Pack hundreds of unique guitars created by some of the world’s best luthiers under one roof, throw a giant jazz festival across the street and you’ll have the Montreal Guitar Show. I attended this year’s festival and took a ton of photographs on our Facebook page (no registration required). Check them out here.
Ostensibly, the Montreal Guitar Show is similar in format to Healdsburg or Florida’s Newport Guitar Show, a place where high-end luthiers can sell their latest wares. But in many ways, thanks to the infrastructure and budget of the Montreal Jazz Festival (the organization that runs this show), it’s a whole different beast. Guitar shows are rarely promoted or run this well and there’s seldom so much good live music waiting in the wings. Yes, this is the lone guitar show where I’d feel comfortable bringing a non-guitar geek significant other.
I won’t even attempt to list all of this year’s highlights but some things stand out: a stunning live performance by Bob Brozman (who can somehow, irritatingly, can play circles around anyone and also speak French fluently); Al Carruth’s odd but exciting harp guitar that resembled a classical guitar with an old Martin mandolin hanging off the side for a harp headstock; the D’Angelico (formerly owned by George Benson) that John Monteleone perfectly crafted a new neck for; Erich Solomon’s forward-thinking, yet simple archtops; Joe Yanuziello’s electric guitars and mandolins—which seem to capture the retro cool of Bigsby and Silvertone guitars and yet also look (and sound) thoroughly modern; Marc Saumier’s Cherry Seven project, which showcased seven very different instruments built by very different luthiers, all from the same cherry tree, which Saumier cut himself.
Beyond seeing and playing all these wonderful guitars, the real highlight of the Montreal show is just getting to talk and listen to some of the brightest minds in the world of guitar making. In a five minute, 100-yard span, you could talk to France’s Jerome Casanova about his restorations of priceless antique guitars, see the nicest koa back you’ll ever probably find at Charlie Hoffman’s booth, overhear legendary builder Michael Gurian joke with archtop builder Tom Ribbecke or get a crash course on Brownie, Ken Parker’s latest guitar, from Ken himself. No other show packs the diverse array of guitar makers you’ll see here. We’ll be back next year for sure.
