For musical Nashville, flood losses are still untold

Flood waters come closer to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on May 3 (photo: Larry McCormack/The Tennessean).

The common denominator is water.

Water on the wooden circle scuffed by Hank Williams’ own boot heels. Water bending hundreds of wooden instruments at Soundcheck Nashville rehearsal studio, and halting production of Gibson guitars. Water destroying historical documents at the Grand Ole Opry House and at WSM-AM’s Opryland Hotel offices.

For musical Nashville, much — no one is sure how much — has been lost to this water.

The Grand Ole Opry House is a soggy mess. On Tuesday, water covered the Opry House floor, save for four rows of seats in back. Water covered the stage, including the legendary six-foot circle of wood taken from the Opry’s old Ryman Auditorium home and placed into the Opry House’s stage for its 1974 opening. The circle may be broken. Guitars and rhinestone suits were ruined as the water filled backstage halls, lockers and dressing rooms. Tuesday night, the Opry would still be held at downtown’s War Memorial Auditorium; the Opry is a show, not a building, emphasized Opry vice president and general manager Pete Fisher.

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Aljon

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Gibson Introduces a New Line of Angus Young Custom Shop and USA SGs!

For more than 35 years, AC/DC has represented the archetypal “big rock” guitar sound, setting the standards for countless bands to follow. In particular, Angus Young’s incendiary lead tone and mammoth rhythm crunch have inspired wave after wave of rock guitar heroes, and he has done it all on a Gibson SG Standard. The SG replaced the underappreciated Les Paul Standard in 1961, and while the Les Paul would surface later in the decade as a rock and blues classic, the new SG (originally named Les Paul/SG) was an instant hit in its own right. Its simple yet inspired ingredients of thin, all-mahogany body and neck and two Gibson humbucking pickups gave it a snappy attack with a muscular punch, and its slim, fast neck yielded unprecedented playability. Now the Gibson Custom Shop offers its reproduction of one of the world’s most renowned SGs in the form of the Angus Young SG, a Limited Edition that captures the tone, look, and feel of this rare specimen among a classic breed, but which updates this legendary guitar with custom modifications requested by Angus himself.

Angus Young acquired his 1968 SG Standard in 1970, and has used it on all major AC/DC recordings and many tours since the band’s inception in 1973. Young’s ’68 SG is known to be a superb example of this model, with an unusually slim neck, pickups that blend just the right proportions of power and sweetness, and a resonant, vocal tone that represents the best of the SG formula. Listen closely to any classic AC/DC tune, and the tone is huge, but not filthy or fizzy. Angus’s ’68 SG achieves a stunning clarity and definition right within its bone-crushing thump and grind. With utmost attention to detail, the Angus Young SG seeks to achieve that tone, aided by a pair of custom-spec Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates humbucking pickups. And with 50 guitars out of the total run of 250 aged in-house by Gibson and signed by Angus himself, this outstanding Custom Shop reproduction also nails the look of this legendary guitar, with upgraded modifications at Angus’s request, including an ebony fingerboard with “lightning bolt” inlays (a further 200 guitars will receive the VOS treatment). The Custom Shop Angus Young SG will also be sold with a custom Certificate of Authenticity, a Gibson Custom Shop hardshell case, and a full range of owner’s manuals and instruction sheets.

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Aljon

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Twitter @aljonrocks

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Slash's Guitar Rig

Adam Day has been Slash's guitar tech since the beginning of Guns N Roses. Adam takes us backstage at a Velvet Revolver show to run through the finer points of Slash's gear. This is how the pro's set up a rig. Thanks to DunlopTV!

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Aljon

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Twitter @aljonrocks

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Gibson Day Celebration 10/31!

Visit your local Gibson and Epiphone dealer for Gibson Day! Every last Saturday of the month, you're invited to enter to win a Gibson guitar, earn a free Gibson "fan" shirt when you test drive a Gibson guitar and have an all around great time at participating dealers worldwide.

Upcoming date is October 31, 2009!

LINK FOR PARTICIPATING DEALERS AND DATES!

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Gibson Gets Low - The 7-String Explorer

Born alongside the Flying V when rock and roll was still a toddler, Gibson’s Explorer was the most radical electric guitar ever unleashed upon the unsuspecting music world of 1958. Way ahead of its time, it failed to gain a foothold among the generally conservative players of the day, but became a major rock icon by the late ’60s, and has been taken up by countless guitar heroes over the course of the intervening decades. Flash forward to the 21st century, and the 7-string has become the choice of an increasing number of thrash and nu-metal players, who seek eviscerating tones with the gut-rumbling potential of an added low-B string. Enter Gibson’s 7-String Explorer, a natural marriage of rock’s most radical shape and the specs demanded by the most adventurous 7-string players on the scene today. This new addition to the line for Gibson’s “Rocktober” celebrations combines the proven tonal advantages of mahogany neck and body with the scorching performance of EMG pickups, all the solid playability of Gibson construction and hardware, and a none-more-black gloss Ebony nitrocellulose finish, resulting in an unmatched package for the heavy rocker.

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Hagar On Gibson, Chickenfoot, Joe and Ed

Red Rocker fans! Gibson.com has a great two part interview with Sammy Hagar where he talks about his favorite guitar, Chickenfoot and the differences between writing with Joe Satriani and Eddie Van Halen. Check it out!

PART 1

PART 2

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Les Paul: The Man, The Music, The Guitar

Les Paul worked hard with Gibson to create the Gibson Les Paul Standard, which was introduced in 1952, followed a couple of years later by the Gibson Les Paul Custom. The Gibson Les Paul’s remarkable tone, sustain and action quickly became admired by guitarists throughout the world. Some say the creative dynamic between Les Paul and Gibson that ensued in the subsequent decades became one that has never again been duplicated by any other manufacturer.

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