FEATURE
9
For the finite population of vintage and important guitars left in the world, the Nashville flood of May 1 and 2,
2010, may be the most costly natural disaster in history. Guitar experts can think of no
other mass wipeout that compares. Hurricane
Katrina tragically swamped the homes and
instruments of an inestimable swath of musicians in America’s most musical city not nicknamed Music City. But whereas New Orleans
is chiefly a city of horns and drums, Nashville
is a guitar town. And some of the most
carefully tended and cultivated guitar and
stringed-instrument collections in the world
were here in Soundcheck.
Beaver, who had a repair shop inside the
Soundcheck complex, was not so fortunate.
He spent the weekend after the flood tearing his cozy facility apart, ripping out work-benches and memories.
“If I let my mind wander as a luthier and
guitar person, I could probably sit down and
quit and just cry,” he said. “The history that
is in Soundcheck is beyond belief. It is not
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It’s not the
Country Music Hall of Fame. It is the working
tools of musicians that have come out of
Nashville for decades. Soundcheck was the
Fort Knox of instruments in Tennessee. To an
instrument guy, it’s like watching Joplin die
or Hendrix die. Lennon. We had guitars out
there that have that much history—that much
influence in the industry.”
As it happened, and by the cruelest twist of
fate, one particular collection at Soundcheck
was specifically curated to be just that
important. The Musicians Hall of Fame was
“It is really massive. Every day you hear about
more stuff,” said Dave Pomeroy, president
of the Nashville chapter of the American
Federation of Musicians. “It’s really hard to
back up far enough to see this in perspec-
tive. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say
this is an unprecedented loss. Because these
instruments owned by the top musicians
are the cream of the cream. Somebody said
it’s the equivalent of the Louvre flooding.
These guys were working musicians. So [their
instruments] were tools, but from a finan-
cial and esoteric standpoint, one of these
Stratocasters is worth how many new ones?
It’s not possible yet to put a monetary value
on it. But in terms of vintage, playable instru-
ments, it’s probably the biggest wipeout in
the history of modern music.”
Nashville’s most famous guitar dealer, George
Gruhn says, “I feel like there’s been a big
death in the family. We have lost a piece
of our heritage. This is not just a personal
loss for the owners. This is a loss for all of
our society. Because these things, just like
Stradivari or Guarneri violins made in the
1600s, are still played today and can be
played later. They go from generation to
generation, and these are things worth going
from generation to generation. It’s like losing
a Van Gogh painting.”
Gruhn’s landmark shop on Lower Broadway
was not flooded, but there were hours on
Sunday, the second day of rain, when it was
touch-and-go. As the Cumberland crept to
within two blocks, the staff moved all the
instruments that were on stands from the
showroom to the second floor—a precau-
tion that turned out to be unnecessary. Ed
www.premierguitar.com
PREMIER GUITAR JULY 2010 159
