# Nashville report



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

If I can get some batteries for my camera, I'll show you folks some *SERIOUS* guitar porn later in the week. I'm in Nashville right now, and last night I took a stroll down Broadway*** to Gruhn's Guitars. Oh....my......goodness. This place makes the very best L&M, 12th Fret or Tundra, or any of them, look like a neighbourhood mom & pop shop that sells Samicks and trombone sheet music.....and I only got to see what's on the first floor....that's visible from the street. I'll spend more serious time there when stores are open this week. I hope I can find some batteries for the camera because this is something you don't want to just relive in your head.

Broadway in Nashville is pretty much what George Street in St. John's aspires to be, and comes awful close to. It's bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar.....bar. They're about 20ft apart, and every single one has a country band playing, visible from the street, with guitar-playing buskers sitting outside trying to make it. Saw a kid who couldn't have been more than 11, just cutting it up on the bridge of a Tele. I didn't realize until today that Johnny Hiland was playing last in one place, while Jerry Douglas and Buddy Miller were playing in another.

Ernest Tubb's record shop is a wonder for country music buffs. I was re-reading an old Jeff Beck interview in GP the other day, and he was going on and on about Cliff Gallup (who was Gene Vincent's guitar player), and what should I see upon entry but 8 Gene Vincent albums...on vinyl...brand spankin new.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

If you run out of stuff to do go see our buddy Murph.. tell him Pat and Rich from Canada sent ya 

http://www.nashvilleprohammond.com/

Oh I actually bought a guitar from Grunns.... in the late 70's


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

So, a stroll down Broadway on a Sunday night reveals no less talent that a Friday or Saturday would. Went to several clubs, some with multiple bands playing for tips at opposite ends of the club, all of the clubs lined with autographed b&w glossies of country music legends. I was reminded of the old Lovin' Spoonful tune "Nashville Cats":

"Well, there's thirteen hundred and fifty two
Guitar pickers in Nashville
And they can pick more notes than the number of ants
On a Tennessee anthill
Yeah, there's thirteen hundred and fifty two
Guitar cases in Nashville
And any one that unpacks his guitar could play
Twice as better than I will"

Well, they might not all play "clean as country water" anymore, and I think the 1352 estimate is a little on the low side, but the "twice as better than I will" sure holds up me. Although many of the publicity signs one sees around for "Music City" will have a Les Paul in the photo - after all, Gibsons are made here, so local signs support local businesses - Teles seem to be the weapon of choice. In one of last night's club visits, the band at one end had a guy doing wonders on a Joe Glaser-style 3-pickup Tele, and the other end had a guy with some form of B-bender on his, with a Rat and a Timmy on his pedalboard. 

Visited the home of an old acquaintance yesterday who had a jawdropping array of amps and guitars, some 4 or 5 Strats that I could count, all over 45 years old, one of them a '56 or 57 with a V neck, a 62 Jaguar, a Rickenbacker 12, buncha prewar Martins, with many parlour and smaller-sized bodies, FOUR Fender reverb units, blackface everything (Twin, Vibrolux, Princeton, Super, Deluxe, etc), two Vibratone cabs, and a number of all-original tweeds, including a venerable 5E3 that was actually the only amp I tried.

The guy has spent his academic career studying human attention and the development of automaticity (stuff you can "pay attention to" unconsciously), and in an interesting twist has gotten interested in the psychology of guitar playing, and how people mentally process what they do on the fretboard, both as learners and as experts. In what has to be one of the most fabulous meetings of science and music I've ever seen, Gibson just gave him him three LP Jrs to use for his research. (which we also played). Very odd finish. The usual slab bodies but finished entirely in a thin black semigloss, with a black dog-eared P90 and black pickguard.

You may THINK you know the meaning of the word "envy", but I swear to you that if you look it up in the dictionary you will see my slack-jawed face right about now.

More tomorrow.


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

Can we have the next Ottawa Tonefest at his place ? :smile:



mhammer said:


> Visited the home of an old acquaintance yesterday who had a jawdropping array of amps and guitars, some 4 or 5 Strats that I could count, all over 45 years old, one of them a '56 or 57 with a V neck, a 62 Jaguar, a Rickenbacker 12, buncha prewar Martins, with many parlour and smaller-sized bodies, FOUR Fender reverb units, blackface everything (Twin, Vibrolux, Princeton, Super, Deluxe, etc), two Vibratone cabs, and a number of all-original tweeds, including a venerable 5E3 that was actually the only amp I tried.


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## Stonesy (Oct 7, 2008)

Need Pics

Get a disposable camera if ya have too!


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

The camera is working. Lotsa pix. Yesterday's visit to Gruhn's was amazing. Met with George and got taken up to the upper floor where the high end customers go for the 5 and 6 figures pieces. Their website has nice photos of the individual pieces, but I'll show you what it feels like to look at a row...a whole freaking ROW...of vintage goldtops and another row of D'Angelicos. Much to my pleasure George suggested going out for lunch, so we're doing lunch today. And tomorrow I meet the Visual Sound gang for lunch, tour and chat.

What a city, man. On my walk over to Gruhn's, at 10:45 on a Monday morning, there is a live act in every single club along the way...AND an audience. Baby, this IS "Guitar Town".:smile:

...and to think I'm here for "work".:smilie_flagge17:


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

*mhammer*...Many thanks for this thread. I'm sure the pics will blow us away.

Just ot of curiosity, have you been to Memphis...if yes, how would you compare it to Nashville. Only looking a few comments, as I know you are there for "work"

Enjoy the remainder of your visit.

Cheers

Dave


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

I have heard that the pawn shops there are full of great guitars. Is that true? Apparently lots of people go there hoping to make it big, only to have to pawn their guitars to get back home.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

George Gruhn set a lot of folks down the right road (and attitude) about guitars back when he wrote an article for Guitar Player. There aren't many like him who know what guitars are *really* about.

Enjoy your visit while we live vicariously through you.

Peace, Mooh.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

mhammer said:


> The guy has spent his academic career studying human attention and the development of automaticity (stuff you can "pay attention to" unconsciously), and in an interesting twist has gotten interested in the psychology of guitar playing, and how people mentally process what they do on the fretboard, both as learners and as experts.


*mhammer*..After the excitement of this thread has subsided (from a travel and guitar perspective), could you possibly please provide more information about the above. Mrs. Greco is a psychologist and would like to read more about your friend's work (any references/links to his publications would be greatly appreciated). Also, any idea as to when he hopes to publish his findings about the psychology of guitar playing and the associated mental processing/learning? Thanks...much appreciated. 

Cheers

Dave


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Mooh said:


> George Gruhn set a lot of folks down the right road (and attitude) about guitars back when he wrote an article for Guitar Player. There aren't many like him who know what guitars are *really* about.
> 
> Enjoy your visit while we live vicariously through you.
> 
> Peace, Mooh.


Oh hell, *I* feel like I'm living vicariously through me. BTW, Memphis is a 4hr drive from here. 

Had an absolutely delightful lunch with George today, with very wide-ranging conversation, from the dietary needs of his cerval cats ( http://fraleystuff.net/galleries/Africa2008/IMG_2099.jpg ) that he has for pets, to the origins of tenor guitars, to the advantages and disadvantages of being located right beside the Ryman Auditorium, to the degree of actual interest various major guitar CEOs have in guitars themselves (sorry, folks, no tales told out of school here), to the Montreal Guitar Expo (where he was invited to speak earlier in the summer), to alternative building materials that have surprisingly good qualities, to what makes a good and sustainable product, and whether there has been any innovation in guitar-making in the past 50 years. Your tax dollars paid for lunch. But don't worry, I've been living off the free breakfasts mostly, so I still haven't even used up a single day's allowance in the time I've been here. I figure $20 of tax money to be able to make you folks as happy as you seem to be is tax money properly spent. George expressed his gratitude "to the Canadian government".

On the walk back from the restaurant, the discussion moved to his own from-the-ground-up designed guitar ( http://www.gruhn.com/photo/EX1066.jpg ). He raved about how it didn't sound like anything else, and that one could use it to play anything. It has a walnut back and a spruce top, and comes with either TV Jones pickups or Duncan Seth Lovers. He went to get one that he wanted me to try and found the stand it was on empty. "Where'd the Gruhn go?" he asked the staff member. Apparently James Hetfield had popped by that morning (Metallica played up the street Monday night) and bought it. I have a partial photo of the one Hetfield picked up. Gruhn is hoping that it'll show up in a stage shot at some point. We picked up one of the remaining ones on display and went to the tryout room. I have to say it was *every* bit as good as he touted. Acoustic-like sustain and ring. Very clear tone, great comfort, fabulous neck. Easily usable for jazz, blues, funk, country. He urged me to turn up and dig in so that I could see how feedback resistant it was, but I didn't really have enough confidence in my chops to do so. I think the most surprising thing about it was that with both pickups on, even small adjustments of the individual volume controls yielded very different tones. I've never experienced that in a 2-pickup guitar before. If I had $3300 on me and confidence that it would not break in transit, I'd have bought one on the spot.

This evening, after the conference ended for the day, a bunch of us went for a trip over to the Grand Old Opry House, though we didn't go in. The rather large shopping mall beside it has a "Gibson Showcase" store. Think of it like a Sony Store, only its just Gibson/Epiphone/Valley Arts, and it's the size of a Blockbuster. I was anxious to try out a new Epiphone Wilshire, that was reviewed in this month's GP. For a $250 guitar, not bad at all. Not the Gruhn, but more in my price league. Decent neck, light weight. Intonated just as poorly as my 64 Coronet, though it could have been because the strings were new and needed to settle in. As the GP review indicates, the neck pickup is situated such that the neck and middle settings don't sound like other dual-humbucker axes. Not sure if I like it or not. The bridge tone was fine, though. I was easily able to coax Angus Young tones from it. Not at all crazy about the control layout. And since the action was set higher than I like it, the jury is still out with respect to playability. Compared to other axes out there for a $250 street price, though, fair value for the money.

Tomorrow is lunch and the "dime tour" of Visual Sound, where apparently I will be "held prisoner" for a couple hours before being escorted to the airport.

Oh, and I DID do some work-related stuff today.

Next posting sometime Friday, most likely. I'm not back until quite late Wednesday night. It's been a blast so far, and fun relaying everything back to you. I hope it doesn't come across as arrogant. It's all the stuff I'd hope to read from someone else if they went to Nashville. I hope it's as fun for you as I know it'd be for me if all I could do was read about it...and dream.


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

Thanks a lot for this. It's probably as close to Nashville as I'll ever get, and your insider view is great to read.

Thanks for keeping us posted.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Okay, spent a delightful afternoon yesterday with Bob Weil from Visual Sound. I thought I would provide pix, but quite frankly it was smaller than I imagined. All the actual production is done overseas, and what goes on in Spring Hill (20 min outside of Nashville) is essentially the business, development, and repair side of things. Bob asked that I not take pix of the development side, and keep certain tidbits under my hat, which I am more than happy to do.

What I can say is that they have some new stuff that they are hoping to show at the Winter NAMM, that I think folks will find interesting. Bob also showed me the "museum", that I will post later this week, tracing the various developments, from the first wooden prototype to the various "Visual Volume" and wah pedals they made over the years.

I do have to respond to some questions people asked me to ask, though. And right off the bat, I have to confess to some foolishness on my part. kqoct I had thought that the unusual shape of their pedals - particularly the V-shaped front side - has something to do with being able to pivot one's foot and comfortably press the stomp switch from either side. So when Bob was showing me something, and stepped on the pedal from an angle, the question popped into my head. Bob grinned and informed me that, no, it was simply to look different, so that one musician would ask another "Hey, what's that weird-looking pedal there?", and that if there was any ergonomic advantage, it was purely coincidental. Stupid me for thinking too hard...hwopv Where I was correct, though, was in asserting that the raised back was to protect the controls, and provide additional space (it allows the 9V battery to be inserted "vertically").

Over a very nice lunch (courtesy of Bob), I pitched the order-flipping fuzz to him, and it seemed to pique some interest. We'll see what comes of that.

I did ask about using a higher supply voltage, and Bob indicated that supplies up to maybe 15V were more or less okay, since the lowest-rated caps they use are 25v...BUT... a) the Truetone triples the 9v battery supply to over 25V, so giving it more to start with is likely to result in device failure, b) anything using a BBD regulates the supply down to 5V anyways so there is not real advantage, and c) he didn't think they would sound any better (particularly the distortions). That's pretty much what I would have thought he would say, but there you have it from the horse's mouth.

Bob introduced me around the office (which includes his mother and brother), and one of the people looked awfully familiar and had a familiar-sounding name. Turns out it was Zac Childs, who writes an "Ask Zac" column for Vintage Guitar and does product reviews as well. While I didn't get to try it out, he had a Pigtronix Mothership pedal in the office, and assured me that it was every bit as fun as you might expect (a review will be printed in the coming months). VS also entered into an arangement with Gibson (no buyouts or merging, merely a "We'll use your pedals under these circumstances" deal), and Gibson gave them a number of instruments for pedal testing/development. One of them is a "Zoot Suit" model SG ( http://www.guitarscanada.com/Board/showthread.php?t=25994 ) that I picked up and noodled with. The body is....um...okay, and certainly lighter, but dear lord the neck looks cheap and ugly from the back. And looking at them up close, I still don't like the transparent pickups. Probably the best feature on the thing is the relocation of the volume control to a more Strat-like location, where one can engage in pinky-use of the volume control.

The other thing I was happy to get a closeup look at was the "hubcap" on their now discontinued Workhorse amplifier. It is hard to tell from the picture, but it was a truly inspired piece of design. The middle of it is a bit like a stopped up funnel (Bob said the original prototype actually WAS a funnel plugged up with duct tape), tapering as it approaches the dust cap of the voice coil. The "struts" of the cover also taper inward. The entire structure is/was intended to not only provide protection for the speaker, but also to disperse the sound more evenly around the amp, an advantage both for the player usingit, and any other musicians sharing the stage. It also tamed any excessive top end. Seeing the inside of the amp was also pretty cool. The amp came with a DIY-biasing setup with a pair of LEDs (read and green) for each power tube, that were visible from the outside, even though they were deep inside the emp. The user would tweak a small pot until the LED went from red to green, and bingo, you're properly re-biased.

All in all, a great amp. Unfortunately, not in production any more. The market has a glut of low cost amps, and a glut of boutique amps. The Workhorse was intended to provide boutique dependability at "regular-guy" prices. Between the huge competition, and the barrier that shipping costs would impose, they decided to put it out of its misery. Bob says maybe one day, they'll bring it back, but for now it's on hiatus.









More to come. I have to touch up some photos first, before I go photobucket-crazy.

One funny note, though. I brought a pair of recently-purchased overalls with me, to be "dressed appropriately". Turns out, I was an anachronism. Now, understand that whenever I happen to see someone wearing a piece of clothing that I find appealing, the answer to the question "Where did you buy that?" is generally "Oh this? I picked it up in <_insert name of foreign country here_>.". In other words, what I desired I could never have. So, yesterday was finally my turn. Within 4 hours three separate women approached me and declared "Oh, ah jest luuuuuv yer overahls. Where did yew get them?". And I had to tell them, that though they were only $9, _and_ made in the USA, I bought them at Giant Tiger in Ottawa. :smilie_flagge17:


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

And so it begins.....

because I know folks will be curious, here is the guitar James Hetfield bought. It's the one on the far right. I tried out the one just to the left of the blue one.








Here's an amp of historical interest.








Let's get juuuuust a closer look...








Sometimes, life is just a wall of cherries...


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

How much is that Tele with the goldtop on top? (the $500k wall)








Nice axe, dot dot dot.....








Just a l'il ol' geetar store....








...and I wanna know how much they spend on strings every month!


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I always thought that Gibson bridges were either the tune-o-matic type, or compensated wraparound. But here we have an early example of an SG (which I gather would have been one of those called a Les Paul) with a VERY uncompensated bridge.








Here's an odd one. Betcha you never saw a 335 with a sideways vibrola before!








I was going to bring the vibrola off my Coronet to Gruhn's, since it wasn't doing anything anyways, but ran out of time before it was take-off time. But here's the funny thing. Take a look at this batch of Coronets, Crestwoods and Wilshires, though. You will note that several of them have no arm on the vibrola. I asked the staff-member if they were removed to prevent damage or were simply missing. They were all just missing. So, I guess what happened to mine was a common affliction.








And as last picture for tonight, here's a mandolin with a teeny Charlie Christian style pickup (note the 3 screws for mounting it).


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Just one more for this evening, actually. This is part of the "museum" at Visual Sound. At the bottom are the early wooden pedals that Bob Weil made. The idea was a volume pedal that would show you what the current level was set to. Weil initially used slider pots, and a variety of mechanisms, including cams and plastic strapping that worked a bit like a bow saw to move the slider from one end to the other.

The black thing in the middle of the bottom row was an early approach that is strongly reminiscent of a shoe-size gauge like you see in the store. Hard to tell from the picture but in the middle of that early prototype was a hump similar to what you see on the wooden model at the left. As you pushed with your foot, the needle indicator would show you where you were in the volume range. Of course the current version uses LEDs and a VU meter type chip to light the LEDs up in order as level is increased. Certainly a lot easier to see on a dim stage.

I wasn't aware of all the things that Bob had produced before the Jekyll+Hyde, Route 66, and H2O. On the shelf is a Visual Wah, a Visual Metal, Visual Blues, and Visual Wah+Volume.


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## Rugburn (Jan 14, 2009)

This is just extraordinary. Thank you so much for sharing this with the forum. It's like a museum where you can buy the stuff!!


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

*Thanks so much for all the great pics!*..... kksjur

I have heard of this store in the past but never realized the "scope" of their stock and the sheer number of instruments.

I have never been in a music store that comes close to Gruhns
Cheers

Dave


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

mhammer said:


> If I can get some batteries for my camera, I'll show you folks some *SERIOUS* guitar porn later in the week. I'm in Nashville right now, and last night I took a stroll down Broadway*** to Gruhn's Guitars. Oh....my......goodness. This place makes the very best L&M, 12th Fret or Tundra, or any of them, look like a neighbourhood mom & pop shop that sells Samicks and trombone sheet music.....and I only got to see what's on the first floor....that's visible from the street. I'll spend more serious time there when stores are open this week. I hope I can find some batteries for the camera because this is something you don't want to just relive in your head.
> 
> Broadway in Nashville is pretty much what George Street in St. John's aspires to be, and comes awful close to. It's bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar.....bar. They're about 20ft apart, and every single one has a country band playing, visible from the street, with guitar-playing buskers sitting outside trying to make it. Saw a kid who couldn't have been more than 11, just cutting it up on the bridge of a Tele. I didn't realize until today that Johnny Hiland was playing last in one place, while Jerry Douglas and Buddy Miller were playing in another.
> 
> Ernest Tubb's record shop is a wonder for country music buffs. I was re-reading an old Jeff Beck interview in GP the other day, and he was going on and on about Cliff Gallup (who was Gene Vincent's guitar player), and what should I see upon entry but 8 Gene Vincent albums...on vinyl...brand spankin new.


Yes, I have been there a few times. Very nice area to stroll around. It's a musical town.


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## Teleman (Sep 2, 2009)

What are guitars really about anyway?


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

You ask a very existential question.


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