Frankfurt Musikmesse Update

Finally got my home adsl working again. (I despise Telstra so much, but one of their Techs turned up today {as scheduled... on ANZAC Day} to fix the issue, which he did. It was corroded wires down the street and a plugin that Telstra added which was causing a conflict). And he left me his private mobile number if I had any further issues... way to go Washington, you get it.

So... a few photos from the trip to Germany relevant to our Forum.

I think this was the first photo I took and it's a pretty good summation of my time there; a chilled out dinner in Darmstadt; in an outdoors beer garden and our first meal of beer and sausages.

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Some crazy designs that did look good in the flesh, but you have to wonder why.

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This guy was based in Germany and his 2 piece blanks looked great, but the imported price would be restrictive. I don;t think anyone is going to pay $200 for a blank.

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Proud to see an Aussie presence... and they looked good (unlike my CC Acoustic which now has a huge hole in it.. thanks Betsy)

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Hofner were there (but I've seen some HB-4S builds that would put these to shame)

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This "Green Sparkle" Tele is from our Supplier... it actually looked great and I will probably order some. Also available in Blue Sparkle.

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No glue spots on that spalt top LP. They can do it!

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My iPhone camera started stuffing up here and the next shot are way out of focus (I blame Schnitzel grease).

This one, another from our Supplier, appears to be a GR-1SF in a dark Tobacco burst... it looked sensational in the flesh.

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Our Supplier again and their "Zebra wood". Looks great up close and I've ordered some Zebra wood kits in JB and PB style for our August shipment.

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Yes, I know, the camera sh#t itself at this stage, but this one is from a new Supplier and it did look good. I know a few people have asked for this kit, so I will work on it for around September/October delivery.

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(Sorry) this is another one a few people have asked for and we will get a few of these (in kits) late this year.

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(Sorry) This is the same New Supplier, but I was really impressed with this one and would consider these as finished guitars (kits available upon request)

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(Sorry) This is the New Supplier's LP and it looked really good.

Hi Adam, that Zebra J Bass looks so sexy.

I have loads more photos from Germany (Darmstadt, Frankfurt, Berlin and Dresden) and Prague, but won't bore you... you can come over for the Slide Show extravaganza.

But... If you are looking for a tourist destination, I can't recommend Dresden enough... a City rebuilt after WWII that is so beautiful, there are no words.

And the food... I miss the German (and Czech) Pork, Dumpling and Beer diet so much.

In closing... Marty (my travel buddy) and I were feeling the effects of a lack of veggies, by the time we got to Dresden, so we were on the lookout for some vegetarian specials.

We came across this restaurant, in Dresden, advertising a special on White Asparagus, which was in season.

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Of course (you may not be able to make it out), our Asparagus was served on top of a Schnitzel. No complaints whatsoever.

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I was going to ask if you had any asparagus, as it's asparagus season and most places I went to featured it quite heavily. Obviously the answer is yes!

Believe they love their meat and potatoes only over there.

Wow some great new offerings on the horizon

It's not a great place to visit if you're vegetarian or worse, vegan. There are of course vegetarian restaurants and the larger hotels often have vegetarian options, but it's rare in the smaller restaurants and cafes. Probably worse (or wurst) in Bavaria where they are really into their sausages. Rather like the situation in the UK in the '70s and '80s.

I'd prefer the LP with plain, not striped, binding.

Where the music industry could learn from the automotive industry is...booth girls. That's all I have to say.

I love the LP! And Germany has a very good kitchen but as Simon said, you must be a meatlover :)

Ahrrr yes; I got taken to a "special" dinner in Germany one April (about 25 years ago now). There was some sort of Asparagus Festival going on, and Asparagus was just about ALL they had! Huge steaming plates of steamed white asparagus! OK I'll eat a couple of stalks the stuff, and it's great in sushi, but I don't know what was going through those guys' heads. There was also huge amounts of beer, but my appetite for that approximately matches my appetite for asparagus.
So here I was was with Sergeant Schultz-like dreams of potato pancakes with sour cream, wiener schnitzels you could write letters on, 500 different types of sausages and so on, but no, all we got was bloody asparagus....
Actually it was just on 40 years ago when my work took me to Invercargill New Zealand and I was invited to a "special" dinner by the branch manager. So what did he have? A couple of loaves of bread, a dish of dipping vinegar, and a potato sack full of the apparently world-renowned Bluff Oysters!
I HATE oysters....

nice one Ads.

Thanks for the update on the trip.

Now I feel like I had a bit of a holiday too :o