Our Guitar Summit 2026 Recap

Day 1: Booth Building

It’s a sunny Autumn day in Mannheim. The streets are surrounded by a sea of sunset leaves. But you’re stuck inside a ginormous event hall, screwing chairs and attaching guitar hangers to the walls. Not the most glamorous work, but knowing what’s to come, you do it with excitement and verve. Seeing the stand slowly come together with its rows of shiny guitars feels like an achievement. This monumental event hall will be your home for the next three days. Better get comfortable.

Packed Like Jam

The booth was so jam-packed at times, we could hardly squeeze ourselves in. And we loved every moment of it. Crowds came in waves, and we sometimes got a break for air in between the conversations, connections and chaos. The best thing about the guitar show was meeting you all in person. We can’t count how many loud laughs and heartwarming conversations rang through the booth. And the playing! We brought the guitars, and you brought them to life. Gnarly leads were laid down on the Dullahans, basslines pumped on an MV-4JB, and sweet acoustic ballads on a CLO-65.

New Releases & Teasers

A boatload of new releases rolled into this year’s Summit with us! HB35’s with rotary switches. SC-550’s with Fishman Fluence pickups. ST-Modern Plus HH with a Vegatrem. More info on our Guitar Summit releases HERE. The ‘New Release’ wall was a popular destination – we’re lucky we managed to snap some pictures with the guitars still on the wall.

And then came the teasers! The ST-80 in Kermit green, the long-awaited headless Dullahans, and some sneaky SC Fluence models also stopping briefly by. The Dullahans were, of course, heavily requested. Keep your eyes peeled and subscribe to The Club for further updates on those 👀

BINGO! & Livestreams

We played Guitar Stand Bingo over the course of the three days and already got our first check within minutes of opening. ‘Tests 5+ Guitars’ was way too easy. We’ll have to make it “10+ Guitars” next time. We managed to score BINGO on Sunday – thank you to our Hardcore HB Fans, Thunder Thumbs, Photographers in the Making, and to everyone who participated. You can find our Bingo card below. Let us know if you have any ideas for what we should put on our card for next year!

We livestreamed on the Gram on both Saturday and Sunday, where we were joined by Lukas and Bene to demo our new releases. Dullahans were rocked. HB35’s were ‘verbed. And some of your guitar questions were answered live. Questions like: “What does the rotary switch do?” “Where is the jack input on the Dullahans?” “Why is Bene so handsome?” (Note: we’ve reached out to his parents to uncover the answer. They have yet to comment).

Merch Mayhem

Merch flew off the shelves. As soon as we restocked, they were gone again within minutes. Harley Benton tote bags, t-shirts, plectrums and four different sticker designs. May they serve you well; we hope you wear them with pride.

We really had a ball at Guitar Summit 2026. Jams were had, Bingo was played, friends were made. We already have the countdown running until the next one! See you again in 2027. 

Until next year,

The HB Team ✌️