What is there to do in Memphis?

[HANGAR18]

The wife and I will be driving through Memphis sometime this month and I'm basically wondering if the Gibson museum/tourist trap is worth seeing or not. I didn't see anything online about the factory tour (if there is such a thing). My two options are to spend one night in a hotel there and leave the next morning or stay an extra day to see the sights, which would require me to spend a second night in a Memphis hotel.

 

A thought did pop into my head which went something like "Hey, they sell guitars at the museum so maybe I can buy them cheaper there at the factory!" and then I snapped out of it and realized that this is Gibson we are talking about so they probably charge more than at the regular stores.

 

I love Elvis, but I don't have any interest in seeing Graceland.

 

 

[HANGAR18]

Oops, I need a Mod to move this to the correct section. Sorry.

[drfie]

Stay until next month and then attend the Beale Street Music Festival.

[dbetts41]

eat as much bbq as you can....

[JackBaruth]

I bought an ES-339 Figured there during a vicious and depressing weekend in Memphis once.

 

The good news is that they'll help you pick a good one.

 

The bad news is that the pricing is sky-high.

[squawken]

Go to Martin Music. Eric Martin is a great guy. Very honest and just a pleasure to talk to even if you don't buy a guitar

[drfie]

I stayed at a hotel right across the street from Gibson once. Awesome breakfast, best bacon I've ever tasted.

[602a]

Beale Street, Peabody Hotel, Rendezvous Ribs, best in Memphis, Graceland, Gibson USA, all the Music stores you could want and all the Blues and great music in the South. Gotta go to BB Kings Club on Beale too. Also take a 45 minute drive south on 61 to Clarksdale Miss and go to Delta Blues Museum

[drfie]

 

Yep. Peabody Hotel. Best breakfast in town.

[Thundersteel]

Years ago when I was there, I went to BB King's and had a good time. Jack is right, though--Gibbys are priced outrageously at the museum--full MSRP I believe. But you can see them making mandolins, and have an occasional TV interview show there. I took the factory tour, and was surprised at how fast the employees did their jobs--obviously to fulfill their quotas.

 

And about Graceland--let's just say that Elvis makes more money now than when he was alive. If you take the tour, they won't let you use flash, as they claim the light causes deterioration.

[zguitar71]

A must is the Stax museum. Sun records is not bad either. Central BBQ is great on Central Ave and across the street is Flashback for cool mid century clothes, furniture and shit. The P and H Cafe has some good music sometimes and so

does Newby's. Go to the Overton Park Shell for great outdoor stuff.

[Singerman]

Sun Records/Stax are very cool, lots of music history.

 

Interstate BBQ.

 

Beale Street is a lot more touristy than it used to be, but can still be fun. There's a little bar in the back of the Blues City Cafe, entrance off the side street. Mostly locals hang out there, a real hole-in-the-wall.

 

The Duck Walk at the Peabody gets really crowded, stake your ground early if you want a good view.

[HANGAR18]

Great ideas! Thanks all!

[yoslate]

A hearty vote for the Stax Museum! If you go, get a cab there and back. Memphis, as you might imagine, has some grinding poverty. The Stax place is in a very rough neighborhood. I think there's a "hands off" policy for the museum, but a block either way...? It's stunning to do the tour, then wind up in what was the movie theatre, backstage, which became the control room. The desk, all the old Scully tape machines...man! Then into the "room" (clap your hands and check out the acoustics; they're incredible!), where, in lucite cases, are Al Jackson's kit, Cropper's Tele, Duck's P bass, and Booker T's M-3. A must!

[yoslate]

The Blues City Cafe, on Beale, has a good and varied menu. The catfish dinner kills! You want to splurge? Flight, on Main Street has superb cuisine! Looking for a dive, off the beaten path, Bardog, on Monroe.

[JackBaruth]

I should have been more specific:

 

I paid $3400 for my ES-339 Figured against the MAP of $3299 at Sweetwater and others. But I didn't set out to buy an ES-339. I asked the shop foreman who was there that day to show me something he'd built lately that impressed him, and he took me directly to that guitar. It's a monster. I don't feel cheated.

 

When I was there, they had a Bloomfield sig for $6500. Knowing what I know now, I'd have bought that instead.

 

The last time I stopped by, they had the remaining Dusk Tigers for $2999. That's not bad, really.

[HANGAR18]

I should have been more specific:

 

I paid $3400 for my ES-339 Figured against the MAP of $3299 at Sweetwater and others. But I didn't set out to buy an ES-339. I asked the shop foreman who was there that day to show me something he'd built lately that impressed him, and he took me directly to that guitar. It's a monster. I don't feel cheated.

 

When I was there, they had a Bloomfield sig for $6500. Knowing what I know now, I'd have bought that instead.

 

The last time I stopped by, they had the remaining Dusk Tigers for $2999. That's not bad, really.

 

That seems perfectly reasonable.

[Memphis]

Oh I dunno........maybe stop in at a fellow HOC member's house, chill out for a bit, play a few guitars, and drink a few beers.... Then perhaps he could show you around town....the ups and the downs

[Jmay]

The restaurant above BB Kings, the Civil Rights Museum, ride the trolley for a buck….

[duaneallen]

I'd love to check out the Gibson Memphis factory. They still can make some good ones there....

[Rod]

I live a couple of hours from Memphis and have spent a little time there. Toured the Gibson factory several years ago and found that to be worthwhile. Visited the store there as recently as a couple of months ago and didn't find it to be anything special. After seeing the other posts on this topic I'll have to check out the Stax museum. I've never been. I have been to Sun Studios. Some history there... Elvis, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis. It's OK, but not anything that'll blow you away. Be aware, it's only a few blocks from the rescue mission.

 

If you stay at The Peabody (a beautiful historic hotel) you'll be right at Beale Street and the Rendezvous (renowned BBQ joint) and a short walk to the Gibson plant.

 

(Username Memphis should correct me on this if I'm wrong) From my own personal opinion as an occasional visitor, the Beale St. area of Memphis seems to have deteriorated substantially over the past 10 years or so. Maybe not physically deteriorated, it's just that I feel less safe there than I used to. There's an inner-city feel there that I didn't used to get quite so strongly. Maybe it's just me. The Beale St. Music Festival is just a no-go for me anymore, regardless of who's playing.

 

On a more positive note, if you can catch a good concert at The Orpheum you will be likely be impressed!

[HANGAR18]

The wife and I started out across the country about 5 days ago and we're currently in a very remote part of Arizona. We've been busy every day so I haven't had time to keep up with all the threads here lately. Tombstone was about an hour and a half away so we went there yesterday. (See photos.) That was fun!

 

We will be taking a tour of the Gibson tourist trap in Memphis TN on Saturday April 19th, the first tour of the day. If there are any HOC members in the area who would like to meet up with Christine and I for the tour (it costs $10.00) that would be groovy. At some point we are going to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe on Beale Street and then go to bed early in preperation for the long drive back to Virginia.

[schundog]

I know this was an unplanned trip, and I hope the situation with your family is OK, Danny. Regardless of the circumstances, it sounds like a pretty cool road trip; After reading through this thread, now "I" want to go to Memphis, too!

 

Edit to add: my 2006 Gibson ES-335 Memphis Reissue was built in that plant, and it's an excellent guitar; I just had to play 8 or 9 of them in different stores before I found "the one."

[Redsand]

Looks and sounds like a classic American road trip Danny!

 

Have you had a chance to do any "picking" out the in the Heartland?

 

Best of luck out there Hombre!!!! We'll be relieved to hear you've made it back to VA safely.

[HANGAR18]

Well, today I learned that Gibson has three factories. My wife and I toured the one one Beale Street in Memphis this morning as previously mentioned. The Memphis factory does hollow and semi-hollow body guitars, the Nashville factory makes solid body guitars and there is another one Bozeman Montanna where they make acoustics. I like the Heritage guitar factory better.

 

I almost made it out of there without buying a souvineer. The tour was in the morning and I made it all the way to the hotel room after the tour. We even stopped at the Central BBQ place for lunch. But as the day progressed, I started getting very restless and so we returned to the Gibson gift shop with less than an hour before they closed so I could take another look at this 2014 Les Paul Traditional that I had my eye on the first time I was there. Oh the humanity! Me of all people, buying a Gibson! I pulled the trigger with about 12 minutes left to spare before they closed. I'm having the guitar shipped to me in Virginia so that I can avoid the $260.00 in Tennessee sales tax. I'll post a NGD after I get it home. I'm sure I'll catch heck from RB69 and Slammer for buying a Gibson but this one is actually sort of nice. I'll get another Heritage next time. I promise.

 

For supper we were going to go to the Hard Rock Cafe on Beale Street but there was a big name act playing there and we decided to get supper elsewhere. It worked out just fine because we wound up going to BB King's Blues Club and had a good time. $3.00 cover and I didn't catch the name of the band playing there. Beale Street had a festival going on called Africa in April or something like that. I really enjoyed the warm weather and all the hot pants (Daisy Dukes, short-shorts, booty shorts... whatever you call them). Does that make me a bad person? hahaha

 

We are leaving Memphis tomorrow morning and intend on driving back to Northern Virginia all in one day.