London Guitar Show 2007 Video at Excel Docklands

Presenter: Debbie King | Camera: G Davies | Production: GSINC

 

[Transcription of Video]

 

London Guitar Show 2007

Debbie: Welcome to the London Guitar Show 2007 here at London Excel in the heart of the capital. It is Europe's biggest consumer show for guitars, acoustics, recordings, amplification and accesories.

Including performances from the likes of the Hamsters and the Blockheads, and you can experience exclusive master-classes from none other than Steve Vai.

The event features Ross Morris an old established family run business that has built its fantastic reputation on his friendly and personal relationship with both its suppliers and customers.

Now, they say that Ross Morris is where musicians shop and if you are a musician or you're simply into music then the London Guitar Show is where you simply have to be.

 

Interview with Hagstrom Guitars

Debbie: Right now I'm joined by Steve who is one of the owners of Hagstrom UK. Hello Steve!

Steve: Hi there!

Debbie: Nice to meet you. Now, Hagstrom was big in 1960's and 1970's but it's making a comeback right now. Tell me a little bit more about this.

Steve: Yeah, certainly. The name Hagstrom was synonymous to rock and roll back in the 1960's and 1970's with people such as the Beatles and Elvis Presley, Frank Zappa - all being very well known for using it.

Suddenly it stopped 20 years ago, because they were always perfectionists who wanted to keep it right, so very quietly over the last few years the grandson has decided to resurge the name after 23 years and this is the first showing of them which we're really excited about.

It's very nice to see, and we've been inundated, absolutely inundated by people that are fascinated about the history of Hagstrom and what's going to happen.

Debbie: Well, it's a lovely story, the grandson bringing the guitar back. So, you say it's been received very well and there are some big players in the industry? What about some modern famous people who's been playing it recently?

Steve: Quite interestingly there's one or two cult sort of people out there, people like Pat Smear, who played with Foo Fighters and Nirvana, that wanted to get behind and endorse.

If you're ever out and about watching some of the gigs today - people like Franks Ferdinand, Nine Inch Nails are using it as well. It's just a joy to a play and if anyone likes music, it's about playing and enjoying and that's what you get. As soon as you pick this up you want to play it and start enjoying it.

Debbie: Steve, thank you very much.

 

Interview with Vox Amps

Debbie: Now the Beatles are just one of the many world famous artists who played many a tune through Vox Amps, and right now I'm joined by Pete from Vox Amps themselves. It's nice to meet you, Pete.

Pete: Hello, lovely to meet you.

Debbie: Now, I believe you're celebrating your fiftieth anniversary this year. What are you doing to commemorate that marvelous year?

Pete: We've got a couple of new amps out, the first one is the heritage range of amplifiers, the AC15, which is a hand wired which is out specifically for the anniversary and which features a valve which hasn't been around for about 50 years, so it's got something very special in it and a great tone as well which will be released very soon.

Debbie: Wow! They look cool! What else have you got?

Pete: We've got the new ADXL range, which are kind more of a high gain metal players dream. So, that's kind of a bit more dirty sound, and then is the DA range which are Digital Amp with battery operatated so you can take them anywhere - a buskers amp if you will.

They go from a 5 watt little amp through to a bigger 20 watt model as well. So, those three are kind of a new 50 anniversary models that you'll see from Vox.

Debbie: Ok, so I already mention that the Beatles have used Vox Amps. Who else have used Vox Amps over the years?

Pete: Just about everyone. Pretty much every classic rock group - Rolling Stones through to the guys from Slipknot, and Cub, there's a big range of players that are using Vox Amps on the scene today.

Debbie: I believe you're a bit of a guitarist yourself, and you're going to be playing with the Prince of Darkness himself Ozzie Osbourne, later on in the year?

Pete: I am indeed. My band Headspace are luckily enough to play with Ozzie in June so, will be using some Vox Amps there as well.

Interview with Godin & Norman Guitars

Debbie: Tell me about your guitars, Ben..

Ben: Well, I'm here representing Godin Guitars and Norman as well. Basically, Godin are a Canadian made guitar. There are a few things that make them different from other brands. For example on this model you have three outputs here. It's not on all the models, but it's been on some of them and they have guitar synth capability, as well as acoustic capability and electric capability - so a complete verse solution all in one. You can do pretty much anything and can have them all going into separate things at the same.

Debbie: How does a Godin sound, compared to your competitors?

Ben: The things that make them different are obviously the synth effects and the acoustic capability - its such a good buying feature. At the moment we've got it plugged down here into an acoustic amplifier, a Roland synth, which make it sound like a piano, (or even string instruments, ethnic voices and stuff like that) and we've got it plugged to an electric amp as well.

All three at the same time, which means when you singing and you don't want to take all your instruments with you, you can just take one guitar and it's fantastic.

Introducing Norman Guitars

Ben: This is a branch of the Godin family, same company, but these acoustic guitars have quite a few differences as well, all Canadian built.

Debbie: If you're buying a guitar for the first time, if you got any tips of what to look for without spending too much money?

Ben: Yeah, you don't need to spend lots of money, I think. Look for something with a solid top, make sure it's comfortable, you like the sound. It's all about what you like - player's preference - and you like the way it feels.

Interview with Organic Guitars

Debbie: Now it's time to take a look at some hand crafted guitars from Organic, and this is Duncan. How are you doing?

Duncan: Hi. I'm good, thanks.

Debbie: Good. Enjoying the show so far?

Duncan: Yes. Yes. Great!

Debbie: Tell me about your organic guitars, because they look beautiful.

Duncan: Right. I mean, I suppose the first thing everybody asks is why are they called Organic Guitars? That really relates to the shape of them. If you look, you'll notice that there aren't any straight edges or corners, its very curved, organic, very friendly ergonomic shape.

The second sort of organic vibe there really is the all natural oiled finished woods. We don't go in for lacquer and paint and that sort of thing. Wood is beautiful enough on its own; it doesn't need covering up to make it any more pretty.

Debbie: What different types of wood are these guitars made from?

Duncan: We've got a variety here. The main wood that we use is African paduke, but then we also add various tops to the wood. You'll see that there are maples here, spotted maple inside, but generally we don't go for the wood that everybody else uses. You won't see any mahogany or you know, not a lot of swamp ash that sort of thing. We go for more interesting, more exotic woods.

Debbie: How does these sound compared with other electric guitars?

Duncan: Again, it's a question I'm often asked. What do they sound like? They don't sound like any other guitar and we've deliberately not tried to copy the sound of any other guitar. They have their own unique tone.

Debbie: Have you sold any of your organic guitars to any famous guitarists?

Duncan: We have endorsement from Jeff Whitehorn. In fact, this is his guitar hanging on the wall here.

Debbie: Wow!

Duncan: This is his actual guitar. We are going to do a limited run of basically copies of that guitar, that Jeff Whitehorn signature model - he is our principal endorsee at the moment.

Debbie: Good luck to you and lovely to talk to you.

Duncan: Thank you very much.

Interviews with the public

Debbie: So, what do you think of the show today?
Person: It's been good. I've been quite impressed.
Debbie: You play bass guitar, don't you?
Person1: Yeah.
Debbie: Have you seen anything that tickled your fantasy?
Person1: That was a Dean bass actually I liked. It got a great tone on it.

Debbie: What do you think of the show today?
Person2: Fabulous, fabulous show! It's really great.
Debbie: Have you seen anything you want to buy?
Person2: Anything I don't want to buy that's the problem! Gorgeous stuff here.

Debbie: Have you seen anything that tickled your fantasy? Any guitars?
Person3: I have, many things. You can spend a fortune here. It's beautiful, it's really nice. We came all the way from Italy and this is cool.
Debbie: Do you have anything like this in Italy?
Person3: Yes we do, actually, but it's a lot more energy here I think and it's also much easier to meet interesting people and stuff.

Debbie: What do you think of the London Guitar Show?
Person4: Oh, it's great! It's nice to see all the players out there and I guess the only thing is a little bit of a shame is the restriction on the noise 'cause you come to a show and you want to see people play, but you know, otherwise it's a great set up, it's a good place to have it the Excel Centre.

Interview with Travis Smith

Debbie: Travis Smith. It's a pleasure to meet you. So, what do you thing is the best thing here today?
Travis: You know what - they have a Keith Moon replica kit set up, so I thought it was pretty cool to see that and this room seems pretty cool.

Debbie: The guitar with all the crystals is really nice.
Travis: Yeah and I like the one that was right out front with like motor chains and all that; that was pretty cool.
Debbie: Well, nice to meet you and good luck! Thank you.
Travis: Bye!

Debbie: Have you seen anything today that you know, you kind of wanna take home with you, any particular guitars?
Person5: There was a guy over there… No, I'm kidding.

Debbie: What do you think about the London Guitar Show today?
Person6: Great! Awesome!
Person7: There's so much stuff I wish I could buy. I thought a few quid would do me, but I wish to I had like thousands.
Debbie: Ok, thanks guys!

Debbie: So, that's it from me here, Debbie King here at the London Guitar Show 2007 and I hope you've enjoyed yourself as much as I have and I hope to see you next year. Bye!

END