More Faces of NAMM 2024, and the Pursuit of Quality in Manufacturing

I’ve been thinking about the ideas of craftsmanship and quality, especially after viewing so many drop-dead gorgeous instruments at NAMM 2024. Does the quality of the finish of a guitar affect its sound, especially in an electric guitar? For acoustic instruments, the type and grade of wood, the finish, and especially its design have tremendous ramifications, but for electric instruments with pickups that go through amps and speakers I wonder if the overall feel of a guitar is more important regarding a player’s affinity for it. There’s an area of NAMM where high-end guitars are put out in a juried competition where an industry jury decides the winners. It’s full of dazzlingly glossy instruments, with not a fingerprint or scuff in sight, truly beautiful instruments, testaments to art, design, and artisan craftsmanship. It made me recall a trip to the Fender factory in Corona, California.

Jon Cherry is my neighbor in Anaheim, and was vice president of manufacturing at the Fullerton plant and later the Corona plant from 1969 to 2022. During those years, he was “retired” four times and brought back again and again whenever new legal, technical, and quality control issues cropped up. During the years Fender was owned by CBS, there were well-known quality issues after they purchased it from Leo Fender and the original owners in 1965, and Fender took a hit to its reputation. So, when Bill Schultz and a group of employees and investors purchased Fender in 1985 from CBS, one of the first tasks Schultz prioritized was to rebuild Fender’s reputation, and Cherry was in the thick of it. I reckon he must have done something right to turn what he thought would be a temporary gig into a career. He joined the company when they offered to purchase Cherry’s own machine shop, and he was there to help manage the transition, and well, you know, stuck around a bit, for, well…53 years.

The Lacey Act of 1900 is one of America’s oldest wildlife protection laws, and was originally passed to limit the overhunting of game birds. Since then, it’s been updated an amended multiple times, and one of the goals of its 2008 amendment sought to limit illegally-sourced paper, wood, and timber by curbing illegal logging, and in the process protect the US logging industry. For companies like Fender, it demanded that materials such as those used for building instruments are harvested from sustainable sources, so Cherry was brought back yet again to deal with the implications of the Lacey Act and make sure the instruments were up to snuff, especially their more affordable products that were made offshore. I should note that this is an ongoing concern for all wood-based manufacturing companies, and with corruption in the supply chain around the globe being a serious issue.

Cherry’s background wasn’t even in music. He was a master precision machinist, drag racer, driver, mechanic, motorcyclist, and engine builder. After all those years at Fender, he still couldn’t play a lick of music, but he could spot a production problem a mile away.

One time, he arranged it so that our family could have a private tour of the Fender facility in Corona. Our son Thomas was a budding guitarist, so it was an incredible experience to see instruments and amplifiers being built from scratch. It’s a sprawling factory, where virtually every aspect of their instruments, amplifiers, and more are created, and we could even see Custom Shop models under production. The extraordinary level of detail and perfection on the production line was evident everywhere you looked, yet what was interesting to me were that some of the Relic series guitars were being purposely distressed to look they were used instruments.

This was kind of perplexing to me; I mean, it’s like putting a perfect paint job on a car, and then scuffing and scratching it up to make it look aged. The art professor in me would probably use the overly-fancy idea of verisimilitude, which translates to the appearance of being true or real. In the theater or cinema world, making fake things look real is par for the course, but on a gorgeous guitar?

I suppose it isn’t unlike folks wearing pre-distressed denim jeans, for what reasons I can’t fathom, although to be fair, it wasn’t that long ago that acid-washed jeans were all the rage, which I couldn’t understand either. Pay extra for partly-ruined clothes (or guitars) – nice work if you can get it. Cherry also told me that Fender was the largest consumer of vacuum tubes in the world, something audiophiles can be thankful for, since it stabilized demand for what was an almost dead and obsolete industry.

In any case, NAMM is a place where you can experience the finest in musical instruments, pro audio gear, headphones, amplifiers and everything else music-related, and get to hang out with the great people who make it all happen, including famous musicians and the folks behind Grammy-winning recordings. Fortunately, I can never remember who anyone is, so I don’t get star struck, but you might have a different experience. One difference I’ve noticed at pro-audio-centric shows like AES and NAMM is that the sometimes-rancorous opinionated anger that I’ve seen on display at audio shows and on forums is pretty much absent, unless Spotify is mentioned. These folks know that there isn’t only one way or one approach to good sound, and the best people in the industry are there, so everyone is keen on learning others’ techniques and chosen gear. If you can garner an invitation or attend (AES is open to all), I’d highly recommend going.

Here are more scenes from the 2024 NAMM show.

Some of the recipients of the Teacher of The Year for Technology, given by TI:ME (Technology in Music Education): Gillian Desmarais (K-12 Music Technology Educator at Maplewood Public Schools), Ryan Van Bibber, Richard McCready, and Shawna Longo (2019).

Irene Shapes of pro audio distributor RAD Distribution, John Krivit of Hey Audio Student and past president of AES, and an attendee enjoy a moment at the show.

Benny Bergman of Mac Edition Radio meets the legendary recording engineer and producer Lenice Bent. She is the first woman engineer to receive an RIAA Platinum award, for Blondie's AutoAmerican.

Singer/guitarist Emi Grace, engineer Dennis "roc.am," and Dave Malekpour and J. Rose of Augspurger loudspeakers greet guests at the Augspurger party.

Saramonic showed off its wireless microphone systems.

Also in attendance were hip-hop artist REACEYUNG, Paul Watson (Headliner magazine) producer/mixer Rich Keller, and producer/mixer Bainz.

Rock Clouser of KHS America plays a gorgeous H. Jimenez Mexica Calendar bajo quinto, while Gilbert Reyes makes music on a beautiful Hohner Anacleto accordion.

Here's a closer look at the guitar.

Love comfortable earpads? Dekoni Audio make some of the best replacement earpads in the business. Dylan Scarzafava and Tai Kocen show off the company's wares.

Any audiophile or audio professional usually has at least one or two types of DeoxIT contact cleaner on hand. Here Alan Adelstein of Caig Laboratories shows of the company's wide product range.

Craig Thatcher and Mike Nelson show the inside of new Martin guitars featuring a newly-designed bracing pattern.

Mixer/producer/engineer Mark Needham of M.A.N. Entertainment and Justin Coletti from Sonic Scoop use Sennheiser microphones to discuss the Evolution series of microphones from Sennheiser.

DJ Jazzy Jeff speaks at the NAMM TEC Awards, for Technical Excellence and Creativity. The TEC awards are recognized as the highest honor dedicated to the pro audio and sound recording industry.

Grammy-winning artist Josh Gudwin and drummer/producer/multi-talent Queen Cora were presenters at the TEC awards.

TEC Innovations Awards recipient and hip-hop artist RZA.

Maureen Davis performs at the Roni Lee Rooftop Jam, one of the numerous big parties at NAMM, with Claire Goh backing her on violin.

Tommy Heath of Tommy Tutone (who can forget "867-5309/Jenny?") is interviewed by Olivia Kosic at the Rooftop Jam, and also performed.

Author Harris Fogel is with Hunter Hayes, an American multi-genre singer, songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist. He is proficient on more than 30 instruments.

More players and participants at the Rooftop Jam: Megan Steiner (Pulp Vixen), Olivia Tosic, Koko Powell, and Becky Moon (Pulp Vixen).

Julia Lage (bassist for Vixen) hangs out with Renée Anchondo (acoustic guitarist and volunteer).

Here are Katsu, Frank Mueller, Koji (of BRASH☆BEAT!), Shogo, Max, and Ogura. We met Koji and his band and mentioned we were heading to Roni’s Rooftop Jam, so they followed us and had a fantastic time. Koji is a major star in Japan. He started out in Tokyo at age 15. He plays guitar and other instruments, and produces. In 2013, he recorded his debut album NW8 at Abbey Road Studios, and has toured in the UK and the US, as well as elsewhere abroad and in Japan.

Mike Capese of Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Marco Mendoza (Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake, Journey, Ted Nugent and others) rock out.

L.A. musician Nova shows the author her guitar, up close and personal.

Presenting a gorgeous pair of LAVA cymbals from Turkish Cymbals. Not all cymbals need to be shiny-looking!

Brett and Mitch work the booth for Third Man Hardware, founded by Jack White. The company always has a distinctive design sense. Black, yellow, and that’s all. Brilliant!

Roxy Levan (volunteer) and Kelsy Karter of Kelsy Karter and the Heroines, an Australian/British rock and roll band.

Backstage at the She Rocks event: Lorraine Lewis (Vixen, Femme Fatale), Julia Lage (Vixen), Renée Anchondo (@acoustic guitarist and volunteer), Christina Lacalla (DJ), and Lex Wolf (bassist for Jimena Fosado).

Here's a group of people from InEarz Audio and Earasers. We have previously written about the effectiveness of their hearing protection. which are molded from silicon rubber and are comfortable and almost invisible.

Tommy Tutone, and bassist Steve Unger of Metal Church and Where Angels Suffer.

Stevie Marks of the band Gasoline and Matches shows off some Blackstar amplifiers, distributed in the US by Korg.

Here's Adam Weissler of the Grammy Museum with Susanna Hoffs of the Bangles and solo artist fame.

Some of the nicest folks I met at NAMM were from Ren Ferguson Guitars. Ren Ferguson worked as a master luthier at Gibson Acoustic, and at Guild. Now, he and his son Timothy and daughter Virginia craft spectacular acoustic guitars. They also had the best baseball cap of the show!

Roni Lee and friends pose for a group photo.