Gruhn visit

[pauldo]

So a friend from another WWW community I hang at sent me some pics from when he was at Gruhn's - I have never been there but apparently the second floor is 'by invite only' and he was up there and snapped a few pics; thought I would share:

[edwardofhuncote]

Wow, that's close to a couple million dollar's worth of Gibson banjos hanging there. Whew-wee! 

One of the few things I miss about living in Nashville is spending the occasional afternoon at Gruhn's. (the store used to be at Broadway & 4th Ave. back then...) We had some mutual friends, so I enjoyed access to the *really cool* stuff upstairs. 

True Gruhn Story; I was so proud of my beloved beat-up old 1950 D-18... had it with me playing at a house party one evening  (for the aforementioned mutual friends) and George himself happened to be there, sitting in a chair right next to where I had it posed in a stand. He asked if it was mine, but the beaming look gave it away. He picked it up, gave it the once over, and quite matter-of-factly says- "well... it's certainly not the most attractive example..."

And it isn't, (see pics) but that was the last time I handed my favorite axe to a true vintage guitar critic. 

[David Houck]

   

[cozmik_cowboy]

True Gruhn Story; I was so proud of my beloved beat-up old 1950 D-18... had it with me playing at a house party one evening  (for the aforementioned mutual friends) and George himself happened to be there, sitting in a chair right next to where I had it posed in a stand. He asked if it was mine, but the beaming look gave it away. He picked it up, gave it the once over, and quite matter-of-factly says- "well... it's certainly not the most attractive example..."

And it isn't, (see pics) but that was the last time I handed my favorite axe to a true vintage guitar critic. 

Looks good to me.
My local shop (Ax-In-Hand) is now owned by the sons of the late founder, Larry Henrickson, who was a peer of Gruhn's (I knew of A-I-H as a vintage paradise for decades before I moved here).  One of the sons told me of taking a piece I often drooled over to a guitar show, where Gruhn came by repeatedly to tell him what a poor example it was; finally was told "Forget it, George, you're not getting it cheap."  He did not return again.
I suspect there was some of that in play with yours, too.

Peter

[peoplechipper]

that D-18 is beautiful... the problem with standard collector mentality is that they want as pristine as possible; sometimes the old pristine guitar is pristine because it was crap and therefore never played! I've always been drawn to the 'well loved' end and they tend to have more songs in them...

[edwardofhuncote]

True that, Tony. 

My 26 year-old self hadn't fully realized yet there was a business side to musical instruments, particularly vintage ones. I was sentimentally attached to that guitar, (still am!) and had no thought of its monetary value, which in the eyes of a collector or dealer, was comparatively low. Gruhn didn't mean to hurt my feelings or insult my guitar... he was just stating the obvious.

I've since realized - there are different mindsets on these things. I appreciate very well-made instruments, and have not once, ever bought an instrument with the thought of flipping it. I have tried to at least stay close to a realistic market value when buying, just in case hard times come again, forcing the sale. (been through that before) 

There are those -and I know a few- who appreciate them just as much, but in a different way. Seemingly, it doesn't bother them to sell a great guitar, make some money and buy another, over and over. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, but it's just not me. If there's parallel opposite, I'm the guy who's still looking for that first Martin guitar he had to sell, and fully intends to buy it back even if it's a box of kindling.

Not to derail Paul's thread, but if/when I get back to Nashville, the new Gruhn's is definitely on my list. I just won't bring out the plastic. Unless of course, D-16 H 518842 happens to be hanging up in there.  .

[edwin]

Did you see the Osage Orange bass? That was its last known location.

[pauldo]

Did you see the Osage Orange bass? That was its last known location.

Edwin I was not there personally, a friend forwarded me those pics.  If I saw Phil's bass there I would have probably wet myself. 

[edwardofhuncote]

Did you see the Osage Orange bass? That was its last known location.

Oh yeah, I had forgotten about that! I wonder what ever happened to it.

[keith_h]

I spent a lot of time in my younger years at Ax In Hand and bought what I would call my first professional level bass rig there. As I recall they were located above a a ski store at that time.  Larry was always fun to talk to and at least at that time was more than willing to let you play pretty much anything in the shop for as long as you wanted. 

[cozmik_cowboy]

Among many other things I tried there, Larry's sons let me play a '51 "Nocaster" & a '51 Telecaster - 2 serial numbers apart.  You can't be sure with Fender in those days, but likely the last No & 2nd Tele or 2nd-to-last No & 1st Tele; both horrible dogs to play, but a bit of a thrill none-the-less......
The old store got torn down to make way for a new cop shop; they're now in the stripmall where Record Revolution was - and, alas, they no longer have any vintage stuff.

Peter