The First Quality Music Blog- Special Guests

Taylor Road Show Returns to FQMS – May 25th

Travis Cook — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 14:00:56 +0000

We’re proud to announce that the 2010 Taylor Road Show will be stopping by First Quality Music on May 25th! Drop by and hang out with Taylor factory experts for a day of guitar talk and test-driving! Last year’s Road Show was a great success and a lot of fun – expect even more this year! We’ll have some killer custom and one-off Taylor models for you to play, demonstrations of new Taylor technologies, and some great instruction on tone woods and guitar shapes.

Make sure to drop by First Quality Music on May 25th and check out the Taylor Road Show! You can find more dates and information at the Taylor Road Show website.

Resonator Manufacturer Steve Gill drops by for a visit

Eric Sullivan — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 19:06:39 +0000

Steve Gill with Eric & Jeff Sullivan in the Sullivan Historic Banjo Room

Steve Gill came by the shop today. After a short tour and a little business, Steve played a few tunes on one of our new Vintage 35 banjos. Steve is a big part of our new banjo as he supplies the resonators for these models. Steve owns and operates Gill Mfg. which currently produces the most accurate reproduction Pre-War Gibson Mastertone banjo resonators on the market. Steve makes all of the resonators by hand and they are so accurate that they could be passed off as original. Finding such a high quality product that is produced by one of the nicest guys I know has really put the finishing touch on our new Vintage 35 banjos.

Summertown Road’s Rounder release hits the stores

Murrell Thixton — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 22:07:17 +0000

Rounder recording artist Summertown Road’s self titled debut CD is in stores today. We here at First Quality are sure excited about the group’s new project! You can find a list of the group’s upcoming performances on their Myspace. Be sure and check out Jack’s Sullivan V-35 banjo when you catch a performance!

Vanja visits First Quality Music

Travis Cook — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:34:58 +0000

We had a very talented customer visit us today with a wonderful fingerpicking style who was kind enough to let us take a video of him playing on one of our Taylor 814ce’s. Vanja says he has only been playing this style of guitar or a little over a year, with a long background in rock. Vanja has more great music on Youtube – you can find him at http://www.youtube.com/220VOLT74.

Thanks for dropping by, Vanja!

Sullivan Banjo in Kabul, Afghanistan

Travis Cook — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:18:54 +0000

Every now and then, we receive a “letter of endorsement” from a Sullivan owner that overwhelms our hearts with joy, and affirms the sense of pride and enjoyment we get in making our own line of high-quality banjos. We’d like to share this one from Mark, serving our Country in Kabul Afghanistan, with you.

Greetings from Kabul Afghanistan!

Just to let you know that Bluegrass is alive and well on the other side of the world – and in the midst of the Taliban! I am getting great service from my Sullivan banjo. It has been across the globe three times all in baggage compartments of foreign airlines. It went with me to Kuwait (2008)(in 140 degree heat!), crossed by air over the Persian gulf, over Iran and down to Kabul (10,000 feet). Then it survived the unload by Afghani handlers and its still going strong! In fact tonight we were just finishing a rehearsal and whooooooosh! BANG! “Hit the Bunkers!” We had a rocket attack. So you can say my Sullivan has been baptized by hostile fire.

I have enclosed some shots from performances we’ve done here in Kabul (church and on New Years) (note all the Mongol soldiers we had there celebrating with us). We (Four Horsemen) have been invited by the MWR department (Morale Welfare and Recreation) to provide two more performances in February here on post and across town. Note the hat I’m wearing in the shots.

Best wishes!
-Mark

Mark asked us to let everyone know that if they just happen to be in town, they are having an open jam every Monday night in downtown Kabul. In Mark’s own words: “Second floor Ciano’s building, Camp Eggers, downtown Kabul right across the street from Karzai’s house“.

Thanks for the note, Mark, and we’re glad you are enjoying your Sullivan Banjo!

Whiskey Bent Valley Boys stop by First Quality Music

Travis Cook — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:11:46 +0000

The Whiskey Bent Valley Boys, a local group known for their high-energy performances of classic bluegrass tunes, stopped by today before heading out on a tour of the surrounding states. They were absent their fiddler, but they grabbed some instruments off the walls and agreed to play for us.

You can learn more about the Whiskey Bent Valley Boys, and check out their schedule of performances, at http://www.whiskeybentvalley.com

Aaron Thomas drops by to try out the Sullivan Vintage-35

Murrell Thixton — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:01:30 +0000

Aaron Thomas was in the showroom this week from Washington, IN and was kind enough to try out one of the new Sullivan Historic Vintage-35 Banjo Prototypes. We debuted this Banjo at IBMA and will have more information on it in the coming weeks – for now, the sound speaks for itself! He’s a great picker and in the video below performs a wonderful and unique version of “What a friend we have in Jesus”. Thanks for stopping by, Aaron!

Shady Grove stops by First Quality Music

Travis Cook — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:48:15 +0000

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!

Impromptu Jam at First Quality Music

Travis Cook — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:53:07 +0000

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!

The FQMS Signature Wall

Travis Cook — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:18:20 +0000

I was walking around the building today when I got to really thinking about the history written all over First Quality’s walls. When you walk into our showroom, you’ll notice that behind the instruments our walls are covered in hundreds of signatures from visitors and musicians from around the world.

We thought we’d showcase a small portion of the more ‘famous’ signatures on our walls – and invite you to drop in and check it out for yourself!