Gruhn Guitars

By Joan Tupponce

November 1st, 2009

There are few people who can boast that their clients include everyone from the legendary George Harrison to film star Steven Seagal. George Gruhn, owner of Gruhn Guitars in Nashville, Tenn., is one of those select few.

Gruhn’s four-story retail establishment at 400 Broadway is probably the most well-known vintage guitar shop in the world, drawing guitar collectors from around the globe. They come to not only search through the store’s unique selection of guitars, but also to tap into the knowledge base of its eclectic owner.

“George is the guru,” observes Rick Nielsen, lead guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for the rock band Cheap Trick. “He’s the man with the most knowledge.”

Since their first meeting in 1970, Nielsen has purchased more than 100 guitars from Gruhn. He often performs with a new Gruhn model electric guitar that Gruhn designed himself.

Nielsen recalls the one purchase that has meant the most to him as a collector. “I had been looking for over 30 years for a 1963 Guild Merle Travis model. Only three had been made,” Nielsen says. “Six to seven years ago George found one for me and was willing to let my checkbook open up and now I have it.”

Gruhn first became interested in guitars in high school when several of his friends began playing the instrument. That time period, from 1959 to 1963, heralded a great folk boom with singers such as Joan Baez and the Kingston Trio heading the play list. “That’s when I developed an interest in the music, but I didn’t play then,” Gruhn says. “I listened to my friends talk about the music and the instruments.”

His freshman year at the University of Chicago, 1963, was a “hotbed of musical activity.” The school had a folklore society and an annual folk festival. “I got to meet people into music as well as academics,” he says.

The school was in walking distance of several pawn shops, as well as The Fret Shop, which sold used guitars. “There were a lot of bargains,” Gruhn says. “At the time a pre-war Martin D-28 was $300. Today that guitar could cost over $100,000.”

A shrewd wheeler-and-dealer even then, Gruhn would take the money his parents gave him each month for living expenses and spend it on guitars. “I would sell them in a week and have all the money they gave me back and I would have guitars left over,” he recalls. “I wanted to make sure the money for my education was still there.”

At the time, Gruhn was searching for pre-World War II Martins. For every one he would turn up, he would find dozens of other deals on instruments he didn’t necessarily want for himself. “I could flip them and get enough money to buy or trade for things I wanted to keep,” he says.

Gruhn met a variety of performers during his college days. He found that many of them were interested in buying used or vintage instruments. “As long as I had good instruments I could get backstage and see anybody,” he says. “A pre-World War II Martin D-45 got you a backstage pass anywhere.” Because there were only 91 Martin D-45s made from 1933 until they were discontinued in 1942, collectors would pay $1,500 for the model. Today they can bring in more than $350,000.

At the same time he was learning about music, Gruhn was feeding his interest in zoology. Gruhn graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in ethology, a field of psychology that applies to animal behavior. He started collecting insects when he was only 4 years old and has since collected everything from a gray-banded king snake to African serval cats. He currently has 13 snakes, three lizards and a parrot in his office in addition to the eight cats – some exotic – that he has at home.

Gruhn had started graduate work at Duke University before transferring to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where his guitar sales soon turned into a full-fledged career. In 1968, he met Hank Williams Jr. The singer called him inquiring about some older Martin guitars and immediately drove from Nashville to Knoxville to meet Gruhn. “He showed up in a Jaguar E,” recalls Gruhn. “He brought one guitar to trade and got three instruments.” The next day he showed up again, this time in a Cadillac Eldorado. When he left, the car was filled with guitars.

Williams suggested to Gruhn that he move to Nashville and start a business. Gruhn liked the idea and dropped out of school to make the move. After a short time in Nashville, Gruhn met Roy Acuff and began selling him instruments for his collection. A friendship formed and Acuff started introducing Gruhn to several Grand Ole Opry performers.

As the years went by, Gruhn’s reputation grew, as did his client list, which has included musical greats such as Johnny Cash, Ricky Skaggs, Eric Clapton, Emmylou Harris, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Neil Young, Graham Nash and Stephen Stills.

Ranger Doug of “America’s Favorite Cowboys,” Riders in the Sky, can attest to Gruhn’s notoriety. “If you play a guitar, you have heard of George and his store,” he says, adding that Gruhn’s selection of vintage guitars is “jaw-dropping.” Over the years Doug has collected every Stromberg guitar model that has been made. He bought several at Gruhn’s store.

“George always has something that amazes me, something that I drool over,” Doug says. “He gets the cream of the crop. Because he is the leader in his field, if someone is looking to sell something, he’s the guy to go to.”

Gruhn’s customers also include collectors who are not professional musicians, such as best-selling novelist Jonathan Kellerman. “Many of my best customers are collectors who are quite anonymous,” he says.

The guitars that Gruhn sells are more than simple instruments. “They have soul and personality,” he says. “It’s almost like they are alive. When you pick one up and play a good one, it really does come to life. It becomes a partner with the player.”

He likens the experience to test driving a vehicle. “You can’t judge its performance by seeing it parked,” he says. “It’s only when you get behind the wheel that you can feel the true performance and capability. It feels like an extension of you.”

Gruhn believes that if a guitar is properly built, it can last for at least two centuries. “There are plenty of violins that have been played for over 200 years,” Gruhn says. “Some are 300 years old. It’s fascinating when you think how long these things last.”

Great vintage guitars are like pieces of art, he adds. “They have beautiful wood, beautiful inlay and beautiful craftsmanship. The design of a good guitar can be quite inspirational. Ten different guys can play it and it will inspire each to play it differently.”

Guitars evoke the senses. “You can see it, feel it and hear it,” Gruhn says. “When you play it, it’s a totally different experience than hearing someone else play it.”

Over the years, Gruhn has written several books about guitars, including “Gruhn’s Guide to Vintage Guitars.” He maintains that it takes three elements to create a good guitar: design, great structure/workmanship and great materials. “Even if you’re not a fabulous player, if you pick up a phenomenal guitar you can feel the difference,” he says.

His most memorable sale: Maybelle Carter’s Gibson L-5 acoustic guitar, made in 1928. “I sold it for $575,000,” he says. “It’s now in the Country Music Hall of Fame. I view that as the single most important guitar in the history of country music.”

Country superstar Vince Gill has bought “not enough and way too many” guitars over the years. “The first call I make when I want to know something about a guitar is to George,” he says. “He will tell me what to look for.”

Gill recently purchased an 1868 Martin parlor guitar from Gruhn, who brought it to the singer while he was performing at the Grand Ole Opry. There is one guitar from Gruhn’s store that Gill values over all the others in his collection. He had stopped into the store a while back and was playing a Martin 000-28 with a sunburst finish from 1937.

“I was completely nuts about it,” he recalls. “I played it for a couple of hours.” When he finished he handed it back to Gruhn, saying that he wasn’t sure he needed the guitar. The next day he changed his mind and called, only to find out the guitar had already been sold.

“I was crushed,” Gill says. About two months later, Gill’s wife, Amy Grant, gave him the guitar for his birthday. She had secretly bought it from Gruhn. “I opened my birthday present and it was that guitar. I had let it get away and there it was. I play it a lot.”

Nielsen believes that the vintage guitars Gruhn sells are supposed to be played. “I don’t just collect for the sake of collecting. I am a musician,” he says, adding, “One-half of the great guitars in the world have passed through Gruhn in Nashville.”