NAMM Starts 1/21/16!

Is NAMM something that would be interesting for a consumer / uke player/enthusiast to attend or is it really geared towards retailers?

I'm just a few minutes away from the venue but no idea if this would be "fun."

Any pointers?
 
I'd sure like to. Never been. I expect it will be...noisy. :)
What does it cost to get into that shindig?

Don't, really, don't go into the drum section. Holy cow, it's loud.
 
Is NAMM something that would be interesting for a consumer / uke player/enthusiast to attend or is it really geared towards retailers?

I'm just a few minutes away from the venue but no idea if this would be "fun."

Any pointers?

You need a ticket to get in. But it's worth it. I'm not a vendor or anything. But it was a ton of fun. It's overwhelming.
 
Is NAMM something that would be interesting for a consumer / uke player/enthusiast to attend or is it really geared towards retailers?

I'm just a few minutes away from the venue but no idea if this would be "fun."

Any pointers?

It's not open to the public. It's for industry folk. I'm lucky that I have some contacts and get to go. It is overwhelming. To be candid, it's sucks for trying to hear the tone of instruments as there is so much noise and chaos. But it's endless eye candy!!!
 
The public can't buy a ticket, only industry people can get in if they meet the requirements. I've been lucky the last couple of years that my younger brother can get me in. I'm going on Sunday. Last year on Sunday I walked through about 85% of the show from about 9 am to 4 pm. This time I'm going to pick and choose what booths I'll visit, hit as many ukulele booths as possible, then find any mini basses, and stop by Pat Wilkins booth to say hi. I just brought him a bass to paint.
 
Hope its not to early to start getting excited but can't wait to see all the new models coming out and hear all the music!
Anyone else coming to NAMM?

I would love to go one day just for the experience of it, but I don't know anyone in the music business with a ticket to spare. People I know who have gone have had a lot of fun, though, and there has been a UU jam outside the venue for at least the past couple of years.
 
You lucky folks who get the chance to go, please keep us posted on what's new!
 
And Sukie, apparently.

I bought a ticket, actually.

I really went to LA because Aldrine had a show in Long Beach. I didn't have a NAMM ticket. My friends also had a show during NAMM I wanted to go to. Through my friends I was offered a chance to get a ticket. BUT since it was the day before NAMM, tickets had to be paid for. It was totally worth it. It's a huge place and I never did see it all. Holy Cow! It took me 3 days to find a bassoon. I played a theremin, got lost in the drum section -- it is very loud and disorienting. Got some cool stuff -- some even free (!), and saw some of the world's best ukulele players perform at different vendor booths -- Benny Chong, Brian Tolentino, Kalei, Aldrine, Sarah and Craig, Ken Middleton, Mike Hind....what a great list!

If you can get a ticket? Go.
 
If I could go, I would. I don't like chaos and loud noises, but I'd go. I'm sitting practically next door to a house being built and the saws and hammers are driving me nuts. If they were ukes, I'd be in heaven.

Yes, please, whoever gets to go, show us lotsa pics and maybe some videos of some fabulous playing!
 
For those who are bummed because they don't get to go - here's an alternate take on it. I've been, courtesy of my local shop, and while I was really glad I got to check it out I have to say it did not live up to the hype for me at all. Of course I loved everything at the Kamaka booth and it was great seeing some of the performers repping the vendors, but in terms of seeing anything new and exciting in the ukulele world, there certainly wasn't much that year (or perhaps that day of that year - we went on a Thursday and some vendors had not yet arrived). There were a lot of lower end Asian imports and a handful of kind of interesting one-offs, but nothing that made me start making plans to save up. My impression was that it's much more gadget- and rock-centric and probably a lot more interesting for those who are into that sort of thing. The highlight for me actually was witnessing an awesome young woman playing classical (Bach IIRC) on a Korean gayageum :)

In a way I suspect NAMM was much more special before the Internet. We can pretty much see and hear everything new and exciting in the uke world online, and can often hear it better than in the cacophony that is NAMM. My main motivation for going was to check out some of Kamaka's instruments that rarely if ever make it to my local shop, and honestly, even after seeing and hearing them in person, under those conditions it was impossible for me to decide what I wanted, if anything.

And yes - it's LOUD!
 
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In a way I suspect NAMM was much more special before the Internet. We can pretty much see and hear everything new and exciting in the uke world online, and can often hear it better than in the cacophony that is NAMM. My main motivation for going was to check out some of Kamaka's instruments that rarely if ever make it to my local shop, and honestly, even after seeing and hearing them in person, under those conditions it was impossible for me to decide what I wanted, if anything.

Absolutely. Back then, NAMM served a much bigger purpose because it was THE place where dealers placed orders, and got to see all the new stuff before it was even available. The internet and social media has completely changed that, so NAMM is kind of on borrowed time in a way, because it's hugely expensive to go and exhibit there (even down in Hall E, where the bulk of the smaller builders are) and there isn't a concrete ROI anymore. You used to be able to write hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales on the show floor, and while SOME sales are still made, many dealers don't go anymore.

That said, it's pretty cool. As a player and someone in the business, it's a good hang.
 
My main motivation for going was to check out some of Kamaka's instruments that rarely if ever make it to my local shop, and honestly, even after seeing and hearing them in person, under those conditions it was impossible for me to decide what I wanted, if anything.

And yes - it's LOUD!

Agreed, cacophony is the word. However, at Summer NAMM there were sound booths you could enter with an instrument to shut out the noise. I have never attended the main NAMM event, but anticipate those sound booths will be present. Ask the vendor if you can try the instrument in a quiet location.
 
Agreed, cacophony is the word. However, at Summer NAMM there were sound booths you could enter with an instrument to shut out the noise. I have never attended the main NAMM event, but anticipate those sound booths will be present. Ask the vendor if you can try the instrument in a quiet location.

Yes, the Anaheim show has those sound booths, but with a line waiting to use because it's also for people wanting to make cell phone calls.
 
I went for my first time in 2015 and was so blessed to meet many new friends like Sukie, Mim and Mike of Uke Republic! ESPECIALLY hanging and talking with the best players and builders in the world. Probably my highlight was speaking with Noa Bonk, MASTER Luthier of Ko'olau early in the morning at their booth and just picking his brain. Oh, and meeting Alan Okami, El Presidente of KoAloha. The following Spring, my wife and I went to Oahu and visited ALL of the "K" factory tours and it was a reunion seeing my new Hawaiian friends again. There are many more incredible memories at NAMM from just a 3 days and 2 nights I was there. I REALLY WISH I was going back this year. :iwant:
 
Last year I read that the super-ukers were going to jam out front, about an hour before it was actually supposed to happen. Since I live close by, I grabbed my travel uke and my skateboard and jumped in the car. And ya know what...I found that there's not a lot of temporary parking, across the street from Disneyland, on the weekend, during the NAMM show.

So I parked in the lot of the hotel next door, which just screamed "bad idea", hoped for the best, expected the worst, and rode over to find absolutely zero going on, uke-wise. I hung out for a while, people watching. Which at the NAMM show is world-class. I'd see guys that look like Roy Orbison arm in arm with girls that looked like a half-naked Jennifer Lawrence in six inch heels walk by and then another couple that looked just like that walk by a minute later! Whoa!

Pretty soon, Mim, Aldrine, Mike Hind, Greg Golden, Jion Jugo and Colin Coleman, all from Mim's Ukulele Sideshow, came out and started jammin'! They'd come up with a four chord progression for us newer players and we'd all jam while they took turns soloing!!!! AMAZING! Made my year!

The fact that me, an overfed long haired leaping gnome should be...(in a jam with those guys!), But there I was!

They were so cool and made a huge effort to include us newer players in the jam. I'd love to go this year again, but I'll ride my bike from further away and the tickets through scalpers are going for about $175, so I don't imagine I'm going in.

I played with them for about an hour until I felt that I had pressed my luck with the parking spot as far as I could. I thanked the guys, who kept on playin', and luckily found my car where I left it.

Thank you Mim and everyone who played last year! Hope to see you again this year!!!
 
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