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!

September 25th and 26th Bill and I were in Bozeman, Montana, which, by the way now ranks at the top of our list of the most beautiful places we have visited yet! The weather was favorable, and allowed us to enjoy the wonderful scenery of surrounding mountains.

Of course, we weren’t there for the scenery. This was factory 3 of 4 of the Gibson factories we are working on. This particular one, was the wonderful factory of Gibson Acoustic guitars! We had the pleasure of being guided through the factory by the well known master luthier, Ren Ferguson.

This factory is a well organized and well ran operation that takes great pride in the extensive hands-on work, while still embracing opportunity to use modern technology to help maintain certain consistencies.

Enjoy the photos and stay tuned for the videos.