Jump to content
Gibson Brands Forums

2013 Gibson Homecoming


guitarstrummer

Recommended Posts

Eighth Annual Gibson Homecoming

June 12–15, 2013

Bozeman, MT

 

The 2013 Gibson Homecoming will be held on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, June 12 -15, 2013 in Bozeman, Montana.

 

The Gibson Homecoming is a gathering of independent Gibson enthusiasts who will informally gather in Bozeman to meet others who share their love of Gibson acoustic guitars. Although the Gibson Homecoming is not officially sponsored by Gibson Acoustic or Music Villa, both are highly supportive of the event and are involved in the programming.

 

Hotel reservations can be made by contacting the Gran Tree Inn at 1-800-624-5865. A reduced room rate of $121 per night is available (standard: queen, king and 2-queen beds) or $131 (suites) + tax. In order to receive the reduced rate, you must give them the group name of "Gibson Homecoming" or “group number 806010”.

 

Availability is limited, so it is recommended that you register early. If the Gran Tree fills up, there are other hotels in the Bozeman area, but that is their busy time of the year, so register early in either case. The Gran Tree has a website at www.bestwestern.com/grantreeinn. The hotel has a restaurant, lounge, casino and indoor pool. There is also an airport shuttle service available.

 

Bozeman does have a commercial airport, so it is possible to fly into Bozeman if you do not wish to drive. Car rentals are available at the airport. However, if you don’t wish to rent a car, the Gran Tree has a shuttle bus that regularly runs to the airport. In the past there have been enough participants with transportation, so it is usually possible to catch a ride to the events which are not held at the Gran Tree. Some of the events are held at Gibson Montana and Music Villa (http://www.musicvilla.com/) and these locations are not within walking distance of the Gran Tree for most people. It is suggested that you make these arrangements in advance with the other participants.

 

Our tentative schedule of events include:

 

“Talking Shop” session with Gibson Acoustic staff

Songwriting Clinic

Gibson Guitar Model Comparison Demonstration

Gibson Guitar Bracing Clinic

Basic Strumming Patterns Clinic

Tour of the Gibson Acoustic Manufacturing Facility

Tour of Waverly Manufacturing (maker of Waverly Tuning Machines)

Tour of Kevin Kopp’s Guitar Manufacturing Shop

Tour of Peach Street Recording Studio

Tour of Bozeman Brewing Company

Day trip to Yellowstone National Park and/or Virginia City

Acoustic Open Mic Events

Private concert for the Gibson Homecoming group at Music Villa

Gibson Day at Music Villa featuring live performances throughout the day

Gibson representatives also available throughout the day at Gibson Day

 

There is no registration fee for attending the Gibson Homecoming. However, all personal costs (travel, meals, hotel, etc.) are the responsibility of each individual attending.

 

I will be handling the registration process for the event. Please e-mail me at guitarstrmr@aol.com if you're interested. Let me know the number of slots requested, names of individuals attending, address, and an e-mail address so I can recontact you with updates.

 

Registrations will be limited to 75 participants. Anyone registering after we have reached that number will be placed on a waiting list. In the event that we have any cancellations, those people on the waiting list will be contacted in the order that they were placed onto the waiting list to fill any open slots.

 

There are many tourist attractions in the Bozeman area, including Yellowstone National Park. Some past participants have extended their stay in the Bozeman area in order to see some of these attractions. The Bozeman Area Chamber of Commerce is a good starting place to learn about some of these attractions. Their website is http://www.bozemancvb.com/.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 123
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • 3 months later...

I'm still taking reservations if anyone else is interested in attending the 2013 Gibson Homecoming. We've been able to confirm many of our events. They will include:

 

Songwriting Clinic

Gibson Guitar Model Comparison Demonstration

Gibson Guitar Bracing Clinic

Basic Strumming Patterns and Techniques Clinic

Tour of the Gibson Acoustic Manufacturing Facility

Tour of Waverly Manufacturing (maker of Waverly Tuning Machines)

Tour of Kevin Kopp’s Guitar Manufacturing Shop

Tour of Peach Street Recording Studio

Day trip to Yellowstone National Park and/or Virginia City

Acoustic Open Mic Events

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I see that the Gibson Homecoming is expanding and there will be room for a lot more people. Also there will be a tour of Kevin Kopp's shop. This may be the best Homecoming yet. The former plant manager and head of repair for Santa Cruse guitar, Dan Roberts,is also living in the area and has a shop in Belgrade Mt. Belgrade is about 8 miles from Bozman and where the airport is located. Anyone interested in a wonderful Roberts guitar? He's right there.

 

I may be on the road but will be at Music Villa if at all possible as the Gibson reps will be in the store as well. I hope to see a bunch of new faces and all the regulars. Regular gas is down to $2.96.9 so plan on a trip to Yellowstone and Bozeman this summer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

There is no cost to attend any of the scheduled events. Only cost is your personal transportation, hotel, meals, spending money, etc.

 

Bozeman has an airport, but I would guess that Billings would be the one to fly to if coming internationally. You could then either rent a car and drive to Bozeman (about 2 hours) or catch a flight from Billings to Bozeman.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bozeman does have an International airport. They actually have more flights than the Billings airport so there is no need to fly into Billings. The Bozeman airport is 8 miles from the town and there is plenty of ground transportation. All the motels have shuttle service as well as taxis. All the major car rental agencies are on campus and if you want there are plenty of folks that will pick you up and take you to the events.

Drop me a PM and I will come out to the airport and pick you up and get you to your motel and once there most shopping and meals are within walking distance. Several motels are less that a half mile from the Gibson factory have very good resturants and bars. Book early as Bozeman is a major tourist area and the motels book up fast. Reservations are a must. Music Villa is a mile or so from the major motels and the weather is mild so walking is no problem. Trips to Yellowstone and such can be made with the group so there is no need to rent a car if traveling on a budget.

 

The list of things to do is jaw dropping. Yellowstone,the Gibson factory. Kevin Kopp's shop. Waverly tuners. Music Villa. Museum of the Rockies, Mountain biking and hiking just to name a few. The town has about 50K people and the downtown area is very clean and safe. No gangs. No drugs. No crime. Bozeman is a college town with the energy and vibe that that brings. Lots of amazing music to listen to in the downtown business district. All that and Montana has no sales tax.

Hope to see ya

 

I didn't make it to the Homecoming last year but understand that Gibson no longer gives a guitar away. They do have plenty of drawings and last year they had a drawing for a gift certificate at Music Villa.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Would love to attend this gathering, and then enjoy the Montana countryside during the summer.

 

Which airport would you land in if you were arriving internationally.

 

Maybe I could talk Mrs EA into it..

 

You could fly into Newark N.J. and then fly direct to Bozeman from there. I will show you some great hiking and biking trails and lots of good stuff to do in the mountains. Bozeman sits at 4,800 feet in the heart of the great Rocky Mountain range. It's just a less than 5 mile drive to be in the mountains in any direction you would wish to take. Fly fishing is some of the best in the world. There are 5 blue ribbon trout streams in and around Bozeman. Fly fishing for trout is the best anywhere. White water rafting and just floating the rivers in a tube is all available in a 10 mile radius of town. We have Grizzly bears and herds of Elk, deer, antelope and moose. You can still hear coyotes and see them as well as wolves. Golden and Bald Eagles and 6 different kinds of hawks fly the skies of the "Big Sky" country. Bring your camera. There is something for everyone. I'll meet you up at the airport. I will let you play some of my guitars so you don't need to pack one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In addition to the events I posted earlier we are also going to take a tour of the Bozeman Brewing Company.

 

http://bozemanbrewing.com/contact.php

 

If we're really lucky we might be able to see Doc Wiley's Grammy Award that he won when we visit Peach Street Studios.

 

http://peachstreetstudios.com/

 

One of the many highlights last year was when Gibson surprised us and brought in the Gibson tour bus and we were able to ride in it to some of our events.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

How do those who fly on commercial airlines handle bringing a guitar? Or, do some leave them at home, and can jam with an extra? I wouldn't want to chance on the airline forcing me to check it, and getting it stolen or smashed to bits. How bout the hotel room? Anyone traveling solo want to share room to save some $? I don't snore [cool]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...