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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Music Gear Trumpeted at Trade Show

Lance Lerman decided to make a splash at this year’s National Association of Music Merchants trade show with a new product from his guitar studio, LSL Instruments, in Santa Clarita. The Arc wall hangars and floor stands are the first accessories made by LSL. The guitar holders were designed by Lerman’s wife, Lisa, with no visible screws and a sliding panel that can be decorated with any type of material. “This enhances your house or studio rather than something that detracts from it,” Lerman said. Lerman said there’s money in accessories, more so than the hand-crafted guitars that LSL makes. The company was among 60 or so music-related firms from the San Fernando, Conejo and Santa Clarita valleys to exhibit at the annual NAMM show, held at the Orange County Convention Center in Anaheim from Jan. 19 to 22. Other guitar makers included Michel Pinter of Pinter Instruments in Valley Village, and Avi Shabat, who handmakes custom guitars in West Hills. Drum maker Remo Inc., sheet music seller Alfred Music, microphone makers Blue Microphones and Royer Labs also had booths. Reliable Hardware Co., a North Hollywood company that makes parts used for guitar and drum cases, had a presence as well. Ravi Sawhney was at the expo with his guitar accessories company, D&A Guitar Gear, an off-shoot of his Thousand Oaks product design firm RKS. Like Lerman, Sawhney had guitar stands for sale, but the newest addition to his product lineup was the Gig Strap, an acupuncture pad that fits over an existing guitar strap. It employs a series of nubs that stimulate and relieve the pressure points on the shoulder. “Guitar players, after playing for hours, are getting cramped up, getting muscle fatigue or getting all kinds of chronic problems,” Sawhney said. Marshall Blonstein made his first appearance at the show with his Camarillo company, Rock ‘n’ Rolla, a developer of vintage-looking turntables with modern features such as USB and Bluetooth connections. Rock ‘n’ Rolla makes four models carrying a price between $70 and $150. The UFO model comes with a see-through plastic dome cover while the high-end XL model contains a CD player beneath the turntable. Appearing at NAMM – the largest trade show in the industry – puts his company in front of retailers who might want to sell the turntables, Blonstein said. “So far, we have picked up nine international distributors,” he added. “I was knocked out by that.” – Mark R. Madler

Mark Madler
Mark Madler
Mark R. Madler covers aviation & aerospace, manufacturing, technology, automotive & transportation, media & entertainment and the Antelope Valley. He joined the company in February 2006. Madler previously worked as a reporter for the Burbank Leader. Before that, he was a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago and several daily newspapers in the suburban Chicago area. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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