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Quick Homecoming report

J185-4Me

By J185-4Me
in Gibson Acoustic

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J185-4Me

J185-4Me

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The 5th Annual Gibson Acoustic Homecoming is on just now, but before I head out the door back home, here`s a few gratuitous pictures.

 

Necks waiting to be matched to bodies. Dates on them and model information:

 

IMG_2710.jpg

 

Anyone want some really figured wood:

 

IMG_2756.jpg

 

Somebody`s going to get a very nice SJ-200:

IMGP7108.jpg

 

Val Bolitho shows off a Custom work-in-progress:

 

IMGP7161.jpg

 

Several beautiful bursts just hangin`out:

 

IMGP7124.jpg

 

Another gorgeous SJ-200 natural back:

 

IMGP7129.jpg

 

An SJ being readied for fitting of its bridge:

 

IMGP7144.jpg

 

Ren Ferguson has a look at Bob`s (rar) light-as-a-feather Kel Kroydon:

 

IMGP7173.jpg

 

Montana is a great place to visit, this time of year!!

 

Fred

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J185-4Me

J185-4Me

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Back from Bozeman now, so here's a few more.

 

Attached bridge to some variety of Hummingbird:

 

IMGP7148.jpg

 

Pick your tuners:

 

IMGP7155.jpg

 

Kix Brooks' J-200 guitar:

 

IMGP7164.jpg

 

A Custom Shop maple neck:

 

IMGP7167.jpg

 

Another rack of guitars:

 

IMGP7152.jpg

 

View across the headstocks:

 

IMGP7147.jpg

 

Neck, meet your lifelong friend, the body:

 

IMGP7109.jpg

 

Mmmmmmmm.... sunbursts....... :

 

IMGP7123.jpg

 

Fred

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J185-4Me

J185-4Me

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Thanks Fred' date='

 

Great to see some pictures from Bozeman. I received my special order J-200 Jr. last week. It's a great guitar and I love it. Your post adds to my fun. Well done!

 

Jack6849[/quote']

 

Cool, Jack -- I looked for but did not see a post from you on the 200Jr.

 

But I took this picture for you, while on the plant tour on Friday:

 

IMGP7114.jpg

 

Fred

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Jack6849

Jack6849

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Thanks for the pic, Fred. Nice of you.

 

I myself haven't figured out the web picture-posting thing yet, but a photo of my 2010 SJ-200 "True Vintage" sitting with its "mini-me", i.e. my just-received Bozeman Special Order J-200 Jr. would be a fun post. Maybe I can learn what I need to do to make that happen.

 

At any rate, YOUR photos were great to see. Did you have to get special permission from Gibson to use your camera in Bozeman? Any restrictions? You even got pictures of the staff! If you have more pix, I'd love to see any or all of them, as I'm sure others would. VERY interesting.

 

Thank you,

Jack6849

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J185-4Me

J185-4Me

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Thanks for the pic' date=' Fred. Nice of you.

 

I myself haven't figured out the web picture-posting thing yet, but a photo of my 2010 SJ-200 "True Vintage" sitting with its "mini-me", i.e. my just-received Bozeman Special Order J-200 Jr. would be a fun post. Maybe I can learn what I need to do to make that happen.

 

At any rate, YOUR photos were great to see. Did you have to get special permission from Gibson to use your camera in Bozeman? Any restrictions? You even got pictures of the staff! If you have more pix, I'd love to see any or all of them, as I'm sure others would. VERY interesting.

 

Thank you,

Jack6849[/quote']

 

Hi Jack,

 

The web posting thing isn't that tricky. Lots of folks use a photo hosting service that's free, like imageshack.com or photobucket.com; from there, it's a matter of following their on-line instructions, which are fairly intuitive.

 

Then you use the image icon at the top of the message composition window (in my browser, it's the third one over from the underline font icon (an icon of a tiny little sun over two tiny little mountains), and cut and paste the url ("direct link", in photobucket, for example) into the message, and voila, you have photos!

 

The only restriction wrt to photos was "Don't blind the staff", as well as a no-photos rule for certain proprietary items in the plant. The only Gibson staff in my photos have appeared on various websites and are well-known in most acoustic guitar circles.

 

Fred

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Jack6849

Jack6849

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Hey, Fred,

 

My first image post ever. I hope my next shot will be better composed and maybe even focused. Anyway, here is a photo of my SJ-200 True Vintage and the J-200 Jr. I just got through Dave's Guitar Shop in La Crosse. The special order for the Junior took about 11 weeks from purchase to delivery. Now that I know how it's done I'll try to get some better shots to send later. Thanks to you for your help. Both guitars have brown, pink-plush-lined cases, too. Even if the low light resulted in a poor focus, it's a fun pic, no?

 

Thanks again, Fred,

Jack6849

 

gibsonforum01j200.jpg

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rar

rar

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Fred did a great job with the photos from the (3 hour!) factory tour, but I wanted to mention a few additional activities that made this year's Homecoming so much fun!

 

Bill Gonder organized and led a great day trip to Yellowstone Park on Wednesday. (This was going way above and beyond the call of duty since Bill doesn't actually work for Gibson anymore. If you're reading this, ... Thanks Bill!!) Bison, elk, a bald eagle, Old Faithful doing it's thing, and a great group lunch at the Lodge. The day ended up with a party in Guitarstrummer's room at the Gran Tree.

 

Thursday included tours of the Weber mandolin factory (led by Bruce Weber) and the Waverley tuner factory (led by Bill MacDonald, the "MacDonald" of "Stewart-MacDonald", who told us some great stories about the founding and growth of the company), the traditional dinner at Montana Ale Works, and a private concert by Little Jane and the Pistol Whips at Music Villa. (If you're reading this ... Thanks Paul!!) Plus, an official welcome/guitar giveaway -- a beautiful Gibson Firebird! -- from Doug Koffinke, GM of Gibson Montana. (Thanks Doug!) This was followed by the traditional no-holds-barred Q&A session with Bill Gonder. (Thanks again, Bill!!) We ended the day with a jam session back at the Gran Tree. (Hmmm, no wonder I was tired the rest of the weekend.)

 

Friday's highlights included the Gibson factory tour (Thanks Jason!) in the morning, the traditional talk/guitar signing by Ren Ferguson (Thanks Ren!) in the afternoon, and an open mic/jam session in the evening that was attended by some of the Gibson folks (including Ren, Doug, and Val Bolitho). Saturday included a get-together at Music Villa in the morning -- the plan was to have a presentation on guitar care and maintenance; the presentation didn't happen, but we had a good time anyway -- and another open mic/jam session in the evening. (The afternoon was devoted random socializing and, in some cases, naps.)

 

I should also mention that Gibson made sure that Music Villa had an even better selection of great Gibsons than they usually carry (Thanks Don!), and Paul offered his usual insane deals to Homecoming attendees who were interested in doing some shopping. (Thanks again Paul!) I came home with an amazing new guitar again this year, so I guess that's getting to be a Homecoming tradition too! ;)

 

As always, special thanks to Guitarstrummer. (Just in case you see this ... Thanks Mike!) The Homecoming was his idea, he made it a reality, and he puts in a lot of effort each and every year to make sure that we all have a wonderful time.

 

-- Bob R

 

P.S. While touring the factory, I just happened to notice a whiteboard with a status list for in-progress artist signature models. I won't steal any of Gibson's thunder by naming names, but there are about a dozen names on the list. Most are a lot more interesting than "Aaron Lewis". (No offense!) One in particular will make a lot of people very happy.

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