# More sadness from Tennesse



## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

tennessean.com | Nashville VideoNetwork | The Tennessean


----------



## Gazoo (May 3, 2010)

Well part of me thinks instruments are expendable and hopefully no one else has been hurt. But man that sure sucks!


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Many of the instruments shown will likely never sound the same, but for purposes of display in a glass case are in fine shape. It,s the acoustic instruments where the glue dissolved that are the problematic ones. Again, not to diminish the loss, but these ARE instruments sitting in s museum that are not going to be used by touring or recording musicians.


----------



## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

Yeah, it doesn't compare to the suffering or loss of humans, but still...it's pretty sad. As bad as it is to see the Gibson plant suffering damage, those are all new axes with no history to them.


----------



## Hamstrung (Sep 21, 2007)

mhammer said:


> Many of the instruments shown will likely never sound the same, but for purposes of display in a glass case are in fine shape. It,s the acoustic instruments where the glue dissolved that are the problematic ones. Again, not to diminish the loss, but these ARE instruments sitting in s museum that are not going to be used by touring or recording musicians.


I imagine in the hands of a skilled person many of these instruments can be restored for that purpose. It does make you sick to see the damage though.


----------



## Lester B. Flat (Feb 21, 2006)

All things must pass.


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I'm glad that all the best pieces at Gruhn's are either hanging from the hook closest to the ceiling, or else are on the 2nd floor.

The shopping mall beside where the Grand Ol Opry is (Opry Mills Mall) has a "Gibson Showcase" store where they sell Gibson/Epiphone products. Part of the store is a production area where they make mandolins, dobros, and banjos, and you can watch them make instruments through the windows in the store. I was only there after regular hours, when the builders had gone home and only sales staff remained, so I have no idea if these are the budget instruments or high-end things. But this was a store and production facility on the first floor, and the same altitude as the Grand Ol Opry, so stuff was flooded there too. You can find plenty of youtube videos about it.


----------



## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Hamstrung said:


> I imagine in the hands of a skilled person many of these instruments can be restored for that purpose. It does make you sick to see the damage though.


Nah, they're only Gibsons. If they were real guitars it would be a real shame.


----------



## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

Makes my innards do a 90 degree twist.


----------



## Powdered Toast Man (Apr 6, 2006)

I'm just going to put it out there that maybe storing a whole bunch of priceless instruments in a building located within the floodplain of a river wasn't such a great idea in the first place. I mean, it sucks, but these are the considerations you need to make when building something. Take it from me, I live in Winnipeg where flooding is something we deal with every spring.


----------



## fraser (Feb 24, 2007)

Powdered Toast Man said:


> I'm just going to put it out there that maybe storing a whole bunch of priceless instruments in a building located within the floodplain of a river wasn't such a great idea in the first place. I mean, it sucks, but these are the considerations you need to make when building something. Take it from me, I live in Winnipeg where flooding is something we deal with every spring.


thats a good point- and with all the damming and redirecting they do to the mississippi, the situation just gets worse.
however, in this case the flood was caused by rain- lots of it, overwhelming and flooding the cumberland.
they say 13 inches fell- and that only happens there every 5000 to 8000 years.
most to fall in recorded history there.
now they are talking about dredging the cumberland so it doesnt happen again.
why do they insist on this shit? relocate the city and leave nature alone, or just live with it. itll just bite them back in the future.


----------



## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

FlipFlopFly said:


> Nah, they're only Gibsons. If they were real guitars it would be a real shame.


That was Jimi's strat.....


----------



## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

shoretyus said:


> That was Jimi's strat.....


Oops! Of course, now Jimi, you could go our and get yourself a nice tele.


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I was exchanging notes with Ward Meeker, the Editor of Vintage Guitar magazine, yesterday. I mentioned that I would be interested in seeing a special issue devoted to post-flood restoration of heritage instruments. Ward responded right away that he had actually already been working on that, and they will be addressing that over the next two issues. So, we'll get to learn a little more of the back-story. I expect a lot of the pictures to be heart-breaking.


----------

