Gibson Guitars

Today we toured the Gibson Guitar factory located in downtown Memphis, Tennessee.
We waited in the store area for the appointed time for the tour to start, I found a cool looking Jukebox; Chuck found an interesting guitar...



The group was a small one so we had the tour guide practically to ourselves. Ready to answer our questions at any time. What I found most interesting is that the entire wooden part of the instrument is all hand made and tooled. The finishes are also all hand done. This of course is reflected in the final price tag, but nice to know that quality instruments are still hand made in this country.

If I ever get to Pennsylvania, I want to visit the Martin Guitar company and see the differences in approach etc.

Anyway below are pictures of the tour and steps along the way to becoming a Gibson Guitar!

The wood is shaped by moisture and special cutting tools; then glued. No fasteners of any kind are used to hold the components together.


Once the guitar is assembled the finish work can begin..it is long and arduous, but beautiful when completed.


Any little mess up at the finish stage can render the final product...junk. So patience and steady hands are a necessity!

Once it has gone through all the stages to becoming a Gibson, a professional musician must play every note possible to determine that it has passed all requirements and meets the Gibson Standards.

Graceland and the rest

We toured Graceland today. The operation was put together very nicely and yet I found myself, at times, feeling uncomfortable; like looking into the man's private world (if that was ever possible) and touching on things best left alone. As is usually the case no flash photography was allowed so most of the pictures of the inside of the home do not appear light enough to be posted. Instead I am picking the costume and other shots that we all remember him best in





...except for the last ones.




It was very nice to see all the stuff and bittersweet knowing that he, like so many others, have gone too soon.



Maybe we can catch the Gibson guitar company tour before we move on to our next adventure.

First Elvis Sighting and more Memphis, TN

We began our sojourn today and caught Memphis and Beale St. before we even checked in to our hotel.
So here is our welcome to Memphis, the first Elvis sighting and several pics from Beale Street.
Here is the welcome EGG at the Memphis visitors center
Elvis gets a special room... As does B B King
I thought some of the eating and drinking establishments deserved to be memorialized, further explanations should not be needed.


Tomorrow Graceland.

But for now we are heading out to Marlowes for what promises to be the best ribs in town. I will let you know.

They actually deliver. But as you can see they don't use just any ond car. THEY use a pink cadillac...how cool is that?
Here is the full slab of ribs that Chuck ordered, I hd to good sense to stick with a half slab..I'm stuffed beyond belief!



Ok, I'm back and the Ribs were the BEST! I am so glad I was willing to take a chance on a name that was unknown to me...the ribs were fantastic...meaty, moist and the sauce was perfect! The pictures do not do them justice.

Then the SUPERBOWL! So much stuff, so little time.