The Homecoming Report

[rar]

Your Homecoming Reporters made it to Bozeman! You know the expression "come hell or high water"? Well, it was pretty close to that except think snow instead of high water. Yes, we had to drive through a freaking snow storm to get here. But I'm thinking it will be worth it.

 

We have a lovely room with furniture and room for all the guitars in the living room. We knew things would be going well when we saw another person checking in, carrying a guitar. Just had to be and was -- we'd just met our first new person: JerryK from Morgan Hill. Off to a good start.

 

Then we toddled over to the welcoming party hosted by Guitarstrummer (henceforth, Mike) and his lovely family.

 

 

Photo of Big Mike at the Montana Natural History Museum

(Yes, we did use this same joke last year.)

 

We got a great welcome from the crowd of people in his bedroom. Next -- a couple of hours of talking about guitars, looking at Mike's new guitar, seeing people we'd met the year before and getting to know some new people as well. We took off with Dave from Salt Lake City to get some dinner and when we got back the party was still going strong. There was even some quiet guitar playing going on.

 

This morning we're off to Music Villa to see whatever there is to see. Mike says that they've already sold most of the guitars on the list he sent us but that they've just gotten a whole new batch of Gibsons. We have to get there before Mike buys the rest of them.

 

And that was just a preview -- the real fun begins today!

 

Later, cats and kittens!

Your Homecoming Reporters,

Anne and Bob ("It's not my fault! She wrote it!")

[jefleppard]

thanks. keep the data flowing. we are living vicariously through you.

[rar]

So. We've made our first pilgrimage to Music Villa before breakfast. They had some very nice Gibsons in the acoustic room that we played around with. Bob's already got his eye on a very nice 12 string J-185 and a 12 fret J-200. Then we wandered into the back room (DANGER, WILL ROBINSON) where we found SpacePup already busy with a terrific sounding and looking Firebird. They have 3 J-200 Royals and Bob tried the rosewood one (sunburst, very pretty). Man, the bass on that thing could knock you right over. We had to get out of there, but we'll be back. By the time we left we'd added Jerry and Dave (from Salt Lake City) to the mix. They were playing with the Legends -- J-45s and L-0. Nice stuff. If anyone wants to do me a favor, please call Music Villa and buy some of these before we can.

 

This afternoon is the official opening of the Homecoming and our talk from Bill Gonder. By now, we surely must know just about everything about the history of Gibson, but we'll be polite and sit and smile and try to look like it's all new to us. Actually, Bill does a very entertaining "Quick History of Gibson" and there's always something new and interesting.

 

This evening is the welcoming dinner and then back to Music Villa. Paul said they would probably be getting a few more guitars in this afternoon, and asked if we had requests. I think we might be in trouble here.

 

Stay tuned!

Your Homecoming Reporters

[PickitPaul]

Picts, Picts we need Picts.................

[rar]

Picts' date=' Picts we need Picts.................[/quote']

 

Your Homecoming Reporters are cameraless -- as we explained to Mike before we took the job -- but we'll see if we can score some from someone else.

 

Update coming soon!

Your Homecoming Reporters

[Greg Ferguson]

<snipped>

 

(DANGER' date=' WILL ROBINSON)

 

<snipped>

[/quote']

 

Thanks for the updates. Sounds like everyone is having a great time!

 

Regarding the quote above, I wonder if Will (Billy Mummy) ever played a Gibson with America.

[rar]

OK. Here comes Thursday afternoon and the official beginning of the 3rd annual Gibson Homecoming.

 

We all met in the Gran Tree ..... room. I'm not sure what it's called. Ball room? [i think it's officially the "Hospitality Suite" -- Bob] Anyhow, Bill Gonder was there from Gibson and gave us his usual terrific talk about the history of Gibson, which includes Orville, Admiral Dreadnaught, an elephant named Jumbo and too much else to mention here. He's probably available for parties and weddings, though, so contact Gibson to book him. Afterwards, as a kind of reward, we had a drawing for several goodies donated by Gibson. A Gibson stool, several Gibson embroidered jean jackets, Gibson t-shirts (are you seeing a pattern here?), and Gibson shoulder bags. Everyone won at least a t-shirt.

 

Then we all drove off to Montana Ale Works for a very nice dinner and some Moose Drool beer. It was a short walk from there to Music Villa where we listened to Montana Rose play for an hour or so. They opened with their lead guitarist playing his Gibson AJ and it sounded great. Then the rest of the band came up and it got a little more electrified. We also met some of our old friends from the Gibson factory there. Nice to see them again.

 

After this, of course, everyone wanted to play their own (and other's) guitar(s) and sing at the top of their lungs, so we moseyed back to our ball room (?) to play and swap guitars. We finally closed down around 11. Tomorrow we have to be at the factory at 8am for our group picture and factory tour.

 

I've seen several people here with cameras so tomorrow I'll see if someone will let me download some pics and get them posted.

 

Stay tuned (and in tune) for the real fun tomorrow.

Your Homecoming Reporters

[rar]

So sorry I didn't write today. We have been in the midst of a whirlwind of fun and guitars.

 

We started off early at 8am at the factory for our group picture (and I am still trying to get some pictures, honest) and then our tour. This year we have pushed into the 21st century with headsets for everyone so we can hear our tour guide without him having to yell so loud he loses his voice. 'Cause what would Bill be without his voice? I'm going to let Bob talk about the tour (later). I was infected with wandering attention during a lot of it.

 

Afterwards we visited with Val in the custom shop area. They are doing all kinds of really neat stuff these days. Jason is doing woodburning on the guitars and the pick guards. Amazing stuff. Val showed us some things she was working on -- more of the beautiful three-part backs. One had rosewood in the center with quilted maple on the two sides of the back, rosewood on the sides, and natural finish on the front. With wood binding. A very striking J-200. We saw some fret boards that Ren had etched with wild fowl of some kind (I don't know from birds, sorry). Also a guitar body he was carving with hibiscus, I think.

 

This part is for Pet Peeves: Val was working on 5 fret boards with inlay using some Led Zep symbols. The very one you use for your avatar, in fact. Someone commissioned 5 guitars, one each of four symbols and the fifth one with one of each. They're white and will be painted with the different album covers. Then they guy wants to give them to the band, keeping one for himself. I wish we could come back and see those when they're done.

 

Interlude. We had a lovely lunch in town, visited a quilt shop and almost bought a cute new purse.

 

This afternoon we dragged poor Bill back to the Gran Tree to answer questions about the tour, about Gibson, about neck widths, string tension, how to get red wine stains out of a carpet, etc. He spent a lot of time trying to answer all the questions. Mike will probably be posting about the answers to the forum questions. Then Bill (poor Bill, he needs a vacation) talked about how to choose the perfect guitar for you. I think it had something to do with picking one you like. Or something. We had a visit from Marcus from Music Villa who talked about set ups and things to look for when buying a guitar.

 

We then spent some time with Professor Bob doing our Tone Wood Micro-Test. Complete with forms to fill out. It was fun and a little strange. Once he's analyzed the data he will report on whether putting a sunburst on a guitar kills the tone. I'm guessing no, but that's not very scientific, so don't listen to me.

 

I told you this was a busy day. And it wasn't quite over yet. I'll report on the after dinner activities tomorrow.

 

'Til then,

Your Homecoming Reporters

[rar]

So, continuing on, last night after dinner we all met again in the hospitality room (thank you rar) and did a practice run of Louie, Louie. I think we're ready for the big time. I forgot to mention that there have been give aways all this time. I snagged a cool G7th capo and then a batch of strings. All useful things.

 

Our open mic (without mic) was very sucessful. We were worried that people would be too shy to play, but we had plenty of people singing and playing. And they were all good. All different, all good. Then the whole room degenerated into playing, talking and hanging around. Lots of fun.

 

Today we started off at Music Villa for a talk from Paul on amplification. He showed us a range of amps and the different things they can and can't do. Really interesting stuff if you ever need to amplify your sound.

 

After that we met back at the Gran Tree for a talk from Ren Ferguson. He was going to talk about custom shop guitars but his talk went much farther than that. We learned all kinds of things about wood, cutting, grains, tonewood, bracings, tops and backs. We also learned how ships' masts were made and that Bill is Orville Gibson's grandfather, which explains a lot about Bill, including how he knows so much about the history of the company. He showed us some wood in all kinds of exotic and fantastic colors and configurations. Really good stuff here. You'll have to all come out yourselves next time if you want to know it all. He also took questions. Lots of questions.

 

Tonight is the pick and string exchange and also the giving away of two guitars. We're heading down there now so we don't miss out on the drawing.

 

Oh, and we got some pictures (thanks, John!), so we'll be posting some of those tonight. Maybe. Depends on how much we drink and how long we play.

 

Your Faithful Homecoming Reporters

[JRG]

RAR,

Thanks for keeping us all informed! I'm can't wait to see who won the guitars! I really had a great time at the homecomming this year. Can't wait till next the homecoming.

John

JRG

[rar]

Okay, then. After dinner we hopped back to the hosp. room where we mingled and chatted for a while, till everyone was there. We had our pick exchange and then got started on the Open Not!Mic for the night. This session was being run by Brad and Judy according to Judy's rules. Which basically amounted to Judy deciding the order people would go -- which worked out great! Lots of people in this group are pretty good at playing guitars. Go figure.

 

After the Open Not!Mic Ren and Bill drew names from a hat for the winners of the guitars. I'm not sure how this worked out but the Antique Cherryburst J-45 was won by Pat Goeke (Mrs. Guitarstrummer) and the Ebony Hummingbird was won by Michaela Goeke (a little Goeke-ette). Well, they were pretty happy and I'm guessing Papa Guitarstrummer was feeling pretty good about it. The rest of us were just wishing there were 5 or 6 more guitars to give away. But, we got over it and spent the rest of the night singing, playing and talking. Lots of talking.

 

Most of the group went home this morning but we're going to make one last trip to Music Villa. The give away guitars are there and maybe we can convince them we're members of the Guitarstrummer extended family and let us take them home.

 

This afternoon while I'm doing some laundry before we leave, Bob will write up the report on the factory tour, with pictures. But he's a very slow writer, so don't sit by your computer waiting for the report. Go ahead out and enjoy the sunshine.

 

Your Homecoming Reporters

[rar]

See, I told you he was slow. But he'll get it done eventually and I'm sure it will be well worth it.

 

Homecoming is all over. We have one more stop to make at Music Villa (you know, just in case we missed something the other dozen times we were there) and then we're off to home.

 

I wanted to thank everyone who made this happen again. Bill and Mike and Paul do a whole lot of work so we can have a good time, so thanks Bill, thanks Mike, and thanks Paul! We'll see you next year!

 

Your Homecoming Reporters

[jefleppard]

thanks so much for the reports. i hope to be a part of it next year. the guitar give-aways had me drooling. if there were pics, it might push me over the edge.

<--------- or off the bridge.........

[Jerry K]

The week was a real blast! Made many, many new friends. I got to play so many outstanding guitars. Many fine ones were brought by forumites, and I also played several amazing instruments at Music Villa. Paul pulled out one 12-fret 1931 Martin 000-18 which took your breath away and I would definitely buy it if I had the 12,000 clams lying around. There was that 58 J-45 that came in while we were sitting there.... OMG! Couple of Legend series they had at the Villa were outstanding. Etc, etc...

 

We were treated like royalty by Gibson and Music Villa. Bill Gonder and Ren Ferguson were extremely affable and casually accessible to us. I was kind of stunned when Ren came up to me and complimented me on something I had played. Mentally I was doing one of those Wayne's World "we're not worthy!" routines.

 

Marcus at the Villa did some fret work and set up my Bubinga Blues King and I had several illuminating conversations with him about guitar matters.

[Space Pup]

RAR has done a great job with the updates but I'll add my own two cents for fun. Unfortunetly my plans for doing some hiking earlier that week were drowned out by some rain and a little snow. Lucky for me seeing my friends again and making some new ones more than made up for it.

 

All the folks at Gibson and Music Villa could not have been kinder to us. I picked up a J-45 Tru Vintage that was so fresh from the factory it still smelled like saw dust and nitrcellulose laquer. I caught a buzz from the fumes just playing it! Can't wiat until next year so we can do it again!

[guitarstrummer]

Sorry it's taken so long for me to add my comments, but my computer is still in the shop and I'm trying to use a very old one in my garage with a dial up connection. Sure makes me appreciate Broadband.

 

Gilliangirl suggested that we have a second Homecoming in December?? It's not going to happen. My family arrived a few days early in Montana so we could visit some relatives. We got rained on, hailed on, and snowed on. We woke up on Wednesday morning to four inches of snow. I had parked my SUV down a 45 degree incline (next to a forrest area) and couldn't get out. I had to call for a tow truck to use a cable and winch me out, or else I wouldn't have been able to make it to Homecoming. Not a great start to the week. So, December in Montana......NO WAY!!

 

As in years past, the Homecoming was fantastic. We renewed friendships with past participants and made new friends with first-year attendees. Everyone at Gibson and Music Villa treated us like royalty. I also managed to buy a new AJ from Music Villa and although it's still early, it may be the best sounding guitar I own.

 

I would like to thank those who donated items for our door prizes. They were:

Gibson Acoustic/Bozeman, Montana

Music Villa/Bozeman, Montana

Music Outlet/Sevierville, Tennessee

Guitars Etc./Longmont, Colorado

Sully's Straps

G7th Capos

 

I would also like to especially thank Bill Gonder and Ren Ferguson of Gibson Montana and Paul Decker of Music Villa. Without their support and hard work, the Homecoming would never be possible. Also, thanks to Montana Rose who performed for us on Thursday evening. If you haven't heard of them, you owe it to yourself to check out their website. I've heard a lot of bands before, but this is quite possibly the best I've ever heard. They are a local Montana band, but are certainly talented enough to go national. As I understand it, the only reason they haven't is because they value their family life and want to stay close to home to raise their kids in Montana.

 

Plans are already underway for next year's Homecoming and I'll be announcing the details, once the dust settles from this year's.

[jefleppard]

this trip seems like the "..it" for me. i even google earth'd it!

[nid2007]

Thanks for the reports everyone--next best thing to being there. I was a total crank all weekend. I don't plan to miss it again.

[onewilyfool]

Mike....if that is the best sounding guitar of ALL the guitars you own.....THAT is saying a lot...lol

[skipm]

I don't plan to miss it again.

 

You and me both Neil!

[guitarstrummer]

We really missed you guys this year. Several people asked about you.

[guitarstrummer]

TWilson, Anne and Bob sang a funny JP song at the open mic and dedicated it to you (at your request).

[TWilson]

TWilson' date=' Anne and Bob sang a funny JP song at the open mic and dedicated it to you (at your request). [/quote']

 

Thanks Anne and Bob, that's really cool!! Which song was it? It wasn't "In Spite of Ourselves" was it.

[rar]

Thanks Anne and Bob' date=' that's really cool!! Which song was it? It wasn't "In Spite of Ourselves" was it. [/size']

 

Good guess!

 

-- Bob R

[guitarstrummer]

And they did it very well. You would have been proud.