The Guitar Show 2025 (now with added The Bass Show) March 1st & 2nd, Cranmore Park, B90 4LF

sweepy

The stall selling nice leather guitar straps said she noticed fewer ppl going out with guitars this yr 

Jason

rsvmark said:

Good show today imho. Good to catch up with @ThorpyFX and @IvisonGuitars and meet a few folks. it seemed less crowded this year- I hope that means decent tix sales. Better parking, and better queues for coffee. Nice mix of stands and in particular the smaller scale uk businesses. Highlight for me was the Zemaitis guitars- never seen these up close before and gassing hard for one of those. Second up was meeting Mikey from Redbeard and his new obnoxious fuzz thing- sadly I can’t use one but it was nasty. In third place was Ivison stuff- just love these. 

I can’t think of many better ways of spending a Sunday. 

Tickets were up. Remember the audience was split over 3 halls this time not 2. 

Better queues for coffee because we had 3 coffee bars not 1

Better parking because we had 5 car parks not 2. 

Jason

uncledick said:

Spent a few hours there today but didn't even buy a coffee!  Couldn't get into the live stage room but sounded like some decent acts listening from the corridor.  No doubt that pedals and boards are still incredibly popular despite the plethora of digital options.  Good to see the Fretboard stand with a permanent crowd.
Overall, I'd be interested to hear how well the vendors got on.  I didn't see a lot of money being spent - these are difficult times for a lot of people.
Bristol next month - always some obscure stuff there, and it's half the journey time

Absolute Music, GuitarGuitar & PMT all up on last year. Didn’t manage to catch up with Fairdeal. 

Bass Direct said it was the best show they’d ever done. 

So people were spending more than ever. 

uncledick

Jason said:

uncledick said:

Spent a few hours there today but didn't even buy a coffee!  Couldn't get into the live stage room but sounded like some decent acts listening from the corridor.  No doubt that pedals and boards are still incredibly popular despite the plethora of digital options.  Good to see the Fretboard stand with a permanent crowd.
Overall, I'd be interested to hear how well the vendors got on.  I didn't see a lot of money being spent - these are difficult times for a lot of people.
Bristol next month - always some obscure stuff there, and it's half the journey time

Absolute Music, GuitarGuitar & PMT all up on last year. Didn’t manage to catch up with Fairdeal. 

Bass Direct said it was the best show they’d ever done. 

So people were spending more than ever. 

Like you say, maybe having more space must've made it look a bit quieter.  Really pleased that you had good feedback from traders.  Thanks for all your hard work - I know these events don't just 'happen'.

EricTheWeary

https://youtu.be/YVT3FslrCfs?si=baD3DK1ln5ykk27C

Don’t know if YouTube short links work on here but Danny Sapko was there, just to add to my bad feelings about not getting off my arse and going. 

nikharrison

Great show! Lovely to catch up with a load of great people too. With work commitments and other “life stuff” going on for me, I missed the last two shows but returning this year was like going to an old friends house… you just pick up where you left off.

Thank you to all who make it what it is

joetele

Went yesterday, spent about six hours there. First thing I'll say is that the car parking staff were fantastic. I think the very closest spaces were reserved for exhibitors and performers, which is fair enough with the amount of stuff they all had to lug. And it was free parking - can't complain about that. 

Didn't manage to cross paths with Andy Guitar Geek, but spent some quality time chatting to Andy from Funny Little Boxes, and tried the Dirt pedal - definitely on my 'to buy' list. Also met @Roland briefly, and had a nice chat with him. Forgot to go back and get a pedalboard! 

Tried a few guitars - after falling in love with a Revstar in Exeter last year, I tried another one to make sure it wasn't a fluke - still very lovely. Also after years of curiosity tried a Reverend - absolutely lovely sounding guitar, very well made, but didn't feel quite like it justified the price compared to some guitars half the price (or even Revstars of similar price). 

Also tried some cheapies which were OK but didn't do a lot for me, and tried the Shergold Telstar which I found disappointing - sharp fret ends, felt a bit unfinished despite lovely pickups. However the Shergold Provocateur of similar price was MUCH better - locking tuners, lovely neck, great pickups, and much more pleasing build quality. Also tried their shortscale bass which was a lot of fun too. 

My incredible fiancee was very adamant about the Provocateur and ended up buying it for me, so I'll be paying her back when I can for that. It's a really lovely guitar, just needs a bit of lemon oil on the fretboard and it's good to go. 

Overall I thought the whole thing was really well organised, the whole quiet hour/loud hour thing was nicely done, the amenities were great (especially the hot food) and not overexpensive, and there was plenty to see and do. I'd have liked to have seen more second hand guitars and curios, but appreciate it was more an exhibitor-led show. 

May go back next year! 

ScreamingDave

I was massively disappointed.  Senior Management wouldn’t give budgetary approval for a ‘62 SG Custom at a mere £29,995, so I came away with nothing. Except a few picks

Oh, and an AWSOME cookie.  Did I mention that already?

Oh, and spying Dave Hill there was nice. 

I haven’t been to a guitar show for a good 10-15 years and it was fantastic to go with my son who’s now 27 and blows me away every time I hear him play. 

I seem to remember far more nick-nacks and curios for sale in days of yore: stuff like mic stand cup holders and mic stand bags, string bargains, but that could be a bit of rear view mirror distortion.  I guess internet shopping has meant that those sorts of things are readily available now, so we don’t have to wait for guitar shows to buy them. 

Overall I had a fab day and spent far more time there than I thought I would.  I’ll definitely hope to be back next year. 

TimmyO

Just to say - this years was the best guitar show (I mean in any guise in any time period) I've ever been to. 

Catering, parking, places to go for a sit, space to move around, and the stuff to see were all spot on - testament to the work @Jason has put in over the years working to improve every single aspect. 

mrkb

EricTheWeary said:

https://youtu.be/YVT3FslrCfs?si=baD3DK1ln5ykk27C

Don’t know if YouTube short links work on here but Danny Sapko was there, just to add to my bad feelings about not getting off my arse and going. 

Wow - never heard of him before, is he a fast show character?

mudslide73

ScreamingDave said:

Oh, and spying Dave Hill there was nice. 

I thought that was Dave! He's a little fella for sure. What's mad was I was only watching some Van Halen b roll video on Youtube where he's backstage talking to Eddie at Donnington on Saturday night.

EricTheWeary

mrkb said:

EricTheWeary said:

https://youtu.be/YVT3FslrCfs?si=baD3DK1ln5ykk27C

Don’t know if YouTube short links work on here but Danny Sapko was there, just to add to my bad feelings about not getting off my arse and going. 

Wow - never heard of him before, is he a fast show character?

He could be! 

Danny gets quite a few mentions on here so he’s famous in a very limited way. And I recognised Cici from Andertons in the photo with him, I don’t know who the other women are. 

TimmyO

EricTheWeary said:

mrkb said:

EricTheWeary said:

https://youtu.be/YVT3FslrCfs?si=baD3DK1ln5ykk27C

Don’t know if YouTube short links work on here but Danny Sapko was there, just to add to my bad feelings about not getting off my arse and going. 

Wow - never heard of him before, is he a fast show character?

He could be! 

Danny gets quite a few mentions on here so he’s famous in a very limited way. And I recognised Cici from Andertons in the photo with him, I don’t know who the other women are. 

One is Becky Baldwin - brilliant player - originally from Swindon hence I recognise 

PearlsPreserve

Monkeybone said:

I was hoping to go today, but the sale of my Ibanez acoustic baritone fell through, so no spending money for me. It'd be a long way to go for me just to have a look then go home again. I would have liked to have wander round the Faith stall, they have prototypes for sale again (I have one of the prototypes from two years ago). Enjoy the weekend everyone. 

The Faith stand was excellent and my dad bought one of the prototypes.  A beautiful Trembesi Venus that played superbly and sounded great, at a superb price. 

Overall, my dad, my mate who came along to, and I all really enjoyed the show.  The only thing missing was someone like Bare Knuckle.  I was looking for some pickups for a project and didn't find a single one for sale!  

Jason

PearlsPreserve said:

Monkeybone said:

I was hoping to go today, but the sale of my Ibanez acoustic baritone fell through, so no spending money for me. It'd be a long way to go for me just to have a look then go home again. I would have liked to have wander round the Faith stall, they have prototypes for sale again (I have one of the prototypes from two years ago). Enjoy the weekend everyone. 

The Faith stand was excellent and my dad bought one of the prototypes.  A beautiful Trembesi Venus that played superbly and sounded great, at a superb price. 

Overall, my dad, my mate who came along to, and I all really enjoyed the show.  The only thing missing was someone like Bare Knuckle.  I was looking for some pickups for a project and didn't find a single one for sale!  

Bare Knuckle had their display destroyed by a carrier. They should have been there. 

Fletcher were selling pickups as were a few of the builders. 

YellowLedBetterMan

Gutted I couldn't make it this year. Hope a good time was had by those who went!

darius

Jason said:

Bare Knuckle had their display destroyed by a carrier. They should have been there. 

Now thats a headline. Whats the story?

I would have missed seeing them - if I had actually gone to the show :-)

Jason

darius said:

Jason said:

Bare Knuckle had their display destroyed by a carrier. They should have been there. 

Now thats a headline. Whats the story?

I would have missed seeing them - if I had actually gone to the show :-)

Err that is the story. Carrier was bloody useless. No surprises

Plectrum

Jason said:

Err that is the story. Carrier was bloody useless. No surprises

Sounds more like a Dropper than a Carrier.

Chris.B

It was my first time at the show since 2020 when we were just heading into Covid. On arrived at 9.30 there was a short traffic queue, I was then directed to a space in the main car park, enjoyed a 10 minute "sunbathe" whilst waiting to enter, it was lovely to feel the sun on my face.  During the wait someone walked along the queue several times to check that we were in the right queue (pre-paid tickets) - a very good initiative to save frustration at the door.

Really enjoyed the first hour or so before it got rather busy. A good mix of the well known retailers and small boutique makers, I saw some lovely guitars and enjoyed conversations with the makers.  Top marks to Maybury Guitars for bringing a lovely lefty instrument. 

Crimson had a good presence, with plenty of staff to chat to and with discounts for guitar building courses and tools for sale.  The Yamaha/Line 6 stand had lots of interesting items of tech and again, plenty of people to speak to.

The acoustic hall was very good indeed, a nice quiet area, with traders from the small AJ Lucas (what a nice chap and excellent guitars) to the larger companies like Faith where I was very nearly tempted by an acoustic guitar.

The coffee and pastries bar in each of the halls was a great idea, I believe there were also 2 pub/cafe/restaurants on site too.

I felt very sorry for the German company who's stall consisted of a poster apologising for the lack of a display due to everything being delayed in Customs - thanks Brexit. 

A good day out in a nice venue, I wonder if going mid afternoon might give a less crowded experience. 

I hope the traders were pleased with the event and we can look forward to the 2026.

Well done @Jason ;