Beyond The Burst Guitar Showcase
About this Event
Sunday, September 13, one room in Ottawa holds guitars and amps that nobody outside our shop has seen. Some have been on order for years. All of it comes out of the cases that afternoon, and the builders and brands behind it are in the room.
Most people only ever see instruments at this level in photographs. A magazine spread, someone else's video. Nobody has seen these ones at all. On September 13 they come out of the cases in front of you, and the builders and brands behind them are there. You get closer to this work than a museum would ever allow, and you can ask them anything you want.
Instruments at this level are art, and not as a compliment. One-off pieces, specced and argued over and waited on for years, where the work behind the scenes to get the thing made is most of the reason it exists at all. That is why you see so few of them. They are difficult to commission, they take a long time, and most go straight into a private collection and are never seen again.
Nothing like this has been put together in Canada before. These builders see each other at NAMM, spread across a convention centre for three days. One room, one city, one afternoon, and we are not counting on doing it again.
Who's coming
- Gibson Custom Shop — Tom Murphy. The Murphy Lab is named after him. He was ageing and finish-checking Gibsons by hand, a razor blade at a time, long before relic'd guitars were a category, and his techniques are what the Lab is built on.
- Fender Custom Shop — Austin MacNutt. One of the small number of Master Builders at the Custom Shop.
- El Cabron Guitars — Mike Eldred. He ran the Fender Custom Shop. These days he builds his own guitars under El Cabron, and he's bringing them.
- Powers Electric — Aaron Dablow and Drew Shirley. Powers is bringing both of them, and Shirley spent years playing guitar in Switchfoot.
- Castedosa Guitars — Carlos Lopez. Sixteen years as a Master Builder at the Fender Custom Shop before starting Castedosa. He has built for Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Eric Johnson — and for Ariel Posen, who is closing the night with his band.
- Two-Rock Amplifiers and Divided by 13 — Eli Lester. He owns Two-Rock, bought out of admiration rather than strategy after the company nearly disappeared, and kept small and hand-built since. Two-Rock bought Fred Taccone's Divided by 13 in 2024, so both brands are here in one room together.
- James Tyler Guitars — Rich Renken. General manager at Tyler, and he first went to work for Jim Tyler in 1987. Nearly forty years around those guitars.
- Novo Guitars — Chad Hines. Novo is Dennis Fano's company, built in Nashville. Chad handles sales.
- Soldano, Friedman, Tone King and Diezel — James Garza. An industry veteran, and the sales rep for Boutique Amps Distribution, who build Soldano, Friedman and Tone King, and distribute Diezel.
- Empress Effects - Steve Bragg. He built a tremolo for a friend after finishing an engineering degree, took it to a local shop, and they ordered ten. Empress has been designed and built in Ottawa ever since. He is the one person on this bill who does not have to fly here.
Lauzon Music has been on Wellington Street in Ottawa since 1945, three generations in. We are established as a top dealer for Fender Custom Shop, Gibson Custom Shop, Two-Rock, James Tyler, Suhr, Collings, Novo and Powers Electric. These are the people we buy from, and that is why they are coming to Ottawa.
What happens
Showcase floors are open the whole afternoon. There is a builders panel with the roster on stage taking questions from the room, plus separate presentations from Powers Electric and from the Fender Custom Shop, with Ariel Posen joining the Fender segment. The raffle draws happen in the room on the day, with over $2,300 of gear in the pool — a purple Soldano SLO Pedal, a Friedman IR-X, an Empress Heavy Menace, a D'Addario pedalboard rig — food with your ticket, and a bar. Posen then closes the night with his full band at 7:00. The full running order, with times, is in the Agenda below.
Before you decide
A few hundred people across an afternoon means you can actually get to these builders, rather than queueing for a handshake. Ticket sales close on September 6, a week before the date, because Lago sets its food and staffing from the headcount we hand them. If you're coming, that's your deadline.
Agenda
🕑: 02:00 PM
The show opens
Info: The showcase floors open and stay open until we finish. Every builder and brand is set up with what they brought, everything is out where you can get close to it, and the people behind it are there to talk. Walk the floor and see the one-off event builds before anyone else. Appetiser food is included with your ticket and the cash bar runs the full six hours. Come and go across the afternoon as you like — the stage times below are the plan as it stands, and any of them can move by a few minutes on the day.
🕑: 03:00 PM
Powers Electric
Info: Aaron Dablow and Drew Shirley take the stage for an inside look at the guitars Powers is building. Shirley spent years playing guitar in Switchfoot.
🕑: 04:00 PM
The builders panel
Info: The one panel of the day, and the only hour the roster is on stage together — craftsmanship, design, and where the guitar industry is actually heading. Most of these people have never met. It takes questions from the floor, so bring one.
🕑: 05:15 PM
Fender Custom Shop
Info: The Custom Shop takes the spotlight: what makes it what it is, and why it exists at all. Ariel Posen is part of this one.
🕑: 06:00 PM
The raffle
Info: The draws happen in the room on the day, and you have to be there. Over $2,300 of gear in the pool — a Soldano SLO Pedal in Custom Purple, a Friedman IR-X, an Empress Heavy Menace built in Ottawa, and a D'Addario XPND Core pedalboard with its transport bag, plus an electric guitar case and a maintenance kit. More is being added.
🕑: 07:00 PM
Ariel Posen, full band
Info: Posen is the player a lot of guitar players quietly want to be: taste, touch, phrasing, and a singing voice that would carry the show on its own. Winnipeg-born, years in The Bros. Landreth, and a run of records since 2019 that other guitar players study. He is also the reason a steel-bodied baritone exists — the Mule Resophonic "Posencaster," built to his spec and tuned down to B. He runs Two-Rock amps, and Carlos Lopez built him a Jazzmaster at the Fender Custom Shop, so two of the people on this bill are already in his rig. A full set with his band to close the night. He is also part of the Fender Custom Shop presentation earlier in the afternoon.
🕑: 08:00 PM
That's the night
Info: We finish at eight.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
CAD 49.64
