Tenured readers of the PiercingMetal Blog (especially those who have been most focused on the “Convention Adventures” topic) have been enjoying our occasional forays into the Brooklyn Guitar Show that takes place twice a year at The Brooklyn Bowl. As a matter of fact, it feels as though I had only just closed up a report about the Spring edition of this particular show that was held a few short weeks ago. Now it was time to pack up my gear and take a out to Freeport, NY to see what the “NY Guitar Show & Exposition” was all about. That’s in Long Island for those of our readers in other countries who have no idea what we are talking about.

The reason for supporting this particular show would primarily be based on the fact that my good friend and occasional contributor to the PiercingMetal site Joe Kaufman would have a table of his own with his new guitar line at this show. This would be his first showing of his instruments to the public in this fashion and since I was able to participate and help him out a little big, I eagerly joined in for the fun. Here’s the program for the festivities, and don’t worry I wandered around a lot to give you an idea of what you missed should you have had that happen.

Here’s my old friend Joe Kaufman in front of his table with a number of his guitars – only five are displayed here but he brought about ten I think. Yes they were for sale and while I have a lot of other photos from his booth you will have to check those out on the official website for his company.

Here I am with Cha Vez the owner of 812 Guitars. He had a sizable booth at the Expo and was actually building a guitar for those who wanted to see how it was done.

These next couple of shots are from the Music Store Live presence.

This massive display comes care of All Music Inc.

Here is the My Generation Guitars booth

And the offerings from D’Addario. They also had some free lanyards and keychains which I snagged since it would be nice to have some things to give to friends.

Rock Hard Guitars had a nice display and friendly staff

This next shot shows a bunch of the Cha Vez built 812 Guitars. I love the Eddie Van Halen model

There was also some axe design awesome going on in the Nikita Guitars booth. I loved the skulls and steel models myself. What do you like?

Here is Russo Music.

Some truly “Evil Guitars” here 🙂

The guys in Pigtronix had a booth at the Expo. I remembered them from a couple of the Brooklyn Guitar Shows so it was nice to say hello once again. Mind you as I wandered around I was acting as a “hey go see my friend Joe” guy. He would have done it for me so why not.

Here is the great Rob Balducci, he was on point and sponsoring the GluBoost booth today.

Here is the Music Emporium

Some beautiful instruments from LAG Guitars

Here is my friend Frank Romeo (right) with Joe Kaufman as Frank sampled one of Joe’s instruments.

Five Towns College is a great place to study if you want to focus your learning and education on the music industry. Sometimes I think that I should have gone there but oh well. I was happy to see them offering up literature for the show attendees because many were of that age group.

Here’s Bob Elliott and John “The Cat” Gatto. Bob was showcasing an invention called the Guitar dock. It allowed you to turn any shelf or table edge into a place to hold your guitar in place. It seemed great for studios and in the live sense in my humble opinion.

All hail the Tonemaster! Bobby Popper is your guy when it comes to custom pickups.

Next up some really cool looking Cigar Box guitars by Hoboaxe.

Lots of axes at the Briggs Music Booth

A cool new friend made at The Expo.

The elite elegance of Martin Guitars

Cha Vez gives a building lesson

Cool designs by the Master Strap folks

Ran into another friend from the shows I cover in George Fedden. I had no idea that he built guitars but indeed he did and was wandering around with his son and friends showing them off. They did not have a proper table at the Expo, but this kind of event finds people doing that.

Another of George’s creations

Here’s Joe Kaufman and George Fedden

Do you need a stage built? Well, here is the guy to help you do it. Yep, its build a stage with Glen.

Oh yeah and Verizon had a FiOS Table there as well. They had cool schwag but I could not convince them to give me any of it. Too bad, I got all geeky since it said “Iron Man 3” on it.

As you can see by the photos, this was a very good time and it was great to support our friend and see how this particular show is run. You can examine many of the companies presented in my photos via their links which I have added for your review below.

Official Links:
NY Guitar Show and Exposition: http://www.nyguitarexpo.com/
Joe Kaufman Guitars: http://jkaufmanguitars.com/
Rob Balducci: http://robbalducci.com/
DR Strings: http://www.drstrings.com/
Music Store Live: http://musicstorelive.com/
My Generation Guitars: http://www.mygenerationguitars.com/
Rock Hard Guitars: http://www.rockhardguitars.com/
Monster Music: http://www.monstermusicny.com/
812 Guitars: http://www.812guitars.com/
Nikita Guitars: http://www.nikitaguitars.com/
Tonemaster: http://www.tonemaster.net/
Master Strap: http://www.masterstrap.com/live/
Five Towns College: http://www.ftc.edu/
Briggs Music: http://www.briggs-music.com/
Evil Guitars: http://www.evilguitars.com/
All Music Inc: http://www.allmusicinc.com/
LAG Guitars: http://www.lagguitars.com/
Pigtronix: http://www.pigtronix.com/
Martin Guitar Company: http://www.martinguitar.com/
Hoboaxe: http://www.hoboaxe.com/