As of this writing, we are one month out from one of the most unique guitar gatherings on Earth: The Fretboard Summit.
This is where the staff from the Fretboard Journal (including yours truly), Chicago’s famed Old Town School of Folk Music, and dozens of brands and independent luthiers, collectors and players of all stripes get together for an annual hang unlike any other “guitar festival” you’ve heard of.
It’s a highly curated guitar show, equally inspired by TED Talks and some of our favorite music festivals. Mostly, it’s an ever-growing family reunion for guitar geeks who want to connect, learn and have fun.
For 2026, we have nearly 100 guitar brands and luthiers exhibiting. Hand-picked bigger brands like Taylor, Yamaha, Collings and Martin exhibit, as do dozens of solo luthiers from around the globe. We welcome select pedal and amp makers, too, including Chase Bliss, JHS, Two-Rock, Henriksen and others.
We have quiet rooms if you want to test an acoustic and loud rooms if you want to hear a guitar through a cranked-up amp. There are multiple classrooms, a bar with guitar-themed cocktails, a vintage amp library (see below) and even a pretty special wine tasting hosted by one of our readers (who happens to be an acclaimed vintner from Australia). It’s basically Disneyland if you’re into cool or rare fretted instruments.
Every Summit is different and filled with surprises – prior Summits featured unannounced cameos by Rosanne Cash, Ben Harper, luthier Jim Olson and others.
But here’s what I’m most excited about for 2026’s hang.
1. New Faces: If you look at our poster, you’ll notice we have some younger artists this year. But we’re also welcoming a fresh crop of attendees, the recipients of our first-ever Summit scholarship program. Thanks to the generous support of the Music Emporium, ten up-and-coming young luthiers and music students will be a part of the 2026 Summit experience. I’ve read their applications, and they’re all incredible people. I can’t wait to meet them all.
2. Summer School’s Pedal Class: Mark Turley is the owner of Summer School Electronics, but he’s also a public school teacher. During his summer break, he relaxes, builds a bunch of cool pedals (all school-themed) and does kooky things like teach pedal-making at the Summit. This will be his second year teaching a pop-up pedal class within the Summit. He’s a natural. This costs a bit extra and takes a couple of hours, but everyone goes home with a rad, homemade souvenir…the pedal they just built. We talked about it on the most recent FJ Podcast.
3. Bob Taylor Going Deep on tonewoods. For months, Taylor Guitars’ co-founder Bob Taylor and I have been going back and forth on this session: A brain dump from Bob on the state of guitar woods in 2026, things we should be worried about, things we should be hopeful about, regulations, treaty updates and more. Bob has been on the forefront of this stuff for decades and this seems important for all to hear (even Taylor’s peers and competition in the business), so we’re opening up our theater early on Saturday so that exhibitors and attendees can glean some knowledge before the show floor opens.
4. The Science Fair. Every year, we see some wild innovation at the Summit. On Friday, we’re bringing back our old-school Science Fair, where inventors can show off and explain their forward-thinking creations to our audience. It’s just like your old Junior High Science Fair, but with more talk of sustain and fewer volcanoes.
5. Wine Tasting with Bill Downie. Fretboard Journal reader Bill Downie just happens to be one of Australia’s most respected Pinot Noir makers. Once again, he’s bringing a couple of cases of wine to share with Summit attendees. It’s a great chance to connect with guitar fanatics from around the world.
6. Chris Martin IV. Technically, we’ve done seven Fretboard Summits. They always have a ton of Martin coverage, but this year Chris Martin IV is actually attending and speaking.
7. Josh Scott’s world premiere screening. JHS’s Josh Scott just released a monumental book on the history of Electro-Hamonix. While he was writing it, he was also secretly filming a full-length documentary about the brand and his research. He’ll be showing it on the Summit’s big screen for the first time ever.
8. The Volcano Brothers is one of those insider, only-in-Nashville bands: A traditional Hawaiian string band featuring heavy hitters session musicians Steve Dawson, Fats Kaplin, Richard Bennett, Dave Jacques, and Andy Reiss. They’ll be playing their first-ever show in Chicago at the Summit and leading workshops all weekend long. I can’t wait.
9. Hand Habits (aka Meg Duffy) has been featured in our magazine (Fretboard Journal 58) and on our podcast before. They are finally attending the Summit in 2026 and playing a co-bill with Jessica from Deep Sea Diver. As if that wasn’t enough Meg will be collaborating with our dear friend Chris Vincent (R2R Electric) during Chris’ ultra-rare pedal workshop.
10. Into bluegrass? Michael Daves and Jacob Jolliff are performing this year. Though they just released a new record of Jim & Jesse covers, Daves will also be teaching a workshop on the guitar stylings of Norman Blake.
11. Gabe Noel’s recording discography is like a who’s who of great pop records of the last two decades, including Harry Styles, Sombr, Kendrick Lamar, and Dijon. As we showcased in a recent video, this bassist/cellist has also fallen head over heels in love with tenor guitars.
Gabe actually took music lessons at Old Town School when he was a kid, so we decided to bring him back to his roots to showcase his new love for guitar. On Saturday night, he’ll close out the Summit with other instrumentalists like Jonathan Stout, Twanguero and Shane Parish. It’ll be an unforgettable night of guitar wizardry.
12. Mark Stutman’s Gibson Petting Zoo. Folkway Music’s Mark Stutman is THE guy when it comes to vintage Gibson acoustics. This year, he’s not only talking about the magic found in these quirky 90-year-old instruments, but he and a private collector are also bringing out over a dozen examples for Summit goers to try out.
13. The Pinewood Derby. Last year, we sent a bunch of Pinewood Derby car kits to famous guitarmakers to see what they’d come up with. It ended up being one of our favorite Summit memories, so we’re making it an annual tradition. Come see your favorite racers/luthiers and see what an actual wood master can do with a block of pine.
14. Teach Your Kids: Free Guitarmaking Class. A handful of exhibitors and attendees last year bonded over a shared love for guitars and giving back. They decided to throw a totally free intro-to-guitarmaking class for any kids who want to attend. The fun starts at 9 am on Saturday and should run for around 90 minutes in the Szold Theater. No Summit pass required.
15. New prototypes from Collings. Every year, Collings pulls out all the stops and unveils prototypes and not-yet-released models at the Summit, even stuff that hasn’t been showcased at NAMM. This year at the Summit, expect a few more surprises.
16. I can’t get over the guitar playing and arranging mastery of Shane Parish. He transcribed his favorite tracks by Autechre – an electronic music group that makes complex and layered music with seemingly no discernible notes – and turned them into guitar compositions that could fit nicely on any Kottke or Fahey record. I made a quick playlist A/B’ing a couple of Shane’s recordings after the originals. Check it out and then come see him play at the Summit. He’ll be hosting a workshop, too, where you can ask him directly about this project and how he does it.
17. Pedal Party Clinic with Jessica Dobson of Deep Sea Diver. Deep Sea Diver’s frontperson and Chris Benson from Benson Amps are longtime collaborators. During this workshop, Jessica will walk us through how she adds textures and tones to her songwriting using pedals and effects. While we always have a songwriting workshop or two at the Summit, this one takes it up a notch. Jessica is also playing our mainstage on Friday night.
18. A new-and-improved Truth About Vintage Amps room. Chicago’s amp tech Brian McAllister is a Truth About Vintage Amps listener and contributor. He always stocks the Summit with dozens of rare tube amps and PAs for other TAVA listeners and Summit attendees to check out. The room has become a surprise hit (and, of course, it can get loud), so we’re expanding its footprint this year to our East building. This is a great place to hear rare amps but also to try out the hundreds of luthier-built electrics that are for sale at the Summit.
19. Live Podcasts: All weekend long onstage, we’ll be interviewing some of our favorite artists and builders for our podcast network. This year, we’ll also be hosting a live Dipped in Tone episode, hosted by Rhett Shull, Zach Broyles (Mythos Pedals) and Addison Sauvan.
20. The people. Every year, I’m blown away by the handmade guitars, but also all the people I run into at the Summit. This weekend somehow draws Grammy winners, new players just starting out and some of the nicest people in the guitar community together. I hope to see you there, too.
Want to join us? Register for the 2026 Summit here.
