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’ve got a really special consignment piece: a Santa Cruz Custom Dreadnought constructed from Brazilian Rosewood. This guitar was constructed in 1988 and is in pristine condition- it has settled in perfectly, offering great volume and tone!
We don’t have this guitar available on the web, so drop by or give Murrell a call at (800) 635-2021 Ext. 7156 for more 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.
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.
This week, we’re taking a look at a very special Gibson F-5 Master Model Mandolin signed by a late friend of ours, Charlie Derrington. Charlie was instrumental in bringing about the standard of excellence in the modern Gibson Mandolin, but was tragically taken from us in a motorcycle accident in 2006.
We’re gearing up to launch the new sullivanbanjo.com ASAP, but we thought we should share a bit more banjo news with you in the meantime. Eric & Co. have been working on this tone ring for over three years, when we began by acquiring a pre-war flathead, and we’re nearing the ‘end’.
We’re preparing to send six of these instruments out to professional pickers to gather feedback before we begin offering the final version. Much like the prototype seen in the videos below, we’re building these banjos to extremely tight pre-war standards. Everything from the neck profile to the finish are as close to matching the pre-war style as possible.
We won’t be offering these until they are finished, and we’re generally not talking about them – we just thought we’d give you a sneak peak. Stay tuned here, and at the new Sullivan Banjo site when it launches, to learn more.
Just wanted to share a little clip of the Weber F5 mandolin that a customer traded in to FQ. The mandolin has the following specs…
Adirondack Top
Bound F Holes
Maple Binding with Black and Ivory to create a thin black line
Yellowstone Fretboard
MOP/Abalone
Antique Tobacco Sunburst
Gold Hardware
The mandolin was built by Bruce Weber as the prize to the winner of the mandolin contest at Winfield, Ks. Give us a call if you’re interested, a really great sounding and great playing instrument.
Hey folks! Just wanted to drop by with a quick update on several happenings here at First Quality Music. We’ve had a lot going on the past few days, some of it pretty significant!
1) Twitter!
First Quality Music is now on Twitter! Check us out at http://www.twitter.com/1stqualitymusic – we’ll post things that don’t quite merit a full blog post, but are interesting nonetheless! We’re also looking at other endeavors into Social Media – feel free to give me an email at travis@fqms.com if you have any comments or ideas. Stay tuned!
2) The Laser We’ve purchased a laser engraving system from Universal Laser Systems. As you can see, many of us are taking a little break to watch this thing in action. There are a ton of implications for us here, from engraving instrument parts (Truss Rod covers, Banjo name blocks, etc…) to creating wooden or glass plaques. From what we’ve seen today, we’ll be able to make a huge assortment of new, customized products for our customers. We’ll keep you posted on our progress as we learn how to use this thing, so stay posted!
3) Custom Color Matching
Also thought that we would share with you some of the custom work being done in our shop. Today when I went back to see what was going on, Tim was working on a fairly interesting banjo neck. A customer sent us an imported resonator and asked that we create a banjo around it. Check out what Tim has done so far, having matched the colors and the shade of the pearl inlay.
4) The Banjo Room Friends of First Quality Music know that we were originally founded as a banjo supply company, and create the Sullivan Banjo line here at our retail showroom. So, what happens when you combine First Quality Music with an empty room in our building? Something amazing. We’ve collected many amazing banjos and artifacts through the years(Such as our sizable collected of pre-war banjo necks), and have decided to create a haven for the many banjo players who visit us every day. Again, stay posted for more updates on this project!
5) And of course, the same ol’ thing.
So much more to mention, a pre-war tone ring project, our old-growth mandolin, the new Sullivan Banjo site… the list goes on! But, we’re keeping ourselves busy with our true passion: serving our customers. I managed to catch a spy shot of Murrell tuning a guitar while speaking with some customers today – stop by and see us!
The girls of Gold Heart and Dad Trent stopped into First Quality while on their way to the Bluegrass Festival in Henderson, Kentucky. Wow!!! Can these girls pick and sing!! It’s Analise on mandolin, Jocelyn on guitar and Shelby on fiddle. We appreciate Analise pickin’ a tune on our Old Growth Gibson Mandolin, I’m pretty sure she liked it! Heck they even let the me pick a tune with them before they had to go (I appreciate it). Thanks to the Gold family for sharing their wonderful music with us. Hope you enjoy the videos, be sure to check out these girls when they’re in your area you’ll love them.
The much anticipated Eric Clapton Limited Edition 00028 Madagascar Martin Guitars arrived at First Quality Music yesterday. This edition size of 461 total pieces was an instant sell out at the 2009 Winter Namm show. Each guitar’s label was personally signed by Eric Clapton himself. Part of our allotment of these fine guitars were pre sold but the final two, (one Natural and one Sunburst) hit our showroom today. Please visit the First Quality Music Website for detail information and specs. For those who wish to watch a video, First Quality’s very own Murrell Thixton does a brief demo for you to enjoy. For additional information feel free to call First Quality Music at 800.635.2021 and ask for Murrell, JC or Jeff.
We’ve been asked on many occasions to shoot some videos of our Sullivan Festival Banjo line, well Murrell and I finally got around to shoot some on the Festival Jam in both Mahogany and Maple, the Festival Deluxe, the Festival Custom and the Festival Pro. Hope you enjoy.
