NAMM 2023 live: all the biggest news as it happened

NAMM 2023: It’s here, folks. The world’s biggest guitar gear show, NAMM, is upon us, and while it may be in the unusual month of April, that has done nothing to slow the annual tidal wave of gear announcements.

For the second year in a row, we’ll be bringing you the hottest news LIVE from the show floor at the Anaheim Convention Center in sunny California. Our intrepid Associate Editor Jackson Maxwell will be treading the NAMM boards this time out, and keeping you informed of all the goings-ons while the remainder of Team GW.com shiver in their home offices back in the UK.

Today (Wednesday 12) marks press preview day, where we sample our first morsels from the great feast of gear, before full proceedings commence on Thursday April 13, running through to Saturday April 15.

So keep those peepers glued – not literally, please – to this page, which will automatically refresh with red-hot showfloor action and up-to-the-minute news.

But wait, there’s more! Our NAMM 2023 news guide covers all the latest guitar news (duh), rumors and predictions, and we’ll be keeping that up-to-date throughout the show, too.

Basically, it’s going to be almost exactly like you’re at the show! But from the comfort of your beanbag/Uber/toilet. Bliss.

If you're looking for the biggest NAMM launches so far, you'd be well-advised to investigate Sterling by Music Man's mammoth drop, which saw the company unveil a whopping 11 guitars, including the long-awaited arrival of St. Vincent's Goldie model in the Sterling range. We're digging the $829 price tag on that one.

During today’s pre-show press preview, Martin proudly showed off its new wares, including the company’s lavish, eye-catching new-for-2023 special edition models. All of them – including, yes, the D-42 Bitcoin – were fantastic to see up-close, but the D-Robert Goetzl 6 "Rabbit" looked especially stunning in person.

We think that Magneto's all-new Starlux may very well be the coolest-looking semi-hollow design of 2023 thus far. Set against the dramatic backdrop of the Anaheim Convention Center front entrance, it has the presence of a drool-worthy classic car. 

Another NAMM show, another massive signature guitar drop from Ibanez: feast your eyes on the brand’s class of 2023 signature models, which have been bestowed upon Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Paul Stanley, Lari Basilio, Martin Miller and Ichika Nito.

A modern Talman at $699? A PIA using finishing techniques never-before-used on Ibanez models? Basilio’s much-teased LB1? A stellar showing from Ibanez indeed.

No doubt our man on the floor will be checking out this beauties later today...

Fender has been notable in its absence from NAMM again this year, but its home audio wing has made it to the event and is showing off the RIFF – a powerful 60-watt bluetooth speaker and guitar amp.

It’s the first such device from the brand (it’s previous speakers lacked guitar inputs) and it has some appealing features, not least a maple wood touch control panel. The big question is... can it find a niche in the increasingly competitive practice amp and bluetooth speaker market?

At last year’s show, Animals As Leaders guitarist Tosin Abasi teamed up with Ernie Ball Music Man to release the Kaizen – a surprise collaborative creation that was unveiled exclusively as a seven-string machine. 

Now, to answer the prayers of all six-string fans, that radical model – which features an innovative Infinity Radius fingerboard and HT pickups – has been repackaged in a six-string format.

Speaking of HT pickups, Ernie Ball Music Man has also overhauled Steve Lukather’s signature range with the L4 collection – five new models that all arrive with the brand’s advanced Heat Treated single-coils and humbuckers. That limited-edition Steamroller model is quite the specimen, too…

One of the best things about Donner's Hush-I Silent guitar – which we first saw at last year's NAMM show – is how travel-friendly it is. We'd guess that this towering, custom-for-NAMM '23 version of the guitar, though, doesn't quiiiite score as highly in that particular category. Think it can still be taken on a flight as a carry-on?

You can always count on Minarik to have some of NAMM's most visually arresting guitars on display. This Alice in Wonderland-themed 12-string acoustic stopped us in our tracks...

Lord have mercy: Guild's new Surfliner Deluxe has got several members of the GW team's wallets a-fluttering. Bound rosewood fretboard, classic offset vibrato and Guild's first-ever roasted maple neck? In that particular shade of Rose Quartz Metallic? Take our money. Take it now.

ESP goes big each and every NAMM, and this year is no exception: James Hetfield's Olympic White Vulture finally has liftoff, and there are 12 other LTD signature guitars on the way, not to mention 12 updated and all-new E-II models. We can't wait to get a look at the Custom Shop goodies they have in store…

And with a nice shot of the giant hashtag sign, the 2023 NAMM show is now officially underway. While it remains scaled-down from its pre-COVID heights, attendance is strong today, and the Anaheim Convention Center is once again alive with the cacophonous but exciting sound of all kinds of new gear getting put through its paces.

The very first place we journeyed to today was the Ibanez booth, which dutifully had on display all of the company’s brand-new signature models. 

All of ‘em looked great, but just look at Joe Satriani's new JS1BKP! Featuring an alder body, three-piece maple/bubinga neck and rosewood fretboard, it pays homage to the personally commissioned, Custom Shop-built model that’s become a staple of his touring arsenal in recent years.

Equally as impossible to miss was Steve Vai’s awe-inspiring new PIA77BON. A celebration of the 35th anniversary of the virtuoso’s partnership with Ibanez, it may just be the most mind-blowing PIA model to date. It features a hydro-dipped multicolor swirl finish crafted using a finishing technique not used on any other Ibanez production model, an alder body, a five-piece maple/walnut neck, and a rosewood fretboard.

Also on hand was Lari Basilio's new LB1-WH. The way that classic white finish works visually with the gold look of the dyna-MIX9 switching system and Basilio's signature Seymour Duncan S-S-H pickup set? Now that's just class. 

Guess who's here to demo the many amazing capabilities of Neural DSP's Archetype: Rabea plugin suite? Why, Rabea Massaad himself, of course! He's even got the prototype of his still-yet-to-be-announced Ernie Ball Music Man signature model in hand, to boot...

You're always in for a ride when it comes to ESP's Exhibition Limited models, and 2023's sure didn't disappoint. 

Details on the guitars were hard to come by, but the spec we're most curious about, to be honest, is the weight... 

Ernie Ball Music Man's Kaizen – a seven-string model the storied company designed in collaboration with Animals As Leaders guitar hero Tosin Abasi – stole the show at last year's NAMM. You wouldn't think it'd be drawing crowds again this year, but the eagerly-anticipated six-string version of the model – especially when presented in dramatic, Star Wars-like lighting, as it is at the Ernie Ball Music Man booth – is undoubtedly a stunner.

Just how small is Positive Grid's new Spark Go modeling amp? Well, look how it's dwarfed by the iPhone standing next to it! Still, though, what the Spark Go lacks in size it more than makes up for in punch – you'd be surprised at how loud it can get. The next Spark, the company joked with us at its NAMM booth, is going to be a watch... 

Big news on the pedal front: Kernom – yes, Kernom of Ridge Augmented Analog Overdrive fame – has unveiled the MOHO Magmatic Fuzz Station. Could it be the most versatile fuzz pedal ever created? Quite possibly, yes.

It seems 2023 is the year that Danish effects firm T-Rex has finally unveiled its finished Binson Echorec Magnetic Disk Delay reproduction – available for a princely $2,100. 

The stunning (and gigantic) pedal-formatted take on the classic analog delay favored by Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin has been seven years-in-the-making. 

It features all the tech from the original – including a spinning drum and the glowing green ‘magic eye’ tube indicator, which shines brighter as the signal increases in saturation.

It is, without doubt, one of the most attention grabbing boxes on offer at this year’s show. T-Rex has only made 500 of them, though, so good luck spotting them in the wild...

We're back for day 2 of the show, and have started the day with a visit to the Convention Center's Boutique Guitar Showcase. That showcase, we must say, has truly lost its head. 

Marconi Lab's Hyper-SS (left) and Stratos guitars both cut a unique figure, with the Hyper-SS even boasting a light-up fretboard. 

Another headless wonder was this jaw-dropper, "The Root," from Sankey Guitars. Talk about a "natural" finish!

We stopped and gawked at this 1969 Fender Stratocaster for so long that the fine folks at Reverb – the company displaying the vintage beauty – seemed mildly concerned. As it turns out, Reverb got the Strat from a local shop you might've heard of called Norman's Rare Guitars. Those scuff marks sure ain't artificial... 

We were raring to see Eventide's game-changing H90 Harmonizer multi-effects unit, and FM Guitars' mind-blowing 16-string double-fretboard models, at this year's show – so why not both at once? Felix Martin offered onlookers a fascinating look at some of the H90's many sounds at the Eventide booth today, including a few reverbs he excitedly described to the crowd as the best he's ever used. 

On hand to give NAMM-goers a taste of the sonic capabilities of one of Jon Gomm's signature Ibanez acoustics was none other than Jon Gomm himself! Though he was competing against the overwhelming NAMM cacophony, Gomm made his Ibanez sing gloriously. We promise he asked us to get this close...

We were left utterly slack-jawed by the announcement of T-Rex's years-in-the-making reproduction of the Binson Echorec analog delay unit, and, of course, had to see it for ourselves on the show floor. T-Rex's Sebastian Jensen kindly took us through the pedal's ins and outs, some of which you can see in the short clip above. Just look at that thing!

We've had our eyes on Chapman since we first got to the show, and with – it turns out – good reason. Today, the company launched a new signature ML3 model for Black Stone Cherry's Chris Robertson, previously a PRS man. With double-binding, a matching headstock, and gold hardware set against a white finish, the model's an absolute beauty.

As if that wasn't enough, we also confirmed something we'd been wondering since we saw an Explorer-esque model at Chapman's booth on Wednesday. The company's Ghost Fret guitar is back, and it sure looks menacing.

Of course, there's far more to ESP's NAMM offerings than its crazy Exhibition Limited models. Not to be outdone by his series of collaborations with Gibson in recent weeks, Kirk Hammett's trio of LTD KH-V models were lined up, and ready to strike, at the ESP booth.

So, for that matter, was his Metallica bandmate's newly-unveiled, Olympic White-finished LTD Signature Series Vulture.

The busiest man in tone, aka Rabea Massaad, has signed up with Ernie Ball to design new guitars, he's demoing at the Neural DSP booth left, right and center – and now he's launched his own set of signature Strat single coils with Bare Knuckle, the Triptych. They're as much for Mayer and SRV fans as prog-metal players. Seriously, check out Rabea's demo. Searing.

We're back for the third and final day of NAMM '23, and look who decided to show up! Is it Steve Vai? Is it Jimmy Page?? No! It's the sun! Sunny California has felt more like Seattle this week, but we're gonna take the sun's appearance as a good omen for today.

Eastman's newly-unveiled Juliet LA model (the Celestine Blue-finished six-string in the middle) has the entire Guitar World team looking for their piggy banks and digging between couch cushions. 

We stopped by the EHX booth to take a look at the company's new Lizard Queen Octave Fuzz pedal, but how can you not love this gathering of 20+ of the company's other stompboxes? Choose your fighter!

Cream Guitars doesn't necessarily have the biggest booth at this year's NAMM show, but after surveying the convention for four days we can definitively award the company the prize of 'Most Imaginative Booth.' Go ahead, take your rightful place on the throne...

Anchored by a titanium frame designed and constructed by an Italian cycle builder, Strandberg's futuristic new Boden Meloria is a travel guitar that’s built to survive just about anything.

When we first got wind of Kernom's new MOHO Magmatic Fuzz Station, we thought from just looking at it that it might be the most versatile fuzz pedal ever created. The friendly folks at Kernom took us through its many features – including that nifty Electricity control – today, and we're chomping at the bit to give it a full review...

And with this Revv stack – our favorite commemorative design of the show – we'll call it a wrap! 

We knew that Fender wasn't going to be in attendance – likewise with other gear giants like Gibson, PRS, Boss/Roland and Jim Dunlop – but NAMM attendance remained strong this year, and the big dogs' absence allowed small- and mid-tier makers to have some crowds for themselves. With NAMM returning to its usual January slot for 2024, we'll be curious to see if at least one or two of them return, but for now – like 2022 – this year's show proved that NAMM can work just fine without the big shots.

We've got more videos from NAMM '23 – shot by our crack video team – to come, but for now, thanks for following along with the madness. We'll see you in nine months...

The live coverage may have ended, but as the dust settles, we've put together our guide to the 11 biggest things we discovered at this year's show, charting the hits, the misses and the game-changing tech of NAMM 2023. There are things that spin, things that extend, and things that just plain look purdy…