The mandolin division at Gibson Original Acoustic Instruments is a place of legends. Names like Lloyd Loar and Charlie Derrington are ever present in the minds of mandolinists. Danny Roberts, of the Grascals, has also served a stint with Gibson in recent years.

The latest addition to the staff at Gibson OAI is mandolinist, producer, and luther, David Harvey.

David Harvey, master musician and producer has joined the Gibson Original Acoustic Instruments Division (GOAI) as master luthier.

In David’s new role he will oversee the mandolin production and be an active participation in all quality control matters. David will also conduct clinics and dealer events throughout the country and will play an integral role in the presence of Gibson Original Acoustic Instruments in the Bluegrass community worldwide.

David has an extensive background in instrument construction and repair and has served many bluegrass stars as the ‘go-to’ guy for needed repairs and set up.

You can read the full press release here.

The proposed merger between Gibson Guitar and TC Group which was announced in January ‘08 has been shelved.

The two companies issued a joint press release late last week.

Gibson Guitar, the world’s premier musical instrument manufacturer and leader in music technology and TC Group, an international leader in sound processing, amplification, computer recording and speakers, announced that they have discontinued discussions regarding a potential merger between the two companies. The decision followed an intensive effort by both parties to consummate the deal within the targeted timeline, but a number of issues remained unresolved, and both Gibson and TC agreed that it was best that the merger proceedings not continue. TC Group’s goal is to continue to produce and distribute innovative and respected high-performance audio products for business partners around the world. Gibson Guitar remains loyal to its many customers and will continue to dedicate its future to producing the best musical instruments in the world while engaging and building its family of brands through innovative technology and potential new business partners.

Here’s a brief update to our post from last week about Gibson’s new limited edition Earl Scruggs Flint Hill Special banjo model.

In our previous post, we mentioned that no pricing information was found on the Gibson site, and that our efforts to reach someone there for details were unsuccessful.

A commenter indicated that the suggested retail prices were $18,499 for the first five and $11,999 for the remaining production run. We also reached Janet Davis of Janet Davis Music, a large and prominent dealer for Gibson Banjos, who told us that they are offering them for $16,665 (1-5) and $10799 (6-20).

Only 20 will be built, and Janet Davis Music Center is taking orders at this time. They are being built now, and should be ready for delivery in 2-3 weeks.

Only one or two of the first five are still available. Each banjo is personally and professionally shop adjusted before it is shipped to you from our facility.

A true investment you can enjoy forever!

You can see more details about the new Scruggs banjo in our earlier post.

Gibson is debuting a new, limited edition banjo model this year, marking the 5oth anniversary of the original release of Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs’ classic recording, Foggy Mountain Jamboree. Though they had been releasing singles on a regular basis since 1951, Foggy Mountain Jamboree was their first long playing album, which some music historians say was the first bluegrass LP by any artist.

Included on that 1957 LP was Flint Hill Special, a Scruggs instrumental originally recorded in 1952 that, along with Earl’s Breakdown, Foggy Mountain Chimes and Randy Lynn Rag (all three also featured on that album), introduced the bluegrass world to what came to be known as the Scruggs tuner, a device that allowed Earl to quickly detune and retune a string.

Gibson has long marketed a banjo known as the Earl Scruggs Flint Hill Special (the name of both the song and the banjo taken from Scruggs’ birthplace in North Carolina), and their new 2008 commemorative banjo is a special edition of that model.

Only 20 Commemorative Limited Edition Earl Scruggs Flint Hill Special banjos will be made, and purchasers will receive a number of pieces of Earl Scruggs memorabilia as well.

The banjo will be made of figured maple (neck, and resonator overlay) with an ebony fingerboard inlaid with Gibson’s Hearts & Flowers pattern. The neck and resonator are bound with white/black/white trim and the peghead with mother of pearl. The heel cap is also mother of pearl, and the banjo is engraved and gold plated. Each will ship in an Earl Scruggs signature model red line case, with the head signed by the man himself, an autographed copy of Earl’s banjo book and a CD copy of Foggy Mountain Jamboree.

The first five purchasers will also get Earl’s signature on the back of the peghead, plus a signed and framed Flint Hill Special tablature from the Scruggs book.

Gibson has not responded to our requests for more details about the selling price, but similar limited edition models have carried retail prices close to $50,000. When we hear from them with a price (and availability/ordering info), we’ll update this post. (See update below)

The Gibson folks also included this classic YouTube clip in their press release about the new Scruggs banjo. Nice!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfB_Saky-6E

UPDATE 4/2: A commenter indicated that the suggested retail prices were $18,499 for the first five and $11,999 for the remaining production run. We also reached Janet Davis of Janet Davis Music, a large and prominent dealer for Gibson Banjos, who told us that they are offering them for $16,665 (1-5) and $10799 (6-20).

Gibson has posted an article on their web site about Grasstowne Dobro man Phil Leadbetter.

The piece covers Phil’s early experiences learning teh resonator guitar, his work with JD Crowe, his IBMA awards and teh debut CD with his new performance vehicle, Grasstowne. Since it’s Gibson’s site, of course, they also discuss his signature model Dobro guitar.

Still another jewel in Leadbetter’s crown was the 2003 unveiling of the Phil Leadbetter Signature Series Dobro. “I had always hoped to just get an endorsement, so I was kind of blown away when Gibson approached me,” he recounts. “It’s the only real Dobro being made right now, since Gibson owns the Dobro brand.

“When I started playing Dobros, they were making them the same way they were made in 1928, with sound wells. We improved on the design by adding sound posts and baffles, and using solid woods to increase sustain and make the tone richer. I love playing them and I’m really flattered that they’ve become the most popular Dobro out there.”

Read the full article at Gibson.com, where you can also download a free Leadbetter MP3 of Moon Racer.

The Tennessean, Nashville’s hometown paper, ran a story yesterday (1/18) that Gibson Guitar Corp. will merge with TC Group, a Danish pro audio firm.

The merger was announced at the NAMM Winter Show in California, and according to The Tennessean, the new company will remain headquartered in Nashville when the deal is finalized in February. No layoffs are anticipated and Gibson expects to hire new engineers and marketing staff this year.

TC’s chief Anders Fauerskov will serve as Gibson’s chief operating officer and remain in Denmark. Though not clearly stated, it appears that the new company will continue to do business under the Gibson name.

More details can be found in the joint press release issued yesterday.

Gibson has published an interview on their web site with Kristin Andreassen of Uncle Earl.

The article largely centers on their having worked with former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, who produced their latest CD, Waterloo, Tennessee.

How did you guys hook up with John Paul Jones? Were you already a fan?

I started listening to Zeppelin in junior high when my first boyfriend ever made me a complete set of cassette tapes, each with the cover drawn by him as a representation of the real Zeppelin album cover.

The next I really thought about Zeppelin was when we met John at Rockygrass in ’04. We had a six-hour bar gig at Oskar Blues in Lyons, Colorado. Abby [Washburn] had left that morning because her grandfather was sick, and we’d only been a band about four months so the truth is, we didn’t have a banjo player and we barely had enough material to cover three hours of a gig. We saw [Nickel Creek’s] Chris Thile in the audience and begged him up on-stage and John came with him.

Read the full interview at Gibson.com.

There are six short videos up on Gibson’s web site that feature banjo legend Earl Scruggs discussing his life and career in bluegrass and acoustic music. It seems that they were all recorded earlier this year.

Each of the links below go to one of the individual video clips, each focusing on a specific aspect of the Scruggs legacy.

• Earl’s Early Banjos
• Bill Monroe & The Blue Grass Boys
• The Flatt & Scruggs Era
• The Beverly Hillbillies
• Earl’s Influences and Styles
• The Earl Scruggs Revue

Thanks to the folks at Gibson for making these available.

I’ve heard old-school musicians bemoan the use of electronic tuners. They feel a person should train their ear to hear the pitches and tune that way. Electronic tuning devices have become a part of the fabric of playing a stringed instrument though.

Now Gibson Guitars is taking it one step further. This month Gibson has introduced a new line of guitars featuring what they are calling, the Powertune System.

The Powertune System, available as original equipment only on Gibson guitars, is the first fully functional, performance-ready, and non-obtrusive automated tuning system, and the only self-tuning system practical for use by the professional guitarist.

Powertune, at it’s simplest, is simply a built in electronic tuner that automates the process by taking control of the instrument’s tuning pegs and making the necessary adjustments. It looks like it adds some mass to the back of the headstock, but at this time it’s only available on electric guitars so I don’t know what kind of effect it would have on the sound of an acoustic instrument.

Beyond the basics, Powertune has some interesting features. It is not on by default, so you don’t have to worry about it attempting to tune a string while your bending it. It’s controlled by a tuning knob they have dubbed the Master-Control Knob. The MCK allows one to chose from multiple preset tunings, or to create your own custom tunings and save them. Standard tuning is included, along with drop D tuning and a couple different open tunings.

Operation seems simple enough. All that is required is to activate Powertune, select the desired tuning (both of which are done with the MCK), and lightly strum the strings. Powertune does the rest.

I suspect it won’t be long before Powertune finds it’s way into acoustic guitars as well. Is that a good, or a bad thing? You decide.

Gibson has a page on their web site dedicated to several modern bluegrass artists who are having an impact on the music. As it happens, they all play Gibson mandolins. What a coincidence!

The artists featured are The Infamous Stringdusters, Cherryholmes, Cadillac Sky, The Greencards, The Grascals and Sierra Hull. In perhaps an odd choice of words, the page is entitled Hillbilly Hipsters.

You might be familiar with most of these artists, but a name that not everyone may recognize is Sierra Hull. Just 15 years old, she is already taking the bluegrass world by storm, playing both mandolin and guitar, and fronting her own band, Highway 111. She has been recognized as a true prodigy since she was 12 years old, and has been featured as a guest performer with Alison Krauss & Union Station, and filled in for Adam Steffey with Mountain Heart.

There are several videos showcasing her prowess on YouTube.

As part of their Hillbilly Hipsters promotion, Gibson is making available a free download from Sierra, a tune named Hullarious. The page also has streaming audio of Sierra’s tune, and Fork In The Road from The Infamous Stringdusters’ debut CD of the same name.

Read about all these artists - and hear some music - at Gibson’s Backstage Pass site.

Gibson and Sam Bush are offering a chance to win a new Sam Bush signature model mandolin, valued at nearly $10,000. Additional prizes for the winner include 10 sets of Gibson Sam Bush mandolin strings, and an autographed copy of the live Sam Bush concert DVD.

To enter online, visit the Gibson web site and fill in the entry form.

Entries are limited to legal residents of the United States, 18 years of age or older, and must be received by October 8, 2007.

Complete contest rules can be viewed on the Gibson site.

Gibson has announced their acquisition this week of Garrison Guitars of St. John’s Newfoundland, in Canada. Garrison was started by Chris Griffiths in 1999, using a new bracing system he had developed, and dubbed the Griffiths Active Bracing System.

This system is one where all of the top bracing is cut as a single component, encompassing all the typical braces into this one piece. Griffiths believes that this allows for both an uninterrupted path for the vibrations resonating across the guitar top, and greater structural stability as well.

The Garrison shop utilizes many modern construction technologies, with robotics, laser cutting, CNC (Computer Numerical Control) milling and UV finishing all a part of the process.

Unlike previous Gibson acquisitions where the newly purchased assets were moved to a Gibson shop, Garrison will soon begin manufacturing the Gibson acoustic guitars in their Canadian facility. Garrison also manufactures solid wood mandolins and mandolas but no mention of any part they may play in Gibson mandolins was announced.

Gibson has some further details on their site, but the Garrison site seems to be unavailable at this time.

The New York Times ran an article yesterday about guitar makers C.F. Martin, Taylor, Fender and Gibson joining forces with environmental activist group Greenpeace in an effort to save tree species vital to their trade.

One wood the article focuses on is Sitka Spruce from Alaska which Greenpeace says could become as rare as Brazilian Rosewood in only six years if current harvesting practices continue. What I found interesting is that the bulk of Sitka Spruce being cut in Alaska is not used for the construction of instruments. This old growth wood is being sent to Japan as framing material for homes. C.F. Martin estimated that a total of three million acoustic and electric guitars are sold in the US each year, but that accounts for less than 20% of the Sitka Spruce that’s cut each year in Alaska.

Martin just last month hosted the C. F. Martin Inaugural Wood Summit ‘07 where wood suppliers from around the world spoke concerning the historical and future availability of their particular species, as well as issues surrounding it’s availability.

What the instrument manufacturers are seeking is not a complete ban on logging, but rather some sort of solution that relies on better forest management. The word that comes to mind is conservation. Let’s hope they are able to make a difference in the larger marketplace and create a situation where our children will be able to buy instruments made from the great woods we love at something less than the cost of a pre-war Martin!

This last Thursday morning weatherman Al Roker of the Today Show was in Nashville for the Lend A Hand Today program he has been involved with for the last six years.

The charity benefiting was the W.O. Smith/Nashville Community Music School. The school is a nonprofit that provides instruction to interested children from low income families for only $0.50 per lesson. The school boasts a staff of 100 volunteer instructors from the community, and over 350 students between the ages of 7 and 18.

Donors for the show included the Gibson Foundation which provided several pianos, along with a slew of guitars, mandolins and banjos.

Video of the segment is available for viewing online at MSNBC’s website. Just scroll down to “Day 4″ and click the “Launch” button.

Hat Tip: Katy Daley

The Dixie Bee-Liners have a nice feature up on Gibson’s web site. It gives an overview of the band - and their story of meeting and starting a bluegrass band in New York, and then moving to Virginia - along with a photo of Brandi Hart and Buddy Woodward touring the Gibson custom shop.

It also mentions their upcoming CD, now nearly completed, and the addition to the band of Rachel Renee Johnson on fiddle, Sam Morrow on banjo, Claiborne Woodall on lead guitar and Andy Blevins on upright bass.

Gibson is also sponsoring a blog for The Dixie Bee-Liners, which you can find on the Gibson site as well.

2007 marks the 50th anniversary of the Gibson Company acquiring the Epiphone brand, which they have continued to operate as a separate product line.

Though it now largely consists of less expensive replicas of popular Gibson models, Epiphone was once a prime competitor in the high end market. They made guitars (flat and arch top), banjos, mandolins, lap steels, basses and amplification products.

In commemoration of their Golden Anniversary with Epiphone, Gibson announced earlier this week the acquisition of a major collection of rare vintage Epiphone instruments. These are instruments previously owned by Jim Fisch, who wrote, Epiphone, The House of Stathopoulo, published by Amsco Music in 1997 with LB Fred.

Jim Fisch passed away in February 2006, and his entire collection of 160 instruments has been offered for sale through Top Shelf Music in Buffalo, NY.

Gibson has purchased 27 Epiphone instruments from the Fisch collection, which they consider to be “historically significant guitars, banjos, lap steels, and amplifiers.” They also acquired the original manuscript for the Fisch/Fred book, and audio recordings and transcripts of interviews conducted while the book was being researched.

You can see a few more details on this collection on the Gibson web site.

We posted about the Ricky Skaggs signature Master Model F5 mandolin when it was announced at IBMA ‘06, and again when it first appeared on Gibson’s web site.

The mandolin is being officially introduced this week at the Winter NAMM show, and Gibson has released a short online video of Ricky playing, and talking about the new signature model. It is officially known as the Ricky Skaggs Distressed Master Model, and is closely modeled on his 1923 Lloyd Loar F5.

The video can be found now on a special NAMM show page on Gibson’s site. If that page is removed after the show, the video may make its way to Gibson’s YouTube page.

We posted back in October about several new bluegrass instruments which Gibson debuted at the IBMA trade show. At that time, we mentioned the Ricky Skaggs signature mandolin, and indicated that no further information was available on the Gibson web site.

The Gibson site now has a detail page about this mandolin, which is called the Ricky Skaggs Distressed Master Model. Only 30 will be made, each inspected and signed by Ricky before they are shipped. They are intended to be a reproduction of Ricky’s 1923 Loar F5, and Gibson says that they are taking great pains to ensure the auhenticity of this mandolin, right down to hide glue construction.

There is no price shown on Gibson’s site, but we were told in October that the retail price would be just over $25,000.

Gibson has posted a video on their web site featuring their top bluegrass endorsers playing a lively version of Jingle Bells. The All Stars consist of Earl Scruggs on banjo, Sam Bush and Ricky Skaggs on mandolins, and Phil Leadbetter on dobro. They are accompanied by Randy and Gary Scruggs on guitar and bass, respectively.

Each of them takes a break on Jingle Bells - except the bass - and Earl Scruggs is in fine form. All of them seem to have been enjoying this very much.

The video runs for just over three and a half minutes, and the site shows a link to download a free iPod version of the video. When I followed that link and tried to save the file, the “Save As Source” option was not available. You may need to use the right click (ctrl click for Mac) “Download Linked File” option from the main video page in order to get the video file, in the .M4v format.

Gibson’s bluegrass division introduced three new limited edition models recently - one each in their banjo, dobro and mandolin lines.

The new banjo is a vintage RB-4 re-issue. Like the style 4 banjos made prior to WWII, this re-issue will be made with a walnut neck and resonator, and chrome (rather than nickel) plated hardware.

Gibson will only make 40 of these Retro 4s, and they will carry a list price of $5443.

In the dobro line, Gibson has just introduced a limited edition Phil Leadbetter signature mahogany model. Only 50 guitars will be made in this series, and Phil will inspect, play and sign each one before it is shipped.

The body and neck are made of solid mahogany, and employs a hand-spun Quarterman aluminum cone, with bound, open soundholes in the body. I have not been able to find the price for this dobro, but will post an update when I do.

Gibson is also creating a new mandolin in their signature artist series, this one for Ricky Skaggs. It will be a Master Model F5, with a distressed finish and a neck shaped to exactly match his Loar. Ricky will inspect each instrument before it is shipped, and sign the label when he is satisfied that the mandolin is set up properly. Only 30 of these mandolins will be made.

The Skaggs Master Models will ship with both a standard Gibson case, Small Dog case cover and a tone guard. List price is set as $25,554. There is no information up yet on the Gibson site about this mandolin.