What's new with the historic Gibson plant!!

[Marty Grass]

For several years Kalamazoo has been planning a tourist type site honoring the old Gibson plant, where Heritage is now. The current projection is a $65M investment in a restaurant, hotel, and museum.

225 Parsons Street is not in a upscale part of Kalamazoo. It's a challenge to create space for expansion, the renovation and new building, and security.

I grew up in Kalamazoo. The Gibson workers were blue collar everyday people. They ran into some of the finest musicians at the factory fairly often. One guy I knew was told to take this rack of guitars and let the guy in the next room try them out. To his surprise it was Eric Clapton. Eric kept trying to get the guy to jam with him. He wouldn't out of profound fear of embarrassment. BB King, Ted Nugent, Johnny Smith, Roy Clark and many, many more showed up from time to time.

Musicians who perform these days in Kalamazoo commonly comment on how proud we must be to live in the home of Gibson. Last week Graham Nash expressed some awe over that.

Anyway, here's the news on the 225 Parsons plans.

$65M Hard Rock Hotel project rolls forward in Kalamazoo, but behind schedule - mlive.com

[Marty Grass]

They are probably counting on tourists looking at guitars made for all the artists over the years, possibly with video interviews.

There are also many possibilities for videos of the old days.

[tomvwash]

For several years Kalamazoo has been planning a tourist type site honoring the old Gibson plant, where Heritage is now. The current projection is a $65M investment in a restaurant, hotel, and museum.

225 Parsons Street is not in a upscale part of Kalamazoo. It's a challenge to create space for expansion, the renovation and new building, and security.

I grew up in Kalamazoo. The Gibson workers were blue collar everyday people. They ran into some of the finest musicians at the factory fairly often. One guy I knew was told to take this rack of guitars and let the guy in the next room try them out. To his surprise it was Eric Clapton. Eric kept trying to get the guy to jam with him. He wouldn't out of profound fear of embarrassment. BB King, Ted Nugent, Johnny Smith, Roy Clark and many, many more showed up from time to time.

Musicians who perform these days in Kalamazoo commonly comment on how proud we must be to live in the home of Gibson. Last week Graham Nash expressed some awe over that.

Anyway, here's the news on the 225 Parsons plans.

$65M Hard Rock Hotel project rolls forward in Kalamazoo, but behind schedule - mlive.com

What a legacy, Marty. No wonder I'm always on the lookout for a Gibson or Heritage. Are you still living in Kalamazoo?

[ccroft]

Thanks for the vids MG. I seem to run into the shop tour every couple years and love watching it every time. Playing guitars and wood-working is pretty much my whole life.

1600 employees at it's peak. Man, that's a huge shop! I have a hard time imagining it.

[Marty Grass]

What a legacy, Marty. No wonder I'm always on the lookout for a Gibson or Heritage. Are you still living in Kalamazoo?

Yep!

[Marty Grass]

Thanks for the vids MG. I seem to run into the shop tour every couple years and love watching it every time. Playing guitars and wood-working is pretty much my whole life.

1600 employees at it's peak. Man, that's a huge shop! I have a hard time imagining it.

I can't independently confirm this, but one of the original Heritage factory owners told me that two phenomena pushed Gibson through the roof. The first was Elvis and the second was the Beatles. At the peak Gibson turned out 400 guitars a day at times. He also said that quality standards sometimes fell off due to demand.

In the first few years of Heritage, it was maybe 20 per day, 4 days a week. The factory would close during the first day of deer season and at other peculiar times.