Joe Naylor, founder of Reverend guitars, holds an orange Flatrock. Reverend is one of my favorite boutique success stories. Joe Naylor has successfully transitioned his handmade guitar designs to overseas production, managing to maintain very high quality while keeping costs down. These are sometimes referred to as "midrange" guitars, but everyone I talked to agreed that they are much higher quality than their price tags would suggest.

Burriss Amps had an impressive display of Class A goodness, including this innovative head design of their Switch Master model. The head includes a 9" Eminence speaker built into what would be the bottom. It's a full-power head, and once a cab is plugged in, you can rock to your heart's content. From bedroom to arena, all in one unit.

A nice lineup of JudyBox amps was on display. I spoke with the owner here about the struggle of boutique amp builders trying to remain true to their hand-made quality, yet being able to deliver quantity enough to succeed. But that's another blog.

A new line of straps from Levy's is always good news. I couldn't resist snapping this picture. If they'd had a cash register, I would have bought a strap right there.

With all the custom guitars on display at the show, it seemed only fitting to see this display from Postal Monkey, with custom cases. You have to take that axe home in something, don't you?