jdaunt Posted April 30, 2014 Posted April 30, 2014 Hi everyone, this is Josh Daunt, I'm a photojournalist with ABC12 News in Flint, Michigan. We are featuring Heritage Guitars during our 6 o'clock newscast tonight, April 30th, as part of our Made In Michigan series. We have 3 minute story by reporter Marc Jacobson running on the newscast (which can be streamed at www.abc12.com) and I put together a behind the scenes story with Marv showing the us much of the process they go through while building the guitars at the old Gibson factory which will be put online later tonight, as will the full on-air story too (I'll post a direct link once it's up). Hope you enjoy it! It was surreal getting the chance to walk around in that building knowing the history of what has come out of it over the years.
fxdx99 Posted April 30, 2014 Posted April 30, 2014 Thanks for the alert, Josh. Look forward to the link for on line viewing.
Gitfiddler Posted April 30, 2014 Posted April 30, 2014 Cool!! We love stories about our favorite US factory. Looking forward to seeing it.
FredZepp Posted April 30, 2014 Posted April 30, 2014 http://www.abc12.com/story/25393065/made-in-michigan-heritage-guitars?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=10109008 http://www.abc12.com/story/25393065/made-in-michigan-heritage-guitars Heritage Guitars is now in it's thirtieth year. It was founded by four former Gibson employees who quite simply didn't want to move. James Deurloo, Bill Paige, JP Motes and Marvin Lamb had a simple mission - to help keep Michigan's music scene alive and to keep Michigan residents employed. "That's one of the most important things to me. We're not General Motors and we can't pay the wages of General Motors, but the people we have here are making a paycheck," Lamb said. While the name is different, a few things remain the same. Heritage currently employs a staff of 16 and prides itself in being known as a small company that makes custom made guitars. Each one takes between 8-14 hours to make - all by hand, with a retail price ranging from $3,000 - $8,000. Back in the day, Heritage produced more than 1,200 guitars a year. Right now, that number's down to around 800, but after some tough times, thanks to the Internet, sales are rising."We ship to Russia, we ship to China, we ship to Hong Kong, we ship to Korea," Lamb said.
brentrocks Posted April 30, 2014 Posted April 30, 2014 Thanks Josh! You did a great job!!! I have to chuckle though when I hear Marv say, "...hopefully we can get someone in here to keep things going that loves it as much as we do..."
rstein Posted April 30, 2014 Posted April 30, 2014 What is the special edition they are making only 40 of?
jdaunt Posted May 1, 2014 Author Posted May 1, 2014 Somebody beat me to posting the link! Glad you guys enjoyed the stories. The special edition is H-157 i believe, it's the black Les Paul-like guitar he talks about toward the end of the story, he talks a little about it in the Behind The Scenes video too.
buzzy Posted May 1, 2014 Posted May 1, 2014 That was great! Good people and a fine craft. I really appreciate the video.
skydog52 Posted May 1, 2014 Posted May 1, 2014 Thanks for sharing this. It's always fun to hear their story and the Made in Michigan theme.
DavesNotHere Posted May 1, 2014 Posted May 1, 2014 What a wonderful piece Josh! Even having toured the shop several times, I never get tired of hearing the Heritage story as told by one of the founders. "Johnny Cash, he was here, I rolled his guitar neck for him," said Marvin Lamb, co-owner of Heritage Guitars It still amazes me that Marv also personally made several of my guitars.
BillyTwang Posted May 1, 2014 Posted May 1, 2014 This was top notch! Both videos were very insightful.
Vanschoyck Posted May 1, 2014 Posted May 1, 2014 Thanks for posting those so we could see them from the far off places!
Spectrum13 Posted May 1, 2014 Posted May 1, 2014 This was top notch! Both videos were very insightful. + 00 Thanks for letting us know about this...
smaj Posted May 1, 2014 Posted May 1, 2014 Thanks Josh! You did a great job!!! I have to chuckle though when I hear Marv say, "...hopefully we can get someone in here to keep things going that loves it as much as we do..." Sounds like a beautiful spot for you Brent!
Redsand Posted May 1, 2014 Posted May 1, 2014 "...hopefully we can get someone in here to keep things going that loves it as much as we do..." ooh.........pick me. pick me!!!! I'd kill to earn my keep building and selling Heritage guitars for the next 30 yrs!!!
BillyTwang Posted May 2, 2014 Posted May 2, 2014 Green Oak Guitar has posted this on the Gbase site. There is also a photo. What is the special edition they are making only 40 of?
Spectrum13 Posted May 2, 2014 Posted May 2, 2014 Really a double anniversery. The LP Custom with Les Paul and Ted Mcarty was in 1954 so that was 60 years ago. Heritage is 30 years so more like a 60/30 Great Guitar BTW
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.