The First Quality Music Blog

We thought we’d take some time to share what’s going on at First Quality these days.  Over the years folks who’ve been to our showroom have always commented when coming through our front door about how the place has changed from visit to visit.   That continues to be true as we find ourselves embracing even more changes both in the products we will be selling and the overall look of our physical location where we do our business.

As everyone knows the name Sullivan is synonymous with five string banjos.  Our founder Bill Sullivan began this business in 1970 as a hobby in his home and some 40 years later we find ourselves in our current location where we still build banjos and do custom work.

The Sullivan Banjo Company shares our Trade Port Drive location and will be one of the areas where folks will be noticing some changes.  We’ll be enhancing the current banjo room and adding some additional production space devoted to the banjos we build.  Enhancements in our production capabilities with the addition of more CNC technology and a greatly improved and enlarged spray booth will increase our productivity while maintaining and improving quality.

On the retail side here at First Quality we have decided to return to our bluegrass roots.  In an ever changing market, we tried to broaden the scope of our business to include a wider inventory and found after some time that the right thing to do would be to focus our resources on the foundation that the company had grown upon.   The Sullivan Banjo will be the core along with going back to a broader selection of Martin guitars along with mandolins.  Plans are to give the customer a wide selection of price points in the guitars and mandolins and have those instruments on hand in our showroom so the choices will be there for our customers.   We are in progress on making the necessary changes in our showroom to make this a reality during the 1st and 2nd quarters of 2012.

We’ll be passing along updates over the upcoming weeks on the progress of these changes, if you find you are in the area stop in and see us.

We just received a beautiful new Sullivan Vintage 35 Walnut.   Equipped with it’s standard Vintage 35 tone ring and Sullivan Old Growth rim this banjo is a powerhouse!   These banjos are responsive up and down the entire neck and filled with that special sound usually reserved for those instruments with many years of seasoning.  The walnut banjos are a special lot in that their tone has characteristics of both a maple and a mahogany banjo and it’s a beaut to boot!

We just received a beautiful new Sullivan Bardstown.  

This banjo is crafted of the finest materials, from it’s Honduras Mahogany neck wood, quilted Mahogany resonator, hardrock maple woodrim and classic Sullivan tone ring it is not only a thing of beauty but a powerful banjo indeed.  Even though it’s brand new and right out of the workshop this one is impressive!  Give us a call.

Many times when you call in for ordering, with requests or questions the voice you hear answering the phone is that of our very own Murrell Thixton.   Murrell is the banjo player for the group Storefront Congregation, a four piece band from Louisville, Ky  that performs bluegrass and acoustic music.  This weekend they will join  Kyle Ramey, Kati Penn and Newtown, and 9 time IBMA fiddler of the year Michael Cleveland in a concert  to benefit 3 local charities The Salvation Army, The Center for Women and Families, andThe Home of the Innocents.   If you’d like details on how you can attend you can find more information about the concert here.

This video clip promoting the upcoming event is from a broadcast of Great Day Live a local morning show on our ABC affiliate WHAS television.  We’re proud of Murrell and his group for their support of these most worthy charities.

We hope you enjoy the clip, Happy Thanksgiving everyone.