The biggest showing at the awards was easily made by Tobias. Practically every featured performer of the night was backed-up by a Tobias-wielding bassist. This included Danny Milner, who performed with Vocal Duo of the Year winners Brooks and Dunn. Randy Thrett, who plays with Pam Tillis, picked on a Tobias, as did John Marcus, who backed up Vocal Event of the Year winner Tim McGraw.

Other GMI spottings included Wynonna Judd, who stays faithful to her Custom, Art, Historic ES-336, while Tom Bukovac, her backing guitarist, played a DC-Pro. Sheryl Wolf, who performs with Alan Jackson, did so with an F-5L. Kix Brooks showed his Louisiana pride by swinging around his one-of-a-kind custom "gator" Les Paul, while sidekick Ronnie strummed a Howard Roberts Fusion.