guitar

Yesterday we attended the Newport Guitar Festival at the Convention Center in Miami Beach. Not much has changed on the beach… young latino guys with no shirts and bad fedoras from the early ’60s, old Jewish women with walkers blocking the sidewalk, and of course lots and lots of annoyance. Yep, as the gf put it “Broward County line here we come!” Did stop on the way back and get a cafe cubano, which of course contains more sugar than espresso. Lots and lot’s of cool guitars were to be seen at the festival, almost exclusively new guitars crafted by some of the best luthiers in the world. Linda Manzer, who makes guitars for Bruce Cockburn, Pat Metheny and Carlos Santana was there along with a whole list of great guitar makers. Larry Lashbrook, the local Fort Lauderdale luthier who did an amazing restoration on my old Kalamazoo was also on hand. I usually don’t go for all the salad and inlay on the guitars, but some of it was very amazing, making a few of the guitars more of an art project than an actual instrument… as you can see from a few of the pictures below. I didn’t play too many of the guitars, in fact haven’t been playing much lately. One that really sounded wonderful was built by John How, the very vintage sounding ladder braced concert guitar. Enjoyed the show and a few of the performers. A good time was had by all.