1. What The Hell Am I Doing In Nashville? by Tom Dyson January 11, 2006
Last week, I spent a couple of days in the company of the man who sold Clapton his first ever Stratocaster. His name is George Gruhn, and he recognized as the world’s foremost authority on vintage guitars. In fact, Clapton bought his first four Stratocasters from Gruhn. He paid Gruhn $400 for each guitar.
Gruhn owns a guitar shop in Nashville. He's been in business for 36 years and he sold guitars to many famous musicians... Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, and Will Rogers Clapton has bought dozens of Gruhn guitars over the years.
2. Gruhn Guitars: A Look Inside the Vault A rare glimpse of some rare vintage instruments at Nashville's Gruhn Guitars. From "Handmade Music"
Guitar enthusiasts liken Gruhn Guitars to Mecca, and the clientele that trades there, or brings their instruments in for service, includes some pretty recognizable names. "George Gruhn is one of the founding fathers of the industry, and he's been doing this since the 1960s," says shop foreman Sam Calveard.
"This is one of the very best known stores in the world for vintage guitars."
Gruhn's customers have included the likes of Duane Allman, Mark Knopfler, Robert Plant and Eric Clapton. In fact, Clapton's famous Stratocaster known as "Blackie" was purchased at Gruhn's.
"Right after I'd seen Steve Winwood playing his white Strat,
" begins Eric, "
I was in Nashville and I went into this shop called Sho-Bud
where they had stacks of Strats going for virtually nothing
because they were so unfashionable and so unwanted.
I bought a big pile of them all for a song - they were really
cheap, like three or $400 each - and I took them home and
gave them out.
I gave Steve one, I gave Pete Townshend one,
I gave George Harrison one and I kept a few.
I made Blackie out of a group of them;
I took the pickups out of one, the scratchplate off another and
the neck off another and I made my own guitar - a hybrid guitar
that had all the best bits from all these Strats.