Guitar Summit 2026 closed on Sunday at the m:con Congress Center Rosengarten in Mannheim, Germany, after a three-day run from 25 to 27 September. The final numbers: 14,900 visitors and 659 brands spread across four floors, with more than 100 workshops on seven stages.
It is, by attendance and exhibitor count, the biggest guitar-focused show in Europe — and unusually for a trade event of that size, it is genuinely open to the public rather than trade-only. That distinction matters if you are deciding whether to go: NAMM is a business event you need credentials for, and Guitar Summit is a show you can buy a ticket to and spend a weekend playing instruments in.
2027 is already on the calendar
Guitar Summit 2027: 24–26 September 2027, same venue — the m:con Congress Center Rosengarten in Mannheim. The ticket shop lists it as running from 11:00 on the Friday to 17:00 on the Sunday, and early-bird tickets are already on sale.
That is nearly a year of notice, which is worth acting on for a specific reason: Mannheim accommodation during the show books out, and the early-bird window is the cheapest the ticket will be.
Where it sits in the year
For anyone tracking the instrument-and-audio calendar, the useful shape is:
| Event | 2027 dates | Character |
|---|---|---|
| NAMM | 26–30 January, Anaheim | Trade-only, where the year’s product announcements land |
| Superbooth | 6–8 May, Berlin | Public, synths and modular, deliberately informal |
| Guitar Summit | 24–26 September, Mannheim | Public, guitars and basses, playing-focused |
The three barely overlap in either audience or gear category, which is why the year works: NAMM sets the product agenda in January, Superbooth is where electronic instrument builders show what they have been doing, and Guitar Summit is where the guitar world gathers at the end of the summer.
If you exhibit rather than attend
Guitar Summit’s exhibitor base skews toward small builders in a way the larger trade shows do not — 659 brands over four floors means a lot of two-person luthier operations alongside the majors. If you build instruments, pedals, or amps in small numbers, this is a more proportionate room than a January trade show in Anaheim, and the year of lead time is enough to plan production around.
We track the creative-technology conference calendar continuously and publish previews roughly four weeks ahead of each event, alongside open calls for papers and performers when they run. Next up in that cycle: Adobe MAX (10–12 November 2026) and MUTEK.JP (20–23 November 2026).