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When I moved to Nashville in 1985 I took a job working for Gruhn guitars
until I could establish a place to build my own guitars and be on my own. I
brought with me, from my previous residence in Wisc., a steel string guitar
that I had made that had been inlayed by Grit Laskin in Toronto, the
brilliant artrist many of you have seen in magazines. I was talking to Jerry
Roberts one day and he suggested we take this wonderful piece of art down and
show it to Chet.
It was a quick visit. Chet was meeting with Gibson president Bruce Bolen and
he came down to see the guitar and greeted us, but was obviously busy and
excused himself to finish his business with Bruce.
As the next few years went by I did establish myself here and Chet became
familiar with my work through Muriel Anderson and also John Knowles, who took
a guitar of mine to Chet as a favor. I don't know if Chet remembers our
first meeting but in 1990 I was making a video for my business and Muriel
asked me if I'd like to go down to his office with her before we did her
shoot. Chet asked Muriel who was with her and when she said my name Chet
came right at me with such an appreciative look and said " I've been waiting
to meet you, you do such fantastic work." He spent the next half hour it
seemed quizing me on my knowledge of guitars. We spent about two hours with
Chet that day, I think he spent about half that time with Marcel Dadi on the
phone. When we left Muriel was teasing me about how I was the only one who
got to talk to him. I felt anointed by a legend, and for all the things Chet
has done for me over the years, I have been truely blessed. Thank you Chet.
- Paul McGill
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