古典吉他Veenendaal发生两次year in central Netherlands and is Europe’s biggest event dedicated to vintage guitar gear, with around 100 exhibitors and over 1,200 guitars. Myself and fellowGuitar.comcontributor Ed Oleszko have known about the show for a while now, and with our good buddy Daniel Nicolas offering a place to stay and a ride to the show… well, why not?
After a flight from Bristol to Schiphol, we head towards Amsterdam city centre on the bus. We alight at the magnificent brick-built Olympic Stadium and take the short walk to Daniel’s apartment.
Arriving in Amsterdam the day before the show gives us the opportunity for an extra night out. Festivities begin at Daniel’s local guitar shop, Sound Plaza, where we enjoy the hospitality of the shop’s owner Arnoud Holsboer and his sales assistant Florian Ras, and have a fine time playing some of the guitars from Arnoud’s vintageGretschcollection. He keeps them on display at the back of the shop, so if you’re in town, do pay Sound Plaza a visit.
On show day, we load-up on fresh croissants and coffee and are joined by Daniel’s friend Roberto Briganti – a bespectacled披头士乐队-lover who is joining us for the day.
结束
The journey to Veenendaal should take about an hour from central Amsterdam. Daniel takes a wrong turn, to Roberto’s great amusement, but before long we exit the A12 at Junction 23 and we’re depositing the car in the multi-storey car park adjacent to the De Basiliek exhibition hall.
走过入口，褪色牛仔布的海洋，皮夹克和灰色的马尾辫毫无疑问地让我们留在吉他节目。有几个领域要探索，我们从较小的楼上的部分开始，两位参展商建立了大而不同的吉他显示器。
One table has vintage马丁andGibsonacoustics, a 1932National Duolian和60岁和70年代的体面选择挡泥板和吉布森电器。甚至有黑色EKO.acoustic that once belonged toNeil Young. The other has its prime pieces, including a 1955 Gretsch 6120 and a mid-1960s P-90 equipped non-reverseFirebird，装饰在顶部，选择复古Kalamazoo, Gibson, Cromwell and Martin acoustics casually leaning against the table at the far end.
奇迹馆
这是一个令人鼓舞的开始，但相比之下，主要展览馆几乎压倒了。墙壁和天花板是黑色的，混凝土地板抛光，照明使吉他弹出的颜色。这是一个很大的空间，绝对充满了口交吉他装备。我们等待了一些时刻为了消退，并决定有条理地接近事物，一次过道。
There are some very noticeable differences between the Veenendaal show and most of the other guitar shows we attend. For starters, it’s unusually quiet and nobody is doing the too-loud ‘pentatonic twitch’ that so often makes the experience an ordeal.
人们来到这里看到老朋友，闲逛，享受聊天，因为他们在闲逛时。气氛非常放松，所有的吉他都铺设在塔特桌上，为每个人都拿起并尝试。我们觉得有义务询问许可，但几乎没有必要。
We see only a couple of guitars with ‘do not touch’ signs, and since both are 1950s Bursts, that seems entirely reasonable. Then again, moments after starting a conversation with their owner, he’s pulled them from their ‘Cali Girl’ cases for us to try out. One is a seemingly mint ’58 [photo 1] and the other is a ’59 [photo 2] that was restored and refinished by Florian Jaeger, and retrofitted with vintage parts.
Other vintage Gibson electric highlights include three 1950s戈尔多夫[照片3]，一个点颈部'61ES-335，对ES-175S的颤抖和令人惊叹的1950 ES-5。在声学侧，我们发现天然顶级1926 L-1，1955蜂鸟[4]，一个竖琴吉他[5]和一个具有搭配船牛皮衬里的牛仔床[Photo 6]的牛仔床罩[照片6]。
VintageStratocasters特别良好的代表，来自20世纪50年代，60年代和70年代的大量全原型和高质量的炼油器[见图7和8]。没有blackguardTeles，但我们尝试使用Bigsby的工厂，一个'77稀薄线和Refinished '59 Esquire。爵士儿也很多，丹尼尔被一个被殴打的黑乐器诱惑着诱惑。
Considering the location, it’s no surprise there’s a plethora of European-made six-stringed curios. We spot plenty ofHöfners，ekos甚至万龙- 甚至通过Wandre标准奇怪的低音。
甚至美国乐器并不是所有怎样的高端。我们用黑色拍摄epiphone.Crestwood [第9和10张]，配有蝙蝠床，一个'65 Harmony Rocket [11]和令人惊叹的早期60岁silvertone.H-75。但到处都是，有趣和不寻常的吉他。
As always with vintage guitars, it’s a case of buyer beware. More than once we’re discussing the originality of a finish or the possibility of a repair, only for an exhibitor to slide up and say, “there’s a bit of a story behind this one”. Even if these stories are true, you should always consider how convincing they will be if you need to sell the guitar further down the line.
There are fewer amps than we expected, but there are some tweed Fenders [12], severalMarshallsand a nice-looking Selmer with mock-croc covering. It’s a similar story with pedals, although one exhibitor sells vintage pedals almost exclusively and the selection impresses, with earlyIbanez.units [13] and collectibleBig Muffs.
Some exhibitors are actually guitar builders, offering a variety of guitars from retro-themed to ultra-modern. There are also dealers selling parts, accessories, straps, slides, tubes and just about any piece of guitar-related paraphernalia you can think of.
The smallest section of the show encapsulates the Veenendaal spirit, as the show’s organisers provide a separate space for members of the public to show their own guitars. Buying and selling is permitted and although the vibe is more ‘cool secondhand’ than ‘vintage’, we do spot a couple of nice 70s Telecasters.
1月的男人
颁奖典礼是展览的亮点之一. There are two categories, with prizes for the most unusual and the most original vintage guitars. The first is a bizarre-looking nineteenth century parlour acoustic with upper frets inlayed into its spruce top and a steampunk coffin case. The second is a stunning SG Junior in rare TV Yellow, complete with its cardboard ‘crocodile’ case. Legendary Dutch guitarist Jan Akkerman is even on hand to present the awards.
向下午晚些时候蜿蜒蜿蜒下来，盗窃者正在漂流，参展商开始包装。Roberto为他的一个学生找到了一个Martin，但我们其他人都抵制了诱惑。然而，我们发现，销售零件和配件的参展商热衷于将其股票遗留在节目结束时，我们每个人都带走了几套讨价还价的琴弦。
丹尼尔让我们回到阿姆斯特丹没有进一步的绕行。第二个晚上出去跟着黎明冲刺到斯希普霍尔机场，我们又回到了早上的早晨啤酒。
Planes, trains & automobiles
Clearly it helps to have friends with whom you can stay, but even after adding parking costs to the flights, travelling to Veenendaal from South Wales hasn’t worked out much more expensive than return rail fares to London. The train from Amsterdam Central stops at Veenendaal-De Klomp station, which is a 10-minute walk away from the show. There are buses too, which are cheaper but take a bit longer.
在阿姆斯特丹的住宿往往是昂贵的，但在展览区有各种各样的酒店，包括Van de Valk Veenendaal，距离酒店仅有5分钟的步行路程。靠近节目可能更方便，更便宜。2020年代的老式吉他显示Veenendaal Show日期为3月14日和9月19日。也许我们会在那里见到你......
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