rep for you man



Thanks bro I'm glad you had fun with it


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## Les Paul Gibson (Jan 24, 2010)

great pics Nick, I checked out the Flaxwood guitars website, great stuff indeed. Sounds like a great time...


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## zimbloth (Jan 24, 2010)

Les Paul Gibson said:


> great pics Nick, I checked out the Flaxwood guitars website, great stuff indeed. Sounds like a great time...



Thanks Les, good to see you here. And yep the Flaxwoods are epic.


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## Variant (Jan 24, 2010)

Awesome thread... though there seems to be a lot of focus on guitars and amps. I know that some really cool effects gear came out this year.


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## Empryrean (Jan 24, 2010)

Somewhere in this thread, is there a price for any flaxwood guitar posted? The internet seems to not want me to know this.


& Great thread Nick


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## zimbloth (Jan 24, 2010)

Variant said:


> Awesome thread... though there seems to be a lot of focus on guitars and amps. I know that some really cool effects gear came out this year.



I only had so much time and effects don't excite me as much as guitars and amps. I'm a huge Eventide fan and I did check out some stuff that people recommended I see like Xotic. Very cool stuff but I just didn't care to take pics.


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## mikernaut (Jan 26, 2010)

Here ya go Empryrean



zimbloth said:


> Yeah man, Like I said many dealers count on people not knowing what the real prices are and just make shit up. In that dealer's case they have the correct price actually though. For me, I always stick to the _actual _street prices or less.
> 
> Just to set the record straight, here are the prices (f = fixed, t = trem)
> 
> ...


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## zimbloth (Jan 26, 2010)

mikernaut said:


> Here ya go Empryrean



Thanks Mike, somehow I didn't see his post before. But yep those are the prices. Super reasonable considering what you get.


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## vontetzianos (Jan 26, 2010)

I noticed flaxwood offer the ability to customise your guitar. Would it be possible to hook a custom one up through the Axe Palace when you officially become a dealer, Nick?


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## zimbloth (Jan 26, 2010)

vontetzianos said:


> I noticed flaxwood offer the ability to customise your guitar. Would it be possible to hook a custom one up through the Axe Palace when you officially become a dealer, Nick?



I am a Flaxwood dealer officially now actually, I'm listed on their website and all 

Yes, I can get customs made but honestly their guitars are pretty much flawless as is. I would only go custom if you want different colors, inlays, pickups, or minor things like that. They won't do anything too drastic.

I am personally going to buy either the Aija or Rautia model for myself. Then at some point I will commission a custom because I'd really like one with a sustainer and a purple finish.


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## vontetzianos (Jan 26, 2010)

zimbloth said:


> I am a Flaxwood dealer officially now actually, I'm listed on their website and all
> 
> Yes, I can get customs made but honestly their guitars are pretty much flawless as is. I would only go custom if you want different colors, inlays, pickups, or minor things like that. They won't do anything too drastic.
> 
> I am personally going to buy either the Aija or Rautia model for myself. Then at some point I will commission a custom because I'd really like one with a sustainer and a purple finish.


 
yeah, i was thinking of having blackouts put in the aija and maybe some locking tuners. 

I suppose it's a little drastic to ask for 24 frets.


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## zimbloth (Jan 26, 2010)

vontetzianos said:


> yeah, i was thinking of having blackouts put in the aija and maybe some locking tuners.
> 
> I suppose it's a little drastic to ask for 24 frets.



They already come with locking tuners bro. And any dealer could just put Blackouts in there for you, you don't need to spend money on a custom for that.

As for the 24 fret thing, I don't know. I'm a 24-fret guy myself but if you played those things you might not even care anymore. Really special stuff. I could ask though.


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## vontetzianos (Jan 26, 2010)

^

I must have misread the specs. They do indeed have lockable tuners. I suppose anyone will be able to put in blackouts, but I was contemplating a few other options so I thought I may as well ask for them. 

I'd appreciate it if you could ask them about 24 frets. I would send an email myself to them but my email has packed up on me.


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## zimbloth (Jan 26, 2010)

vontetzianos said:


> ^
> 
> I must have misread the specs. They do indeed have lockable tuners. I suppose anyone will be able to put in blackouts, but I was contemplating a few other options so I thought I may as well ask for them.
> 
> I'd appreciate it if you could ask them about 24 frets. I would send an email myself to them but my email has packed up on me.



Yeah they're kind of like PRS locking tuners only they dont even need to be screwed, they auto-lock as you turn the post. It's pretty awesome.

And yep I'll ask for you but I doubt it.


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## JacksonKE2Shred (Jan 26, 2010)

Thanks alot for posting this nick! Im really glad to see that you'll be dealing ENGL amps cuz That will be my next big purchase. I was hoping to see some Caparison pic but oh well. Love the jackson Customs the Vigier and the suhr pics.


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## zimbloth (Jan 26, 2010)

JacksonKE2Shred said:


> Thanks alot for posting this nick! Im really glad to see that you'll be dealing ENGL amps cuz That will be my next big purchase. I was hoping to see some Caparison pic but oh well. Love the jackson Customs the Vigier and the suhr pics.



Thanks Mack! I didn't take pics of Caparisons because they did not come to NAMM this year sadly. They stayed back in Japan building guitars, to which I can't complain about but it was nice meeting them in person last year.


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## lateralus819 (Jan 28, 2010)

Awesome thread nick, seems like you had a very good time!  Nice to see you drove a real car also


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## zimbloth (Jan 28, 2010)

lateralus819 said:


> Awesome thread nick, seems like you had a very good time!  Nice to see you drove a real car also



Sure did man, thanks!


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## Bleak (Feb 1, 2010)

I think this thread is what broke SS.org 

Thanks as usual for all the pics and stories - really sounded like you had a good time, man.


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## zimbloth (Feb 1, 2010)

Bleak said:


> I think this thread is what broke SS.org
> 
> Thanks as usual for all the pics and stories - really sounded like you had a good time, man.



Haha, very possible


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## Zugster (Feb 1, 2010)

Bleak said:


> I think this thread is what broke SS.org
> 
> Thanks as usual for all the pics and stories - really sounded like you had a good time, man.


 
 That's what I was thinking. Nick just sucked the life of the site!


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## zimbloth (Feb 1, 2010)

Zugster said:


> That's what I was thinking. Nick just sucked the life of the site!



Yeah it was a lot of pics for sure. I might put bigger galleries like that on my Facebook page in the future. I don't want to rape all of SS.org's bandwith


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## Zugster (Feb 1, 2010)

Yeah, but it was a great use of bandwidth.


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## TheHandOfStone (Feb 1, 2010)

Just caught this thread now. Looks like you had an amazing adventure. It was awesome of you to take the time to type all this.


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## zimbloth (Feb 1, 2010)

TheHandOfStone said:


> Just caught this thread now. Looks like you had an amazing adventure. It was awesome of you to take the time to type all this.



Thanks man! I'm glad people enjoyed it. I definitely put a lot of time in to make sure people would have some fun stuff to look at/read, I'm glad it paid off, even if it _was _at the expense of SS.org's monthly traffic


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## yetti (Feb 1, 2010)

Those Flaxwood guitars look amazing. Do want.







What kind of top is this? 







What do this sound like? Looks interesting.


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## Stealthdjentstic (Feb 1, 2010)

^ Very triangular?


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## zimbloth (Feb 1, 2010)

yetti said:


> Those Flaxwood guitars look amazing. Do want.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



1) Indeed they do man, check out my Flaxwood thread for more info. Those actually aren't tops at all, that's the material the guitar is made out of. It's just a stained burst.

2) It sounded like a modded Plexi only better, to my ears. Not a metal amp but could be if boosted. I'm not affiliated with them whatsoever just thought it was cool


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## D-EJ915 (Feb 2, 2010)

those triangle cabs seem pointless aside from the "whoa" factor lol


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## zimbloth (Feb 2, 2010)

D-EJ915 said:


> those triangle cabs seem pointless aside from the "whoa" factor lol



They're not pointless in theory, he went into about a 10 minute speech about it at the booth. Whether or not he was full of shit or not is up to debate, but it sounded very VERY good. It's definitely nothing I'd ever play though, as it's over the top


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## skinhead (Feb 7, 2010)

Awesome! Well, not smarvo amps


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## D-EJ915 (Feb 7, 2010)

zimbloth said:


> They're not pointless in theory, he went into about a 10 minute speech about it at the booth. Whether or not he was full of shit or not is up to debate, but it sounded very VERY good. It's definitely nothing I'd ever play though, as it's over the top


ah cool I hear ya, I was commenting more on the fact that they would be hard as hell to use as touring gear, etc. since they have no top to them lol


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## zimbloth (Feb 7, 2010)

D-EJ915 said:


> ah cool I hear ya, I was commenting more on the fact that they would be hard as hell to use as touring gear, etc. since they have no top to them lol



Yeah haha, it's pretty goofy I agree


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## Ultraworld (Feb 15, 2010)

Pretty boring NAMM in my opinion. Not many new things to show. NAMM is becoming less & less important. But product wise, a boring year


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## Origin (Feb 15, 2010)

Jesus, I wish Parkers didn't cost everything I've ever owned and a contract for possession of my firstborn in the future....NICE pics.


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## zimbloth (Feb 15, 2010)

Ultraworld said:


> Pretty boring NAMM in my opinion. Not many new things to show. NAMM is becoming less & less important. But product wise, a boring year





I disagree, I think there were a lot of cool/interesting things at NAMM. Such as:


BC Rich's really sweet 7-strings and signature models
PRS' new signature models
Flaxwoods
Those weird triangle amps!
Suhrs
Vigiers
ENGL Powerball II & Fireball 100
Bogner Uberschall Twinjet
Fryette Memphis 30 combo
Parker Dragonflys
DiMarzios crazy new color options on their cliplocks/cables
Hughes & Kettner Coreblade
New Mesa/Boogie stuff
Affordable Ibanez 8-strings
Etc

Of the main guys (Gibson, Fender, ESP, Jackson, Schecter) I agree, very boring. But there were a lot of cool things out there, perhaps you had to be there 



Origin said:


> Jesus, I wish Parkers didn't cost everything I've ever owned and a contract for possession of my firstborn in the future....NICE pics.



They have some USA models that are around $1500.


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## marbledbeef (Mar 27, 2010)

Can't believe I'm only just lookin at this thread! Too .. much .... GAS argh


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## zimbloth (Mar 28, 2010)

marbledbeef said:


> Can't believe I'm only just lookin at this thread! Too .. much .... GAS argh



Yeah it was a fun time and a fun thread to make


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## zimbloth (Mar 29, 2010)

[wrong thread]


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