This year’s trade show exhibit hall seems to have noticeably fewer booths than in past years. (This picture labeled “Where’s Gibson?” demonstrates this point admirably. Other long-time exhibitors notably absent are Huber Banjos and The Murphy Method.) Walking through the hall on Tuesday also revealed many booths with people’s names on them, but no one there. The mystery of those deserted spots was solved on Wednesday when the one-day exhibitors set up. A one-day option is new this year and we’ll have to wait until the dust settles to find out whether these businesses felt it was worth their while to come set up for just one day.

This year is also the first year that the official showcase bands received their own booths, which no doubt helped to fill up the available (unsold) booth space.

Vendors’ impressions of hall traffic varied. Bob Fehr at Martin Guitars said that business was very slow; Rienk Janssen of The European Bluegrass Music Association, who was reading a book at his booth when I stopped to talk, agreed that things were slow, but perhaps not more so than last year. I told him he should get a really good book and that would guarantee that people would be constantly interrupting him. Laurie Matheson from the University of Illinois Press said that business wasn’t exactly booming, but it was steady.

The single exception to this trend is Bluegrass Unlimited, which is offering a tote bag stuffed full of truly great stuff for renewing your subscription. They’ve sold more than 175 subscriptions and renewals so far and have around 70 left, so if you want yours, act fast!

C.F. Martin introduced their latest custom, artist signature guitar this past weekend at the Summer NAMM show in Nashville.

It’s the D-28 Dan Tyminski Custom Edition, made to resemble his classic 1946 herringbone, the one he has used on the road for years with Alison Krauss, and fronting his own band. It is made with an Adirondack spruce top, Indian rosewood back and sides, and a mahogany neck with ebony fingerboard and bridge

Dan is also featured in the July ‘09 edition of Martin’s Sounding Board Newsletter, which includes a more detailed description of the guitar.

Back and sides of East Indian rosewood combine with a top of Adirondack spruce for warm, ringing tone, impressive projection and extraordinary headroom. A comfortable genuine mahogany 1 11/16″ (at the nut) “modified V” neck with long diamond volute contributes to player comfort, while the black ebony fingerboard and belly bridge add classic beauty and longevity.

Tyminski makes his namesake Custom Edition his own with distinctive details sure to appeal to flatpickers. Scalloped 5/16″ Adirondack spruce top braces cross in the non-forward “rear-shifted” position to provide uncommon balance and clarity. Special 2 1/4″ string spacing at the bridge and hand polished “bull nose” (i.e., rounded) fret ends speed both strums and runs.

The appointments are equally distinctive: bold pattern herringbone around the top, a headstock featuring Martin’s Golden Era¬Æ decal logo on a polished East Indian rosewood headplate, Martin’s historic pressure stamp on the back and nickel Waverly‚Ñ¢ tuners with oval buttons. Long/Wide Pattern “Diamond & Squares” abalone pearl fingerboard position markers run from the 3rd fret to the 17th fret, with a unique, oversized “wide diamond” at the 9th fret.

The Tyminski D-28 carries a retail price of $5149.00, with a Geib-style case. Complete product specs can be found on the Martin site.

Wall Street Journal recently ran an article, in their business management section (July 6 edition, page B1), with the story of how Martin Guitar Company has dealt with the recently slow economy.

The company was determined not to lay off any of its employees, and implemented a few measures to assure it wouldn’t need to.

…given the special woodworking skills involved in guitar making, Martin wanted to avoid layoffs. The company figured it is better to find a way to keep workers occupied than face the challenge of having to train new ones after the economy recovers. The solution: Copy what many big retailers do by offering a lower-priced alternative. The dilemma was how to do that without sacrificing quality or muddying its image.

Accordingly, the company introduced The 1 Series in April of this year. The guitars lack inlay adornment, use “a type of lacquer that doesn’t require time-consuming polishing” and feature solid wood construction (no plywood). The price point is under $1000.

It’s great to see a company concerned about its employees, and turning out a quality product that people can afford and will enjoy.

Way to go Martin!

Note: The link to the online article will only be available for 7 days from today for non-subscribers.

A number of prominent bluegrass instrument manufacturers are exhibiting this weekend at the annual convention and trade show of the National Association of Music Merchandisers, known as The NAMM Show. Held in January of each year in Anaheim, CA, it is where new products are unveiled to the retail market, and by extension, to consumers via the media.

Gibson’s bluegrass division has introduced a new banjo, a limited edition Style 1 Custom model. Unlike the vintage 1s – which were “budget” instruments with simple inlays and a rolled hoop ring – this new banjo will have a Mastertone tone ring and a new inlay pattern completing the seagull pattern all the way down the neck. This will be a mahogany and nickel banjo.

The new Style 1 Custom will also be made with the more common one piece flange, again in contrast with the originals. Only 15 of these banjos will be made and carry a suggested retail price of $5110. They are available to dealers now.

C.F. Martin has a number of new models being introduced at NAMM. Not all will be of immediate interest to bluegrass guitarists, but several most certainly will.

Martin is celebrating 2009 as the 75th anniversary of the dreadnaught body style with a pair of limited edition guitars. Both the D-18 and D-28 will have 75th Anniversary models, limited to orders placed during 2009.

The 28 is made of Madagascar rosewood, while the 18 uses mahogany. They both have an Adirondack spruce top with scalloped, Golden Era style bracing, and an ebony fingerboard and bridge. The headstocks have a special 75th anniversary decal. The paper soundhole labels likewise denote the anniversary, and are signed by C.F. Martin IV.

The D-18 75th retails for $5199, and the D-28 for $7599.

Martin is also debuting a D-28 Museum Edition 1941 guitar with a number of special vintage construction specs. These guitars are assembled using hide glue and have the same barrel and heel neck dimensions as the ‘41 D-28s. The body is Madagascar rosewood with a Adirondack spruce top. The top bracing is scalloped, using the 1941 placement. The neck uses the narrow nut width (1 11/16”) and the top features herringbone binding.

This Museum Edition 1941 D-28 retails for $14,999.