New Pianos At The 2010 NAMM Show, Part 1!

by admin

Every January, all the manufacturers of musical instruments and accessories – pianos, electronic keyboards, drums, guitars, brass & wind instruments, recording gear, etc. - converge on Anaheim CA to show their wares for the upcoming year at the National Association of Music Merchants convention. The NAMM show is always held at the massive Anaheim Convention Center (right across the street from Disneyland,) it’s always packed, and the main floor is always crazy, cacophonous chaos!(See Video below)

As you wander this humongous space the size of 4 football fields, you jostle & bump into straight-looking dudes in suits and sweaters, and mopped-top, studded-vest rock relics who look a lot like Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, Flea, and other rock legends…because they are Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, Flea, and other rock legends. Yep, I’ve seem all of them there, as well as rubbing shoulders with Elton John, Carlos Santana, Jay-Z, and so many others. All of them seem to make it to the NAMM show at one point or another.

The show is only open to people in the “music trades,” although I’d swear every year I see more and more people who have nothing to do with selling or servicing music equipment, but still manage to cop an entrance badge. Because I am a musician, recording engineer & producer, as well as a piano technician and fanatic, I always walk the noisy main floor, checking out the latest cool guitars, keyboards, drums and microphones, but lately I find myself spending more and more time on the much quieter second and third floors (I’m gettin’ older, folks) where all the piano manufacturers trot out their latest wood, felt and metal beasts.

So what’s new in the world of fine pianos?

Well, one thing you immediately notice is the piano brand names that were noticeable for their absence. Steinway doesn’t show at NAMM, because they consider themselves the “standard piano of the world,” so venerable that people will come to them even if they don’t show anything new at NAMM every year. But many other well-known companies were missing, either because they couldn’t afford to ship in a bunch of their pianos (Germany’s Bechstein, Bluthner and others) or because they’ve gone completely out of business (like the huge Asian piano conglomerate, Dong Bay.) 2009 was tough for everybody, man, and pianos are mucho expensivoso to manufacture. Esteemed and minor brand names are dropping like flies. That’s the bad news.

The good news is, those companies that are still around definitely had some wonderful instruments to debut. After watching the cool NAMM 2010 video below, click here to go right to my next post, where I share some of the highlights.