 Journals
Well, we've now got the world's two biggest music industry fairs behind us!
This year's NAMM show was an American quantum leap for us in so many ways, and Messe was a European and "rest-of-the-world" confirmation that NAMM was not just a flash-in-the-pan.
Again, we met friends from previous fairs, good musicians, and made lots of new contacts.
We made or formailsed new distribution partnerships in Germany, Japan, Australia, as well as initiated discussions with several more. Alberto brought lots of Italian folk to the stand, and is as dynamic as ever.
If one sound is to imprint itself in the memory of the visitors at our stand this year, it must surely be the calling wail of our Flaxwood fretless prototype. Jussi's childhood years spent in the Levant (Lebanon, Jordan, Oman) clearly set him on a musical journey from which he still has no desire to return.
So "vielen dank Frankfurt!", you were kind and generous to us (too much sausage and beer of course...); see you next year! Until then, if you want to catch the next Flaxwood trade fair appearance, you probably need to come to summer NAMM in Nashville this June. Wow...now doesn't that not sound like a great place for a music industry trade show?!
See y'all there!
Kim Lerche
Marketing Manager
Flaxwood Guitars
A picture says a thousand words, so here goes... Jussi's photo diary, bitte!
Arriving in Frankfurt brought back all the memories from last year, which was my first time at the Messe. Including the blood, sweat and tears it would take before everything was smoothly up and running. You might not believe it from the pics, but Messe-ing is actually a lot of hard work, preparation, deliberation, procrastination, railway station...
This diary needed a title. I nicked it.
A very urban Frankfurt view.
Kim at the FW booth as it was... before we went to work on it.
Making important phone calls - where the hell are our guitars?
The FW booth - ready to open for bizniz. Check. Yi Kamon.
After the first day setting up, we were just about ready for the Messe to open. Thirst and hunger guided your humble flaxwoodsmen into the arms of Frankfurt nightlife. Which was nice.
"Saa-ruu-maannn..." Frankfurt by night.
Ah, the fruits of labor.
And then it was time for the Messe to open. We seemed to attract quite a lot of people to the stand, indicating that there is a buzz out there on the Flax.
Bizniz. Check. Yi Kamon.
Longtime FW supporter, Forum regular A-L Dallman drops by.
And then... onto the new developments. What's Veijo been working on at the FW workshop in Heinävaara?
One hot blonde, at least - some pics of the new Liekki prototype with a blonde flaxwood neck. Same material, same characteristics, different color. This was the result of a test run done at the workshop, and currently the details are being worked out so this isn't in production yet. Hope we get her into stores soon, as she truly is a beauty!
Flaxwood Liekki prototype with blonde flaxwood neck
Veijo also did some quirky Customs with his handwound Rautia pickups. Below is a FW Custom with Veijo's Bar-o-caster pickups (neck and bridge), which switch between a Strat single coil, a P90 coil, a cool vintage humbucker, and a hot modern humbucker at the turn of a mini switch. The middle pickup is a punchy Telecaster-style single coil, again handwound by Veijo. Sounds absolutely spectacular. Available on Flaxwood Custom Shop orders.
Flaxwood Custom with handwound Rautia Bar-o-caster pickups.
Another Custom model Veijo built for the Messe was this Lumi white guitar with another of his handwound Rautia pickups in the neck. This one is a Charlie Christian -style pickup for warm, smooth jazz tones.
Flaxwood Custom with handwound Rautia Charlie Christian pickup in the neck position.
...and then there was the guitar that got the attention of most passers-by. Well, at least when heard over the noise from the big boys at Fender and Vox.
This is a Flaxwood fretless prototype that I got an idea for from watching Turkish fretless guitar virtuoso Cenk Erdogan, who was playing stunning Arabic melodies on a fretless guitar with an E-Bow. I figured a Fernandes Sustainer pickup would be more convenient since it'd free your picking hand totally, and the idea ended up working like I never would have believed. The resonance and sustain of flaxwood as a material is something else in and of itself already, and the warmth of the natural tone combined with the Sustainer pickup is just beautiful.
Note that the neck inlays have just been filled in as this is a prototype; if we do go into production I figure the neck will be smooth as silk with no trace of inlays at all.
The Flaxwood fretless prototype with a Fernandes Sustainer pickup.
You can hear the fretless in action on a YouTube video that A-L Dallman shot at the Messe. Just playing an Arabic taqasim-style improv:
And back to the scene at the booth. Lots of people. Our Italian distributor Alberto hanging out was a blast. Sosa... I never liked you...
Our Italian distributor Alberto Meucci gives Kim the night. Benson-style.
Kim with new German FW distributor Ernst Weinbach (left) and Renée Walker (center).
Yours truly Polishing his TV chops and demoing the FW fretless.
Kim with Renée Walker.
Kim caught off-guard. ...bass? BASS?!?
So that just about wraps it up for me. Once again, thanks to all of you who dropped by and let us talk guitars. Looking forward to next year already!
Aus!
Jussi
Dry cheese, anyone?
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