MF AV Team Trip Blog

November 13-16, 2007 – Bill and I ventured down to Anaheim. We weren’t there for Disneyland, we weren’t there for NAMM (that’s in January). We were there to visit SKB Cases, the finest molded case company there is! The innovation behind this company and the technology that goes into ensuring the finest quality is amazing! So amazing, even the military uses these cases on a regular basis!

We filmed the processes involved and instead of the wood smells and aromas we were used to with the several guitar factories we have visited this year, we had the aroma of plastic… nice hot plastic. The nice thing is the place was we vented, so it really wasn’t bad at all.

I encourage you to look through these pictures! The factory tour will be coming soon on the Musician’s Friend and Harmony Central websites!

October 22-25, Bill and I ventured back out to wonderful Tennessee to visit the 4th factory of our Gibson factory tours, in Memphis. The day we arrived it was moderately warm, and overcast, and we were right around the corner from famous Beale Street. As usual, when we travel most of the day, we were quite hungry and proceeded to eat our first barbecue meal. This was by far, not the last, either!

Gibson Custom Memphis was a spacious factory compared to the others we had seen. It was inside of a beautiful building in the heart of downtown. The same facility also had several ballrooms and meeting rooms, much like a small convention center, where they had many performances throughout the year. And of course, at the top corner of the block, was a Gibson Showcase restaurant/lounge where other great bands have played. This was a beautiful facility!

The second day rolled around and we walked outside to realize it was no longer warm, in fact, it was quite chilly, and it rained during the rest of our visit. Nonetheless, the hospitality was great, the city was wonderful, we didn’t get a chance to visit Graceland, but we drove by Sun Studios. Enjoy the pictures of the tour!

On October 10th we took over the stage at the Craterian Theater in our own town. Fortunately, Jeff Pevar lives close by and we had him join us to help show off the new Gibson 339, and as well as a new Rogue electric guitar, which he quite enjoys.

To give you some idea of who Jeff Pevar is, he has played with legends such as Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, Marc Cohn, Crosby & Nash, David Crosby, and is a part of CPR (Crosby, Pevar, & Raymond). The list goes on: CSN, Donald Fagen & NY Soul, Graham Nash Band, Rickie Lee Jones, and so many more you can see at www.pevar.com.

You will see in the photos how we were able to use lighting, and the openness of the stage to create a very comfortable environment for all of us! We hope to do many more shoots in this space, and this one has set a new bar for us!