The First Quality Music Blog

Shady Grove was in town for the National Quartet Convention and stopped by to see us. Shady Grove is an excellent group with wonderful vocal ability. JC joins Tim Moxley and Gerry Hall for an impromptu performance of the gospel tune Help is on the Way. Check it out!

Today we had a few friends of ours stop by and, like many other days, a little impromptu jam broke out in the Banjo room. I was handy with a camera this time, and thought I’d share a little bit of what goes on at First Quality Music every day. Here we’ve got Malcolm Moger, an excellent Banjo player from Springfield, Virginia, and Shari Mabe from New Haven, Kentucky. Shari is a teacher at New Haven School where she tells us she’s formed a Guitar Club for 6th, 7th, and 8th graders that’s been operating since 2006. We weren’t able to get the information of the other guitarist before she left, but we thank them all for dropping in and letting us record them! A group of great musicians, check them out in the video below!

Welcome back to another Vault Friday! Each Friday I’ll venture into the Vault with one of our instrument specialists to showcase some of the cool stuff we’ve got hidden away in there.

One of the most beautiful guitars in our Vault, the Gibson Doves in Flight Acoustic Guitar is a masterpiece of hand-done craftsmanship. Featuring 28 individually engraved pearl doves, hand-rubbed cherry finish, and top grade wood, this guitar is a wonder to see and hear.

You can learn more about the Gibson Doves in Flight Acoustic Guitar here.

Welcome back to another Vault Friday! Each Friday I’ll venture into the Vault with one of our instrument specialists to showcase some of the cool stuff we’ve got hidden away in there.

This week, we’re proud to present one of 35 very special guitars, the Taylor 35th Anniversary GS. This limited edition GS features a built-in armrest and some of the prettiest cocobola we’ve seen. As this is one of the 35th Anniversary series, only 35 will be made!

You can learn more about the Taylor 35th Anniversary Cocobola GS w/ Armrest here.

Our friends and First Quality featured artist Balsam Range have topped the Bluegrass Unlimited single chart with Last Train to Kitty Hawk.  Congratulations guys!!!  You can hear a Sullivan banjo on this tune picked by our pal Marc Pruett.  Be sure to catch a performance by the group at the upcoming IBMA fanfest, or visit their website for the latest news and tour date information.

First Quality Music has started a new division within our company called Derby City Game Calls. We have a lot of friends in the hunting industry that have encouraged us to make game calls with our instrument grade wood. With the technology to make instruments it just made sence to give it a try. After months of research and development and working right along with some top notch hunters we have developed a line of game calls that just sound wonderful and we believe will do the job. Kentucky’s own Tim Farmer who host the ever popular TV show Kentucky Afield got wind that a Kentucky company that has made banjos for 38 years is now also making game calls, so needless to say he had to check us out. We welcomed Tim in to First Quality Music and before we got started talking turkey calls we got him to play a little Bluegrass Music with the guys here at First Quality. Murrell Thixton, JC Gay and one of our very good friends Cody Pearman play along side Tim Farmer on Upright Bass playing the song Cumberland Gap.

We also Got Tim during his visit to sign our Wall of Fame.

During his visit here at First Quality Music we showed him around and when the Music Store closed we began to show him how we make Turkey Calls. Jim Dawson of Derby City Game Calls spoke with Tim as we filmed a segment for the upcoming episode on Kentucky Afield.

As we finished up our segent for Kentucky Afield, Brent Stoner of Derby City Game Calls talks with Tim going over different options and the basics of how we use our instrument building technology to produce wonderful sounding Turkey Calls.

Make sure to check us out on Saturday September the 19th at 8:30 pm Eastern time on KET Channel 13 on Insight Cable.

Welcome back to another Vault Friday! Each Friday I’ll venture into the Vault with one of our instrument specialists to showcase some of the cool stuff we’ve got hidden away in there.

This week, we’re proud to present “The Kristofferson”, a Gibson Super Jumbo acoustic guitar modeled to recreate the look and sound of Kris Kristofferson’s beloved Southern Jumbo Acoustic. There are only 300 of this guitar in existence, and we’re proud to have it.

You can learn more about the Gibson SJ-Limited, Kris Kristofferson Signature here.

Hello everyone! We’re excited to announce a big giveaway here at First Quality Music with Martin Guitars! We’ll be giving away a Martin LX1 to one of our followers on Facebook and Twitter. Entering is simple, just click on the banners below and become a fan of First Quality Music on Facebook and a follower on Twitter! On November 4th, we’ll pick someone at random from our followers on the two sites (Yes, this means that if you’re following us on both, you’ll get two chances to win!).

Thanks, and good luck!

-First Quality Music & Martin Guitar Co.

We’ve decided to start a new weekly feature here on the First Quality Music Blog: Vault Fridays. Each Friday I’ll venture into the Vault with one of our instrument specialists to showcase some of the cool stuff we’ve got hidden away in there.

Last week, we showed you a very special Gibson F-5 Mandolin signed by the late Charlie Derrington. This week, we decided to pull a Guitar out of the vault, the Gibson SJ-200 True Vintage. Gibson’s master luthiers in Bozeman, Montana set out to recreate the legendary SJ-200 that helped define the American music scene of the 1930′s, and we’re pretty impressed with the outcome. This guitar features deep, well-balanced tone and the powerful sound we’ve come to expect from the Gibson Super Jumbo line.

You can learn more about the Gibson SJ-200 True Vintage Guitar here.