Courtesy of australianmusician.com.au
Words: Greg Phillips. Photos: Jason Rosewarne.
Over 60 exhibitors had set up shop inside the Victoria Pavilion for the weekend. Upon entry, punters walked straight into the luthiers area in the Atrium. A great array of acoustic builders were in attendance including Fenech Guitars, direct from their successful NAMM trip and on hand to talk up their instruments including custom shop dreadnoughts, a gorgeous Madagascar rosewood Masterbuilt series guitar, Custom Shop Bluegrass and the all new Supreme Series among many others. Fenech Guitars also just announced that Aurora Music Works (AMW) has partnered with them to distribute these amazing instruments exclusively in the UK and Ireland. It was great to see Cargill Guitars exhibiting their beautiful instruments, continuing the great legacy of founder Jim Cargill. Mark Gilbert was in the house, showcasing his hand-crafted one off custom made instruments, designed and built by the one person from start to finish at Mark’s premises in Hobart, Tasmania (we chatted with Mark couple of years ago – watch here ).
Wildwood Guitars, who present electric guitar making courses had some fabulous instruments on hand, including a cherry red ES style hollow body guitar that took our eye. Their ’skull’ $9000 double neck, short scale bass and tenor guitar in one was difficult to look away from too. There were some new faces in the luthier area too, or at least I hadn’t seen them at the event before. These included Benavides Guitars, Checki Guitars (those paint splatter finishes ala Jackson Pollock, wow!), and Frank Guitars. It’s so great to see more clever individuals getting the guitar builder bug and inspiring others to do so at a show like this. And it’s not just guitars but products like the Mark Aspland’s Woodskin™ KiKBox® Cajon were kicking goals too. With a globally patented built-in pedal kick drum, switchable snare, plus tone and depth controls, the KiKBox® Cajon offers versatility with a uniquely crisp and powerful sound. Maton, the grand old dame of Australian guitars were showcasing their amazing new master built range, as well as Troubadour and Messiah models. They make consistently exemplary instruments and proudly export worldwide. National Music displayed a fine range of affordable but finely created Tanglewood acoustics, as well as Elixir and Rotosound strings, plus the uber cool Kink pedals.
Inside the main trade floor area was rockin’ too. Where to begin? Teaming up with retailer, KC’s Rockshop at MGS 2025, Cole Clark is another brand that had just arrived back from a successful NAMM Show. As always it was their True Hybrid guitars that everyone wanted to try out. From perfect acoustic sounds to gritty electric vibes, the True Hybrid has been a game changer. Grammy winning American artist Ruthie Foster is touring Australia at the moment and told us in an interview recently the she’ll be using the True Hybrid on her tour this time around.
Amber Technology has such broad range of solid brands now and on show at MGS2025 were the always attractive Duesenbergs, Breedlove acoustics, Warwick and Sadowsky basses as well as the popular Strymon and Hotone pedals.
Speaking of quality acoustic guitars, Colemans Music were spruiking the fab Taylor Guitar range, another fine alternative to the usual go-to acoustic brands.
For the metal heads (and there were many in town for Knotfest the Friday before at the Showgrounds) Belfield Music had you covered with a large range of ESP guitars, as well as Marshall, Blackstar and Orange amps to blast them through.
Not too far away, D’Addario Australia were showing their Schecter Guitar range of electric rock machines too, as well as a good showing of Ovation and Alvarez acoustics.
Mooer EFX and guitars had a truckload of gear on stand, including some very affordable electric guitar, amp and multi-effect options. You could easily lose yourself for hours in checking out their wares.
Mannys came to play in a big way at MGS2025 too. Particularly eye catching was their range of Ibanez Guitars, who had a massive launch of new products earlier this year. Loved the Pat Metheny PM3C model and what a finish!. Of course Gibson Les Paul’s, Flying V’s and Firebirds were front and centre too. The Stradberg Bodin’s gained a lot of interest, not my cup of tea aesthetically but impressed many others in the house. Oh but that Gibson Murphy Lab 1959 ES-335, I do adore you.
Having just experienced the PRS 40th anniversary concert at the NAMM Show I was keen to have a closer look at the range on display at MGS2025. ELFA the Australian distributor of PRS teamed up with retailer Modern Musician to exhibit the brand this year at the guitar show. Punters were enticed to the stand with some attractive flash sales on the guitars, as well as Hercules stands and Elixir strings. I was drawn to some very nice and not too expensive PRS SE models, a gold model with moon inlay said ‘buy me’ but my pockets told me otherwise.
Of course Boss was ever present with a large range of pedals on hand, everyone needs at minimum a Boss tuner and probably a DD8 digital delay for good measure, oh and maybe a D5 Waza Craft distortion too and … it never ends! Also on stand, Boss/Roland were highlighting the VG-800 and WAZA-TAE CORE, as well as the Katana Gen 3 amp range.
As well as the myriad of guitars on show, accessories were aplenty including the excellent hand made guitar straps from Colonial Leather, who have been churning out world class products for decades. They had a great range of straps on display and were also keen to take custom orders for those players who want something unique and specific to their needs.
Yamaha Guitars have always been a big supporter of the Melbourne Guitar Show and this year showcased lovely range of acoustics in their finely crafted Trans Acoustic range, as well as some interesting gear from Ampeg and Line 6. The Line 6 POD Express Compact Guitar Multi Effect Pedal is a beauty. Yamaha also had Modern Musician promoting their extensive range of Earthquaker Devices pedals, always a winner at a guitar show.
The folks on the Dynamic Music stand were super busy demonstrating the latest Cort, Katoh and Zoom products.
Tonex created plenty of interest on their stand with the TONEX pedal, a complete stage rig in one unit. TONEX’s groundbreaking technology lets you model everything from a single effect to a full pedal amp and cab rig. The TONEX pedal goes even further, giving you all the tools you need to shape your sound live on stage. Plus the ToneNET community gives you access to thousands of shared amp models, pedals and entire rigs. TONEX by IK Multimedia is proudly distributed by Sound And Music.
Sky Music had a lovely range of Jackson and Gretsch guitars, Journey Musical Instruments was an interesting guitar show newbie that was worth checking out. K&M had all the stands and cables and accessories you’ll ever need in your musical life and Marsh was there to safely and affordably insure all your hard earned gear. Pedal Empire put on a great pedal party, a sight to see as they showcased boutique Australian pedal makers.
Based on the Gold Coast, Skol Guitars came down to unveil the SKOL signature model, featuring unique aesthetic touches and premium materials that set our guitars apart. Punters were bad to discover the innovative process behind each build and explore how you can customise your own SKOL instrument to reflect your personality and style.
Nepean Music were promoting Pure Salem and Leadbetter Guitar Co, it’s always great to have new brands onboard to check out. Also new to the game, the very attractive Poschelk Guitars had a unique vibe to them.
Franklin Echo Fix had a lot of interest with their modern day tape echoes and studio FX. With special offers on their popular EF-P3 Chorus/Vibrato and EF-P2 Spring Reverb, those things were walking’ out the door. Their Di’s and Reampers gained a lot of attention too.
Look, I know we have missed many exhibitors and products … we’re sorry but we just couldn’t get to everything and we’ve yet to mention Fender, who had their own room outside of the main building.
The Fender Experience not only presented the latest range of Fender guitars and custom shop options with over 100 guitars on display, but it also featured their own stage with performances and demos.
Making a bold statement just inside the Fender room were the Hello Kitty range of guitars, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Hello Kitty character. The Monster Hunter Rathalos Telecaster® is a collaboration model commemorating the 20th anniversary of the worldwide hunting action game “Monster Hunter” in which players confront giant monsters in a massive nature setting. The red model front and centre in the Fender room looked quite imposing. There were many Acoustasonic models to try out, as well as some appealing road worns, Vintera’s, Player II series, and the Jack White Triplecaster, which Gabor from the Superfunawesomehappytime YouTube channel unboxed in a livestream from the Fender Experience room. Another successful Youtuber Leon Todd was also busy on the weekend and presented a session for Fender. Leon Todd’s guitar YouTube (@leontodd) has amassed 113k subscribers and over 34 million video views since its launch in 2008. Leon offered great advice on establishing your own channel, as he demoed some of his favourite gear from the Fender stand. Fender Custom Shop’s Paul McShane was also on deck to discuss the creation of your dream custom Fender guitar. More about the Fender Experience room and the artists who played there in our performance rundown soon. Our ace photographer Jason Rosewarne was out and about snapping pics, below are some more.
For more information on the products and brands mentioned, visit https://melbourneguitarshow.com.au/category/exhibitors/
Copyright © 2022 – Melbourne Guitar Show
Share Melbourne Guitar show on Social Media