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It’s no secret NAMM 2026 was a gargantuan cavalcade of gear, artists, manufacturers and aisles upon aisles of incredible exhibit booths that showcase it all. It was a lot to take in.
So, to condense some of the awesomeness, we invited six artists and influencers to explore the Anaheim Conventional Center and share their favorite products unveiled at NAMM 2026.
Emi Grace, Nick Hames, McClenney, Angela Petrilli, Nikki Stevens and Yvette Young took on the challenge of winding through NAMM’s vast gear galleries to spotlight the products that captivated them. Not surprisingly, their first impressions had more to do with footwear than music-making gizmos.
“I will never wear boots to NAMM ever again,” said Hames. “Wear good shoes.”
“Unlike me,” added Grace, pointing to her feet. “Cowboy boots. Nightmare.”
Nikki Stevens Chased Duff McKagan Tone at Seymour Duncan
For Stevens, NAMM 2026 was an opportunity to visit the Seymour Duncan booth and play the latest pickups from one of her main influences.
“I’m really excited about the Duff McKagan Signature PJ pickup set,” she said. “I’m just obsessed with the Duff tone. I used to play in a Guns N’ Roses tribute band, and I’m just loving playing these pickups while visiting Seymour Duncan. Obviously, I’m missing some of the subtleties with all the noise in here, so I’m going to have to really hear them at my local Guitar Center Hollywood store.”
Shop Now: Seymour Duncan Duff McKagan PJ Bass Pickup Set
McClenney Got a Surprise at Merida Guitars
McClenney discovered Merida Guitars for the first time at the show, and while he tried out their “beautiful” acoustics in the noisy environment (“I can’t hear anything, but they feel great”), he happened upon something unexpected.
“Look at this one,” he said, as he picked a slimline acoustic-electric with a single f-hole off the rack. “This is so light, and these knobs—they feel like the controls on a Prophet synthesizer. I've never seen that before. It's weird, because knobs may be things that don’t really matter, but they might inspire you to think differently. They look like synthesizer knobs, but they’re on a guitar. That's really cool.”
Shop Now: Merida Winter Four Seasons Series Grand Concert Acoustic-Electric Guitar
Angela Petrilli Applauded Fishman Fluence Pickups
With all kinds of gear goodies all around, Petrilli, like Stevens, was most captivated by pickups—specifically, the Fishman Fluence Nashville Legend.
“The Nashville Legend gives you two different voices,” said Petrilli. “You have these two unique and different types of sounds from one acoustic guitar with one pickup. That’s absolutely beautiful and so great if you’re playing live. It’s a really cool pickup, and I’m excited to see how people react to it. I think it’s awesome. Other than that, I haven’t sat on the Gibson guitar throne yet. I want to check that out.”
Shop Now: Fishman Fluence Acoustic Nashville Legend Pickup
Nick Hames Celebrated History at the Martin Guitars Booth
Hames was drawn to a milestone guitar that Martin released last year that was also being feted at NAMM 2026.
“The coolest thing I’ve seen so far is the Martin D-3 Millionth,” he said. “If you look really close, there are 192 wood and gold rings on the top because Martin was 192 years old when this guitar was built. It’s the craziest thing ever. I’d love to get my hands on the Molly Tuttle Signature D-18 that Martin just released. Seeing things in person and getting to play them is really different than looking at a photo or video. But, for me, the best part of NAMM is getting to hang out with people. It’s great to meet all of my internet friends, as well as the people at the companies I’ve worked with, and put a face to a name.”
Shop Now: Martin D-18 Molly Tuttle Signature Dreadnought in Vintage Sunburst
Yvette Young Hung With Friends and High Tech
Young roamed the NAMM halls looking for new tech—and she is always in high demand as a product demo specialist—but she also enjoyed hanging out in places where she is most familiar and comfortable.
“Last year, I spent the majority of my time at the Walrus Audio booth,” she said, “because not only are they really good homies, but I got to put out a signature pedal in collaboration with them called the Qi Etherealizer. This year, I’m at NAMM because, number one, I want to see my friends, and, number two, Casio launched a new product called the Dimension Shifter that I ended up demoing.”
Shop Now: Casio Dimension Shifter Wireless Expression Controller
Emi Grace Received a Gift from Her Friends at Fibenare
Grace was recently gifted with a custom build, and she worried about reporting on it, but the obvious and quite understandable allure of seeing the guitar “in person” drew her to the Fibenare booth.
“Fibenare Guitars was my favorite place at NAMM 2026, because they made a guitar for me,” she said. “But the guitars are incredible—the coolest shapes, beautiful necks and lightweight. This model has custom pickups, and all these really cool switches for doing different coil splits. They even inlayed this beautiful little star—which is my logo—into the fretboard. I can’t wait to try it out.”
More Gear Demos by Artists and Influencers
If you’ve enjoyed these NAMM 2026 insights from Emi Grace, Nick Hames, McClenney, Angela Petrilli, Nikki Stevens and Yvette Young, you don’t have to wait until the next show to check out their gear views. Why? Because each of them tends to show up regularly on the Product Demos section of Guitar Center’s Riffs Blog. You may also see them drop into the Guitar Center YouTube channel from time to time to audition new gear. Keep checking back to get the latest news on the hottest products.