Huh... small world Joey.
During my stint in Nashville (crash diet was more like it) through various other music aquaintances, I met a couple guys that worked for various branches of HJ's... Richie Owens, and Todd Wright. Richie was head of production or some kind of muckety-muck at Dobro, which Gibson had recently acquired, and IIRC Todd was one of the Bozeman guys... this was my inside to getting hired at Gibson. I'd have done it too, but for the insanely long hiring process, which was like six weeks or something. About the same time our band got a management deal and a series of short tours that would've knocked me out of the job anyway. Eventually, Richie hooked me up with another guy that ran a shop where we built custom road cases for everything imaginable, from TV cameras for TNN Motorsports to giant mixing boards, even a B3 organ for Shania Twain. It was steady work I enjoyed, and flexible enough that I could work when off the road, a lifesaver really. Worked for him the rest of my time there, and we're still good friends today. Never saw or heard from Richie Owens or Gibson USA again, but given all that went down over on Elm Hill Pike in years to come... whew! Talk about being happy about the road not taken.
Sorry for the derail... carry on! =)
