Interview with George Gruhn

George Gruhn moved to Nashville in 1969 after getting his bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago and doing graduate work at Duke University and the University of Tennessee. In 1970, he established Gruhn Guitars, which is one of the largest dealers of vintage and used instruments in the world. The store buys, sells, consigns, trades and appraises fretted instruments and houses one of the world's premier vintage and used collections including classic Gibson, Fender, Martin, Epiphone, Gretsch and National instruments as well as a wide selection of new instruments from Martin, Taylor, Collings, and others.

"Guitars, which I feel are the ultimate collectible, can be looked at, touched, listened to, and played. At the same time they are beautiful pieces of art that can be appreciated on so many levels. A guitar responds to the individual player and sounds completely different when you play it than when you listen to someone else play it. There is, therefore, greater depth of appreciation with musical instruments than with almost any other collectible, perhaps even more than with painting and sculpture." - George Gruhn 

George is the co-author of Gruhn's Guide to Vintage Guitars, which is the comprehensive field guide to vintage fretted instruments, and the companion volumes Acoustic Guitars and Other Fretted Instrumentsand Electric Guitars and Basses. These books chronicle the history of American stringed instruments. His articles are published in numerous magazines.

Gruhn Guitars is located at 2120 8th Avenue South in Nashville. Visit the store online at www.guitars.com