If you visit the Guitar Convention during BRIDGE, you'll be completely up to date as a guitar enthusiast. Niels made a visit to Gitarist, one of the organizers, and got into the mood for the fair.

A visit to the editorial office of Gitarist is like visiting a miniature guitar fair. In this spot on Atlantisplein, right next to Q-Factory and the pop department of the Amsterdam Conservatory in the capital, not a single piece of guitar news passes without being noticed. "We're just a bunch of guitar nerds together," says Chris Dekker, editor-in-chief of De Bassist (operating under the same publisher and from the same building) at the editorial table. On the wall hangs a PRS SE guitar. "We want to know everything and actually absorb it all." That attitude is ingrained in all editorial members, says Chris. "For example, yesterday I watched a movie in which a band appeared. Well, then I'll just kneel in front of the screen and rewind everything three times to see which model guitar they're playing. It all has to be correct, you know. A few years ago, for example, that film about Mötley Crüe came out in which the actors were playing on much too modern Epiphones. That's just not right. Well, we all suffer from professional deformation."

Passion

The passion for music is palpable in the editorial office. "Everyone here makes music. Even the people who work in sales and administration," says editor-in-chief Erk Willemsen, who is joined by editor Steven Faber and chief editor Co Koenen. Over the years, the team has made a significant leap in quality, says Erk. "Both in terms of design, journalistic approach, and also how we operate online. It has to be that way: a lot has changed in the market over the years. But the reader has remained largely the same: that is - as the title suggests - a guitarist who expects depth and really wants to know the latest of the latest."

Convention

The Guitar Convention during the BRIDGE Guitar Festival is a place to gauge what's on the mind of that guitarist, and thus the potential reader of the magazine. "The Guitar Convention is also a part of community building," says Erk. "A way in which we can involve readers in the magazine."

"We used to receive a lot of letters," recalls Chris. "Nowadays, of course, we get emails and messages via social media, but that feels different. Just at such a fair, you can really get in touch with each other again."

The guitar is alive

Anyone visiting that fair will notice that the guitar is 'alive and kicking'. Every square meter of the Muziekgebouw in Eindhoven is filled with stands featuring more than 70 brands. "There's a good chance you'll be completely absorbed by all the beauty on display," as stated in the latest edition of Gitarist, which largely focuses on the BRIDGE Guitar Festival and Convention. There's no indication whatsoever to conclude that 'the guitar is dead'. "That phrase comes up every now and then," notes editor Steven Faber. "For example, it was the case in the eighties when synthpop bands were on the rise. But the opposite is true." The guitar has remained a stubborn phenomenon over the years with a flexible survival instinct. "There have certainly been many changes," adds Faber. "Every self-respecting brand nowadays has a custom shop, for example. And there has also been a kind of digital revolution: modeling of guitar amplifiers is getting better and is being used by more and more guitarists. In the studio and live." Speaking of which: in the last edition of Gitarist, you can read an article about the Kemper Profiler Player, such a piece of technology from a brand that contributed to that revolution. For example, Neural DSP is also represented at the BRIDGE Guitar Convention: a Finnish company that takes that revolution to another level. Much of what you read in the magazine can be felt, smelled, heard, and played in tangible form during the fair.

Abundance of gear

This immediately brings us to a luxury problem: in the world of guitar, there is an abundance of gear. Quite difficult to choose, assuming that both the number of square meters and the financial resources at your disposal are not endless. Chris laughs. "I heard only one negative reaction last year at BRIDGE. Someone said they canceled their subscription to Gitarist because they were buying too much stuff after every issue. 'Well,' I said then. 'That's actually the only reason you're allowed to cancel your subscription, haha.' By the way, he has since rejoined after not buying anything for a year. We'll probably run into him again at the Convention."