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C & R discuss Vintage Guitar guru George Gruhn's Versitar guitar design. links to things discussed: The Gruhn Versitar Fretboard Journal George Gruhn Interview
C & R discuss Vintage Guitar guru George Gruhn's Versitar guitar design. links to things discussed: The Gruhn Versitar Fretboard Journal George Gruhn Interview
George Gruhn will need little introduction to most Fretboard Journal followers. George is, quite simply, one of the most respected vintage instrument authorities in the world and the owner of Gruhn Guitars, one of the best guitar stores on the planet. So why, at the age of 78, did he want to take a stab at creating his own guitar line? "I want to have fun," he tells us. "And fun means designing new items, doing things that are meaningful... I did this because, while the world does not need more clones of Martin, Fender or Gibson, there is space for something that is new...but it needs to have a reason to exist." On this week's podcast, we talk to Gruhn about these new guitars, which he's dubbed the Versitar line. We hear about how his guitar creations have evolved from the Tacoma instruments he designed decades ago; why he decided to build his own guitar factory in Lebanon, Tennessee; and why there may be more models coming...and a dealer network beyond his own store. We also hear about his favorite tonewood combinations on these instruments, his take on the vintage instrument market in 2023 and so much more. https://guitars.com/gruhn-versitar I've spoken to Gruhn numerous times over the last 20 years and I've never heard him quite this excited. I hope you enjoy our chat. Love our podcast and want to support it? Join our Patreon and get episodes ad-free along with bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/Fretboard_Journal Subscribe to the Fretboard Journal: https://shop.fretboardjournal.com/products/fretboard-journal-annual-subscription Get a discounted digital subscription and get our 52nd issue immediately: https://shop.fretboardjournal.com/collections/downloads/products/fretboard-journal-digital-subscription-offer Our podcast is sponsored by Mike & Mike's Guitar Bar, Peghead Nation (use the promo code FRETBOARD and get your first month free or $20 off any annual subscription); and Stringjoy Strings (get 10% off your order with the FRETBOARD discount code). This episode is also sponsored by iZotope. Use the discount code FRET10 to save 10% off your Izotope order and check out the new updates for Ozone 11 and their vocal software, Nectar 4.
America's Best Vintage Guitar Shop is run by a man named George Gruhn. While everyone always seeks answers from George regarding the instruments he carries or has studied, few actually know George's life story. A former zoologist turned vintage instrument expert....George's life is fascinating. I'm honored to share his life story of success in today's Roots Music History Documentary. #BestVintageGuitarShop #VintageGuitar #VintageInstrument #GeorgeGruhn #GruhnGuitars #Nashville
On this week's podcast, we're joined by two instrument-making legends, Michael Gurian and Dick Boak. Gurian was of course the namesake founder of Gurian Guitars, while Boak famously worked at Martin Guitars for four decades. Michael and Dick recently co-authored the Fretboard Journal's first standalone book, 'An Instrument Maker's Guide to Insanity and Redemption.' It's a compilation of off-beat and behind-the-scenes stories from dozens of instrument makers and repair people. Included are entries by George Gruhn, Kathy Wingert, Joe Glaser, Bob Taylor, Linda Manzer, and others. During our chat, the duo talks about how the book project came together, the recurring themes found amidst these various luthiers' tales, why instrument makers need to have a great sense of humor, and so much more. In addition to talking about the book, we also hear about the instruments Michael and Dick are currently working on, including the all-spruce guitar that Boak recently built. Michael shares stories from the old days of wood buying in New York City and tells us about how he just reunited with one of his old clients, Paul Simon. It's a great chat with two acoustic guitar innovators. Order the Gurian / Boak book here: https://shop.fretboardjournal.com/collections/all/products/pre-order-an-instrument-makers-guide-to-insanity-and-redemption Register for our 2023 Fretboard Summit here: https://fretboardsummit.org/ Our podcast is sponsored by Retrofret Vintage Guitars; Deering Banjos; Peghead Nation (use the promo code FRETBOARD and get your first month free or $20 off any annual subscription); Izotope (use the coupon code FRET10 to save 10% off their plug-ins); and Stringjoy Strings.
Take a virtual road trip across the United States to visit four independent guitar stores and learn what makes them vital to the communities they serve. As you'll hear, each of these shops is more than just a retail outlet – and each of these shopkeepers has a unique perspective on why that is and what to look forward to in the future.Catch up with Richard Johnston of Gryphon Stringed Instruments in Palo Alto, California; Stan and Lillian Werbin of Elderly Instruments in Lansing, Michigan; Raymond Morin of Acoustic Music Works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and George Gruhn of Gruhn Guitars in Nashville, Tennessee.We're releasing this episode during peak holiday shopping season for a reason. Please visit your local music store for all your gifting needs (or to treat yourself!) When you buy from local, independently owned businesses, 29.3% of the revenue is recirculated into the local economy (as opposed to 5.8% from Amazon.) And, please leave a comment on our website to give a shout out to your favorite store, wherever you live!Support the show:Join our community on Patreon, where you'll find bonus podcast episodes, guitar lessons, and plenty more great perks.Make a donation on PayPalLeave a review on Apple Podcasts (This helps other guitarists find the show and helps us. We really appreciate it!)Additional resources:Acoustic Music Works (2142 Murray Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15217)Elderly Instruments (1100 N Washington Ave, Lansing, MI 48906)Gruhn Guitars (2120 8th Ave S, Nashville, TN 37204)Gryphon Stringed Instruments (211 Lambert Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94306)If you're shopping for a guitar, you might be interested in our guide to identifying acoustic guitar shapes and sizes. Also check out “Ask the Expert: Why Does My New Guitar Need a Setup?” and “How to Shop for a Used Guitar.”The Acoustic Guitar Podcast theme music is composed by Adam Perlmutter and performed for this episode by Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers.This episode is hosted by Nick Grizzle and Elton Bradman, produced by Tanya Gonzalez, and directed and edited by Joey Lusterman. Executive producers are Lyzy Lusterman and Stephanie Campos Dal Broi.The Acoustic Guitar Podcast is produced by the team at Acoustic Guitar magazine, including:Publisher: Lyzy LustermanEditor: Adam PerlmutterManaging Editor: Kevin OwensSenior Editor: Blair JacksonCreative Director: Joey LustermanDigital Content Director: Stephanie Campos Dal BroiDigital Content Manager: Nick GrizzleMarketing Services Manager: Tanya GonzalezSpecial thanks to our listeners who support the show on Patreon.Support the show
Pat Travers Returns to GRS with "The Art of Time Travel"
Kurt Neumann From The BoDeans joins us to discuss "4 The Last Time"
Johnny Moeller Amazing guitarist from right here in Austin Texas
Author Michael Goldberg- "Wicked Game -The True Story of Guitarist James Calvin Wilsey"
Andy Aledort drops the mother load of some of the greatest guitar playing and meaningful songwriting with "Light of Love" and we get in deep with him and the record.
My guest this week is Bob Minner. Bob has been the acoustic guitarist for country icon Tim McGraw for almost 30 years now, and he's also a fantastic bluegrass picker.His latest project, 'From Sulphur Springs To Rising Fawn : The Songs of Norman Blake' is a wonderful tribute to the music of Norman and Nancy Blake, featuring duets with people from the worlds of country and bluegrass, including Tim Stafford, Ron Block, Vince Gill, Chris Eldridge and Dale Ann Bradley.We chat about Bob's love for Norman's music, how he came to meet his hero, the part George Gruhn played in that (as well as his incredible generosity when it came to his collection of vintage guitars), plus much, much more.I could easily have chatted to Bob for another hour! It was such a cool conversation to be part of - I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.Links to stuff we talked aboutBob's websiteCollings guitars
Danielle Nicole- Blues Personified.
Jackson Cunningham is a bit of a rarity in the world of acoustic guitarmaking. While countless luthiers do their best to emulate old Martin designs and shapes, Cunningham's biggest influence is vintage Gibsons. Over the years, this Virginia-based builder has crafted L-5, L-00 and even J-55-inspired guitars. He's also garnered praise from two of the biggest vintage guitar experts around: George Gruhn and Mark Stutman. On this week's podcast, we talk to Jackson about his love for old guitars, the rich guitarmaking culture he resides in (acclaimed builder Wayne Henderson was once his neighbor) and the wood he selects for his builds. We also talk about a special guitar he just built and donated to help benefit the Floyd Country Store. Act fast and you can buy a raffle ticket and enter to win it via this link: https://www.floydcountrystore.com/event/jackson-cunningham-guitar-raffle-drawing-2021-06-11 Follow Jackson via his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CunninghamHandmadeInstruments/ Don't forget, the FJ now hosts an entire family of podcasts, about everything from lutherie to home recording: Luthier on Luthier; The Truth About Vintage Amps; The Truth About Recording & Mixing;Acoustic Voices; and Sweep the Floor. This episode is sponsored by Mono Cases, Folkway Music and Retrofret Vintage Guitars.
Master Musician/Producer/Songwriter Brian Tarquin joins us.
Peppino D'agostina and his latest release Connexion.
Mark May joins us to discuss his latest mind blowing release- Deep Dark Demon
Walter Trout- "Ordinary Madness"
Tom Guerra returns to GRS with Sudden Signs of Grace
Dani Rabin from Marbin joins us to discuss their amazing new record!
Albert Cummings joins us to discuss his latest release.
Adrian Vandenberg Joins us for an an in-depth interview
Albert Castiglia drops by to discuss his latest Live release "Wild and Free"
Alastair Greene joins us in another installment of Guitar Philosophy in Lockdown
Andy Aledort joins us for the first installment of "Guitar Philosophy In Lockdown". Periodically through this madness thats happening on Planet Earth we will have a guitarist on to talk about what they are doing during all of this... Be safe out there!
Shawn Pittman- "Make It Right" Is this the best Blues record of the year? Listen and judge for yourself.
Innes Sibun joins us to discuss his latest project Malone Sibun. Blues/Rock as it should be...
Tracy Anne Hart's new book on the early days "Seeing Stevie Ray" is an amazing inside look on here the Texas Guitar hero began through the lens of an amazing photographer.
Andrew Synowiec - Grammy Award Winning Guitarist, composer, arranger and session player
Josh Smith- Guitarist, songwriter, session man, vocalist. We sit down with Josh and talk about his career, guitar, gear and the business.
Top 21 Guitar Records of 2019....
Jeff Carlson Joins us to discuss his latest release "Second Chance"
IMPORTANT: If you have/or think you may have a medical condition see your Doctor before employing any form of alternative types of health care.Ok, having said that, Wrist Grips worked for me. With all of my previous training and experience, I was really knocked out by this product. Wrist Grips are not a sponsor of Guitar Radio Show, nor are we receiving any compensation from themGo to guitarradioshow.com to get a discount for a pair of Wristgrips
Joanna Connor- RISE! We sit down to talk about the new record.
Colossal Cables Schools us on tone and why our tone is determined by what cable we use.
Pedro- The Greenhouse Sessions is one of the best records we've heard all year!!! Pedro sits down with us to discuss gear, the Blues and this great record!!!!
Shawn Pittman joins us to discuss the Blues and his career. If you love the Blues, You're gonna love Shawn Pittman!
Eric Schenkman Joins us to discuss his latest excellent release "Who Shot John" and his work with the Spin Doctors
Texas Flood: The Inside Story of Stevie Ray Vaughan Authors Alan Paul & Andy Aledort join us to discuss the definitive SRV book.
In this week's edition of The Music History Project, the team dives into the deep subject of Vintage Guitars. Join Dan, Mike and Michelle as they explore what exactly makes a guitar “vintage” and hear from the top experts within the industry. Interviews heard in this episode include: George Gruhn, Norman Harris, Frank Ford, Fred Oster, Stan Jay, Owen Ray, Richard Gellis, Kay Koster and David Kalt.
In 1970 George Gruhn opened Gruhn Guitars in Nashville, Tennessee. Since then, the Gruhn client list grew to include the likes of Eric Clapton, Lyle Lovett, Emmylou Harris, Rick Nielson, and many of the greatest performers of the last half century. However, George is more than a vintage guitar expert, he is also a writer, businessman and a student of music history. Coming soon, George will add podcast host to his long list of accomplishments. On March 15th WSM, in partnership with Gruhn Guitars will launch Gruhn’s Vault: Conversations with the Masters. This new podcast series will feature George chatting with some of the many friends he has made over the years. Upcoming episodes include; Vince Gill, Ranger Doug & Too Slim from Riders in The Sky and songwriter, guitarist and Grand Ole Opry band member, Jimmy Capps Subscribe now to Gruhn’s Vault: Conversations with the Masters on Apple Podcast, Spotify or your favorite podcast directory. You can also hear complete episodes at WSM Online Dot Com.
Dan, Michael, and Elizabeth examine the July 17, 2000 NAMM Oral History interview with author, retailer, and vintage guitar expert George Gruhn. George discusses the idea behind vintage guitar collecting and setting up his business in Nashville, Tennessee as one of the pioneers in vintage guitar sales.
Michael Molenda- Editor in Chief of Guitar Player Magazine
Samantha Fish, Blues Great and The Six String Siren, Diana Rein. A double shot of the Blues!!!
Mike Varney from Shrapnel Records
Gary Hoey Returns with Dust and Bones. Great record from a Great Guitarist. Plus, Steve Balkun from the Balkun Brothers.
Paul Nelson- From the Paul Nelson band is here to discuss his "Bad Ass Generation", Guitar and much more!!!!!
Guthrie Trapp- Talks about his career, the music business, Nashville, Guitar and his highly anticipated new record.
Chris Duarte Returns to Guitar Radio Show and Austin Texas!
Jeff Jensen from the Jeff Jensen Band get in deep with the blues
David Grissom talks all things guitar music.
Marcus King is the future of the electric guitar.
Paul Brown- Grammy award winning Guitarist and Producer (Brothers Brown, Larry Carlton) Plus, Peach-LA Blues Guitarist taking Europe by storm!
Vernon Neilly, Award Winning Producer and Guitarist, plus the Brain Burning Prashant Aswani checks in. Two incredible guitarists, one show!
George Gruhn Part 3- George completes his conversation (for now) with us about what makes vintage instruments so desirable? Is a 40 year old guitar really collectable? Wood seasoning and more!
George Gruhn Part 2- George gets in depth about his time with Guild guitars and breaks down the collector, the player and the speculator, relic guitars, mods to vintage guitars, boutique guitar builders, and we dig deep on Gibson, Fender and Martin guitars.
George Gruhn Part 1- Sit back for an In-depth conversation, that is Honest, Passionate and Educational from one of the foremost experts in guitar and guitar collecting.
This week we talk about an article I read from Vintage Guitar Magazine by George Gruhn about Ivory and the CITES Treaty, Lower priced amps and cool stuff found in the annual Sweetwater catalog and Taylor's efforts for sustainable Ebony.
George Gruhn moved to Nashville in 1969 after getting his bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago and doing graduate work at Duke University and the University of Tennessee. In 1970, he established Gruhn Guitars, which is one of the largest dealers of vintage and used instruments in the world. The store buys, sells, consigns, trades and appraises fretted instruments and houses one of the world's premier vintage and used collections including classic Gibson, Fender, Martin, Epiphone, Gretsch and National instruments as well as a wide selection of new instruments from Martin, Taylor, Collings, and others. "Guitars, which I feel are the ultimate collectible, can be looked at, touched, listened to, and played. At the same time they are beautiful pieces of art that can be appreciated on so many levels. A guitar responds to the individual player and sounds completely different when you play it than when you listen to someone else play it. There is, therefore, greater depth of appreciation with musical instruments than with almost any other collectible, perhaps even more than with painting and sculpture." - George Gruhn George is the co-author of Gruhn's Guide to Vintage Guitars, which is the comprehensive field guide to vintage fretted instruments, and the companion volumes Acoustic Guitars and Other Fretted Instrumentsand Electric Guitars and Basses. These books chronicle the history of American stringed instruments. His articles are published in numerous magazines. Gruhn Guitars is located at 2120 8th Avenue South in Nashville. Visit the store online at www.guitars.com
A teenage John Greven built his first instrument, a 5-string banjo, in 1962. Over the last fifty years, he has built over 2,000 instruments and become one of the world's most in-demand luthiers. On this week's podcast, we talk to Greven about his unique career trajectory, including his invaluable time working for George Gruhn in Nashville; how he's able to create so many instruments a year; and why so many of his guitars end up in Japan. Greven also talks about some of the magical moments he had with vintage Martin and Gibson guitars during his stint in Nashville. Greven now resides in Portland, Oregon. He is currently at work on his 2,200th instrument, a 000-sized guitar with Brazilian rosewood back and sides.
I sent George Gruhn an email and we'll talk about his response. The Main topic is about my approach to teaching guitar
Pipes and PT have a nice long interview with legendary vintage guitar expert and author George Gruhn. Nuff said.
George Gruhn, the world’s leading expert on vintage guitars, talks with us about what makes a guitar significant, and what differentiates one guitar from another.
George Gruhn, the world’s leading expert on vintage guitars, talks with us about what makes a guitar significant, and what differentiates one guitar from another.
The headstocks may say "National," but these are pure Valco "Res-O-Glas" beauties! The Val-Pro, Westwood, and Glenwood guitars offered from 1962 to 1964 put a whole new creative spin on what was possible for guitar-building materials and construction. Not to mention, some of these models even offered a transducer-type pickup built into the base of the bridge! We're talking 1962, here...way ahead of their time. Although they had a relatively short lifespan in production years, these babies certainly made an impact. And if you can find one today, be prepared to write a fairly hefty check before you can take it home with you. But comparitively speaking, it will cost you a heck of a lot less than trying to score a 1962-1964 Strat, Tele, or Les Paul. And you certainly won't be blending in while on-stage.Thanks go out to today's sources, the article, "National's Map-Shaped Electrics" by George Gruhn and "National Westwood and Glenwood: '60s Alt-Materials Make Short Run," an article from Vintage Guitar Magazine's June, 2001 edition.Thanks also to the Podsafe Music Network for the music on today's show. The lineup includes "Getting By" by Kathy Valentine, "Married on Monday" by The Gentlemen Losers, "Wednesday Morning" by Slackstring, "Almost Friday Night" by The Hot Rods, and "Tauntaun Heat" by Tadago Pie. For links to these bands websites and to hear the songs featured in their entirety, please check out my other podcast, Opinionated Ramblings.And at the end of the show, don't miss the promo for the Musician's Cooler Podcast! If you're in a band, you'll find great advice, tips, tricks, links, and all kinds of other stuff you never even knew you needed...but you do.Please join our Frappr Friends map, and feel free to leave me comments here on the blog, send me an email at vintageguitarcast at gmail dot com, or leave a voice message using the MyChingo method (links at the left)!Until next time! Cheers!