After taking a break in 2006, GASfest 2007 will be held at the Rotunda Centre, Bristol on Saturday March 24th What is GASfest? GAS stands for Gear Acquisition Syndrome...
an addiction suffered by many guitarists wanting to own every guitar and piece of kit ever made. In order to celebrate this mutual love of all things Guitar, the readers of Guitarist Magazine Forum decided to get together for the first time in 2003. Organised by Rock-Babe (RB) and supported by the kindly folks at Guitarist, the first event was such a success, it has become an annual event.
What happens at GASfest? GASfest is predominantly a sociable evening of discussing and playing guitars with a competitive edge being thrown in for the now renowned quiz, which every team wants to win! Although there is no obligation to play, everyone has the opportunity to perform at GASfest, regardless of ability or experience. We filmed the performances at GASfest 2004 & 2005 and produced a DVD that was sold after the event to raise yet more for Drake. In addition, a raffle will be held for some excellent prizes donated from various companies and forumites. This has raised a great deal of money for charity at each event to date, and sent home some very happy people. How do I get tickets? GASfest is a ticket only event and numbers are strictly limited.
Tickets cost £8 if paying by cheque or £8.50 by PayPal (to cover their costs)
For details of where to send your money please contact RB by PM via the forum. Venue Rotunda Centre – see Rotunda details document
Link to map Charity Following the success of previous events, this will again be in aid of Drake Music Project – link to their website: http://www.drakemusicproject.org The Drake Music Project use high technology to help children with disabilities make music. Apart from us all having a great time indulging in our love of guitars, the main aim of the evening is to raise money for the Drake Project – a charity who use high technology to help disabled children make music. These children are physically unable to use conventional instruments so without Drake’s help would not be able to channel their musical ideas. The children work alongside able-bodied children in small groups and create some wonderful music together. Keeping up with new technology is a costly affair and having seen them at work with the children there is no doubt that this is a very deserving cause for our fundraising efforts. Their work is invaluable to the people they help. Doug Bott came along to GASfest 2005 and, with the help of Jason Morris, gave us a demonstration of some of their equipment. Its amazing stuff! Doug is hoping to come along again this year. Raffle The main aim of GASfest, apart from having a great time, is to raise money for Drake. Thanks to our sponsors, we are once again able to have lots of lovely prizes on offer! Tickets are only available to attendees, so please don’t ask if you can buy them if you aren’t there! GASfest 2003 raised over £500. .
GASfest 2004 raised a massive £1050
GASfest 2005 raised an astounding £1500. With the continuing support of some of our original sponsoring companies, and new sponsors coming on board at each event, we aim to increase that amount still further at GASfest 2006! Tickets for the main raffle will be £5 each or 5 for £20. This may seem expensive, but those of you who have seen the fantastic range of prizes in previous years will vouch for them being well worth it. We also have a special raffle for 2007 thanks to Neil Morgan (xlr8), who is donating one of his fantastic Morgan Custom Guitars. The full spec is as follows: Cherry Red with Black three ply scratch plate
One piece Mahogany body
Quarter sawn Mahogany neck with rosewood headstock overlay
Rosewood fretboard - 24.75 scale length/22 jumbo frets/dot markers
Grover tuners
Bone nut
Bareknuckle or Bulldog P90
Tonepros bridge
CTS pots/Hovland capacitor
Hiscox Hard Case
Tickets for this spectacular guitar will be available to attending forum members only. To give everyone an equal chance of winning, tickets will be limited to 1 each and will cost £10. Hotel Official hotel for this year’s event is the Holiday Inn at Filton. A block booking has been made. Rooms cost £60 per person, including breakfast. Call Sally Bridges on 0870 4009068 to book a room, quoting ‘GASfest’ as a reference. Cancellation policy is 28 days before event, so be aware that your credit card will be charged if you cancel after that time. There do seem to be some deals available online which work out cheaper for those wishing to share a twin room. Visit the hotel website to investigate and book. Please be aware that using the block booking means you can pay in March, whereas booking online requires full payment now. Bus The tour bus will pick up from the hotel to take everybody to and from the venue. Payment needs to be made to your tour guide, Bowks, as you get onto the bus at the hotel. Please try to have the correct change ready. Many thanks to: Rik Raven for providing the PA
Mike de Jager for DVD production | 
