Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil Maneri
Soon the Walmart mentality will overrun most commerce and China will own our asses. We'll be standing here holding the bag wondering "wa happened?"
If anybody has any ideas about how to change this progression I'm all ears.
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Phil, the Walmart/China thing is already here! I have seen Guitars and Strings at our local Walmart for the last few years. Making in China now is no different than it was making in Japan, Korea or Taiwan when they started making Guitars. Little by little the quality went up but cheap stuff was always available depending on what you order them to make.
Now a kid goes and buys by price and gets junk no matter where he shops. NAMM cares ZIP about quality and cares ZIP about our products. NAMM is like a PIMP for anyone that can pay their way in the door and that's a fact by their own actions. There is more junk at NAMM than you can shake a stick at. I would be there waiting for someone to come by the booth and try to figure out what we are doing for a living amongst all the garbage around us. Sure there are a lot of good products at all price points but not enough to fill 5 football fields worth of exhibit booth space!
So, if you go to NAMM be prepared to walk miles on a hard cement floor covered by thin carpet and wear ear plugs if you care about your ears. Also, I have never returned from a Show and NOT been sick for a week or two after if not getting sick before or during from the travel, prep and booth set-up.
I was once told by some old timers that NAMM was formed for the benefit of its members. I just don't see that and I have been going for 28 years up until this year, quitting time as far as NAMM goes! The NAMM org. is a business. A huge business milking the small guy. That's how I see it.