What exactly IS NAMM anyway?

[Ken Smith]

NAMM stands for National Association of Music Merchants. My first show was in the summer of 1979 with my Prototype Bass. NAMM shows are or were targeted to be attended by Manufactures, Distributors, Supplies, Dealers and the Music Press and Publications. Many companies invite musicians/artists to either demonstrate their product, draw a crowd at the exhibit booth or both. The NAMM show is not a public show like the Toy Fair or Boat show or Auto show hence not a consumer show but rather a Trade show open only to the Trade and its invitees.

For identification Exhibitors and booth employees wear RED badges, Dealers wear BLUE badges and there are also Green and Yellow Badges for Non-exhibiting suppliers walking the floor and booth employees in yellow aka now know also as Visitors.

In 1979 there were about 300 booths of all sizes combined. That grew in a decade to over 600 and then over 1200 in 2 decades and now about 1600 or so I think. Dealers used to come to BUY but with the Internet, mail order and superstores, most of the smaller shops have either closed or downsized. Only a small percentage have maintained their growth or expanded. Instead of 10-20,000 visitors at a show we now have 60-80,000 (84,695 recorded last show without me,,).

There are less independent stores to sell to as in previous years and many cannot pay their bills on time either. Yet the show keeps growing so someone is selling something to somebody somewhere. One fact remains is that NAMM in itself is raking in the $$$$ but no longer at my expense.

Each year, the amount of Yellow Visitor badges grows and the amount of Blue Dealer badges decreases. In pre-show phone calls to Dealers for meeting appointments we find more and more of them just not going to the Show. Those who do rarely schedule an appointment now and most stop by at a different time than agreed or not at all due to them being too busy with more important 'bread n butter' lines and not high endy boutique like we are considered by many. We almost never take a String order from a dealer at a Show but take them all day long in the office by Phone, Fax and Email.

It is getting to be more of a mass products, public Zoo show than the Trade Show called NAMM we once knew. Now, it is one big waste of time and energy to go and see a few customers and friends that I am in touch with all year round. There is not enough new Business for us to pay for my troubles to go and most new clients Email or call anyway. So.. What's the point?

[Marcus Johnson]

I've been offered NAMM badges a couple of times, but I always felt that it would pretty much be a trip to hell for me. I'm just not that interested in stuff. My friends would come back with big manila envelopes full of brochures for new stomp boxes or whatever, practically salivating, and I'm just thinking, "that's going to fill a pretty big trash bag in about a month".

I'd rather fly to NY and hit some clubs and some bass shops, or finagle an invitation to Ken's DB room.

[Phil Maneri]

I don't go anymore either. It's pointless to spend all the time money and trouble when most of the newest stuff available has so little profit margin left in it that it makes carrying the newest stuff an exercise in futility. There is less time for interaction with manufacturers and distributors as they fill up the hall with people who "don't belong there". It is slowly becoming a retail marketplace for end users rather than a convention of music retailers for industry growth, idea sharing, and networking.

This is driven by big box retail and internet sales. They have beaten the prices of merchandise down to the point where they have driven the smaller retailers out of business. 20% gross profit margin before all the expenses is to small an amount to carry a small retail enterprise. Clothing stores, department stores, and grocery stores all have 100% or more markup. That is 5 times more than the retail music industry. They can show a profit easily even after putting stuff on sale for 25% off. 20% margin may work for the largest of stores that sell a huge amount of stuff but the small mom and pop shops are closing up all over the country as their business moves away to the internet and big box retailers.

That is fine if you know exactly what you want, what you are getting, and don't need any other service or information. Not all consumers are that savvy.

Consumers are driving that exodus too by only thinking of the cheapest price rather than the other things the little shop has traditionally given for that extra dough. The community music shop of my youth staffed with smart, experienced, educated musicians and craftsmen, with full service repairs, sales, and lessons is going away. The loss is the consumer's. They get less expert attention as the human interface becomes order takers and cashiers. The suggestions for product they get are based on what the retailer must sell rather than what a customer may need.

Price becomes the highest consideration.

Products are designed for price points rather than function. There is less attention given to long term durability and repair ability and more attention given to lots of cheap stuff that doesn't last. The attention to detail, precision and expert construction are becoming less of a priority because they end up costing too much.

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.

[Ken Smith]

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.

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.

[David Powell]

Well, I can honestly say that I have not been in a Walmart in over ten years, probably more than 15 years. But I have seen children's toy guitars at Home Depot. Big Box margeting is so annoying when one is trying to find quality and service.

I've been doing some research on the web on custom EBG builders. I was really surprised at how many are out there. It would seem that the emergence of the internet has made getting a toe into the business easier. I know not all of these guys are accomplished builders, and if you took a poll on how many actually make a living doing it, probably it wouldn't be that many.

It was a lot different back when you started out Ken. I remember seeing some full page magazine adds in Guitar Player (I don't think Bass Player existed) and I know it must have been a real battle getting the word out about your instruments then. These days with the internet, NAMM is less relevant. Here in Atlanta we finally have Jim Rubio's Bass Gallery, and he is keen to keep an eye out for emerging talent and generally has a good number of basses by recognized individual makers including you. So Atlanta is lucky in that Jim is our "NAMM".

I really don't blame you for skipping NAMM. I do think smaller trade shows would be interesting that would feature authentic individual custom maker's instruments. That would be a pleasure. I would hate to be Jim Rubio and have to go through what you describe just to see the latest Ken Smiths, Jens Ritters, Eshenbaughs, etc. It might be interesting to see what some of these other makers think of NAMM. The American market is so important that most of them feel obliged to participate, but I can't help but thinking that many of them would feel the same as you do and would prefer a trade show that showcased the custom made basses.

There are some makers that are so disenchanted with the dealership/distributor situation that they only deal directly with customers. That is, to me, not the best situation for either the maker or the customer. At some point it is necessary for a customer to be able to compare. But if you go to GC to compare, you are comparing one company's Asian mass production method to another's. Not really much to compare. There was a time when the American factory made bass was not so different from the way your basses are made. True, there was not always a strong central figure or "founder" always there matching the wood and doing the final set-up and inspection, but in the days when Roger Rossmeisl worked for Rickenbacker, you had a sense that those instruments were being built to a higher standard. More than the Asian manufacture, it is the corporatizing of everything that has resulted in the current situation. If you aren't going to NAMM, that says a lot about what is there.

[Ken Smith]

from David Powell: There was a time when the American factory made bass was not so different from the way your basses are made.

When was that David? Please, when you get a chance study our Factory Tour pages which give only hints of how hand-made and hands-on we actually are from the raw lumber to the finished product.

I don't think any Factory Basses were ever made in this fashion regardless of how good some think the 'old ones' were. We are actually more like old school Violin makers but making solid Body Electric Basses employing some of the transferable techniques used in the centuries past.

[David Powell]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

When was that David? Please, when you get a chance study our Factory Tour pages which give only hints of how hand-made and hands-on we actually are from the raw lumber to the finished product.

I don't think any Factory Basses were ever made in this fashion regardless of how good some think the 'old ones' were. We are actually more like old school Violin makers but making solid Body Electric Basses employing some of the transferable techniques used in the centuries past.

I didn't mean to imply that the level of care was as great as what you give, just that there was more individual attention given than the current state of affairs. I guess the time I was talking about was "in the days when Roger Rossmeisl worked for Rickenbacker ...." that was in the sixties. Before that he worked for Gibson, after Rickenbacker he worked briefly for Leo Fender. Probably he should have never worked for anyone but himself or his father Wenzel who founded Roger guitars in Germany. In that time, no, there was no company in America that did it how you do it. But we are talking about extreme attention to detail when we talk about your methods and philosophies and I have taken the "tour". But there was a time when at the factories of Rickenbacker, Gibson, and even to an extent Fender, that individual makers ideas and building philosophies were more important than corporate bottom lines. For instance at Rickenbacker, Rossmeisl did the set-ups and dressed frets as well. He wasn't just at the drawing table. Of the surviving legacy American companies, Rickenbacker is definitely not Ken Smith. But in my opinion, there is still more care there than in many others, possibly because the business is still family owned. I can see it and hear it in those instruments.

But more importantly, what would you think of a true custom bass guitar maker's trade show? Perhaps a more intimate thing than NAMM where a small shop like Jim's could visit instead of wading through all the ___ at NAMM.

[Tim Bishop]

I thought NAMM was an acronym for National Association of Making Money! LOL..... : )

[Richard Prowse]

Originally Posted by Tim Bishop

I thought NAMM was an acronym for National Association of Making Money! LOL..... : )

Hello Tim and welcome!

[John Sprague]

Hey Ken, I'll ring in on this one with one small tidbit:
On Sunday, they made everybody show photo ID to match the badges, which cut down on alot of the riff-raff. Sunday was all business, that insanity of trying to tie up the loose ends amidst a flood of people thinking they were gonna buy a cheap instrument or get a star's autograph was thankfully gone.

I think the days of getting dealers to make appointments was gone before my time, I've never had any success with it. I've even walked the floor hunting down specific dealers that I wanted to meet. Two of my top ten I met that way lol. That's alot of money to put into that show to think "well, maybe". I don't blame you for bailing.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by John Sprague

Hey Ken, I'll ring in on this one with one small tidbit:
On Sunday, they made everybody show photo ID to match the badges, which cut down on alot of the riff-raff. Sunday was all business, that insanity of trying to tie up the loose ends amidst a flood of people thinking they were gonna buy a cheap instrument or get a star's autograph was thankfully gone.

I think the days of getting dealers to make appointments was gone before my time, I've never had any success with it. I've even walked the floor hunting down specific dealers that I wanted to meet. Two of my top ten I met that way lol. That's alot of money to put into that show to think "well, maybe". I don't blame you for bailing.

On Sunday John most people have already left town or are too hung over from Partying on Saturday night. It's the Thursday, Friday and *Saturday (*mainly) that kills me. Sunday ends early and is a walk in the park compared to Fri and Sat. They do that just to make believe they are doing something. In the mean time, NAMM has already published "RECORD Attendance" (to the trades) for Fri and Sat like we get a piece of the door or something. So much BULL, that I watch Politics now on TV to make up for what I miss (not) at NAMM...lol

[Richard Prowse]

Vietnam
______

[Mike Pecanic]

My girlfriend loves Saturdays at the NAMM. It is a textbook exercise in 'wierdo-watching' for her. I go to run into old friends. But I will never work a booth there again, it is hell. And it takes weeks to recover too.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Mike Pecanic

My girlfriend loves Saturdays at the NAMM. It is a textbook exercise in 'wierdo-watching' for her. I go to run into old friends. But I will never work a booth there again, it is hell. And it takes weeks to recover too.

For me it was weeks or months actually to prepare and weeks-months to recover as well. On the Weirdos at the Show Mike, I had YOU on that list as well..lol

[Mike Pecanic]

Hey, I resemble that remark!

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Mike Pecanic

Hey, I resemble that remark!

I wouldn't have it any other way!..

[Dennis Michaels]

Ken,

Your basses are bad A** as well as strings and what not. We talked about when I was there in Nov. You have a loyal customer base (no pun intended) that find your basses and can't get enough. I would rather know you are working on my next build instead screwing around with NAMM. Jusy my thoughts. I think this forum will help that as well as the people's love spreading a word that has been heard for 30 years. NAMM is goof-ball fest. I have been twice and after the second time said never again.
I play your basses PERIOD (bt you know that). I play Eden amps period... It is easier for me to come to your shop to see pristine instruments in the making then it is to go to NAMM so why not come straight to you? Keep doing what your doing and we'll all keep you busy.

Dennis

[Michael Stram]

Im new to NAMM so I love it..so far..

Speaking of walmart guitars, sams club too. all those starter packs.
And dont even look at the band instruments at sams club...your much better off renting a used one but if youre a parent, how do you know if the schools dont tell you that?

How does a mom-n-pop compete? only with lessons, but now with youtube and myfarce, well...

[Richard Prowse]

I've never been to NAMM... it's a long way from here.

[Ray C. Parrish]

To answer the original question.......Heaven On Earth, everyone must go at least once.