The Grammer Guitar

Below are some great links to the Grammer guitar, Billy Grammer, the Opry, and Country music. The site has really come along since it was started. I've corresponded with lots of Grammer guitar enthusiasts. The guitar was written up in Vintage Guitar magazine - a great article written by George Gruhn and Walter Carter. Grammer guitars are sought after and prices have risen steadily from year to year.

I'm still collecting serial and model numbers and have an extensive list going. If you have an Ampeg era Grammer, please contact me. I can add your guitars model and serial number to my list. It would be great if the folks who had any affiliation with Grammer guitars would share their stories.

gilhooly@grammerguitar.net

Check out Butch Moore's super collection of Grammer Guitars. Not only does he have a Merle Haggard, but also a split model, a Stars and Stripes, and a 12 string:

http://webpages.charter.net/manomusic/grammer.html

There are some more great photo's of the 1966 DJ Convention on Larry Reid's Webshot's page. Larry & Phyllis are Clyde Reid's children and they posted all these great photos for everyone to enjoy:

http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/556338405PQjEVO?track_pagetag=/ page/photo/entertainment/entertainment&track_action=/MediaInfo/ AlbumTitle

Thanks to Jack Stoner who worked at the Nashville Showroom and knew what went on at the end. You can read about Jack or get in touch with him through Gulf Coast Steel Guitar.

http://www.gulfcoaststeelguitar.com/

Thanks to Al Dauray who was very helpful guiding me through the Ampeg days.

http://www.manleylabs.com/galleria/ampeg.html

Thanks to Gregg Hopkins, author of Ampeg - The Story Behind the Sound.

http://vintage-amp.com/ampegbk.htm

Thanks to Steve Weiss, Director, and Kelly Kress, who take care of the Southern Folklife Collection at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. This is where the Guthrie T. Meade Collection resides, and where I was able to find Country Song Roundup Magazine number 88 which had part two of the Billy Grammer autobiography from 1965. These nice folks sent me photocopies of the text which I would still be looking for. You can read about Gus Meade at:

http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/sfc1/hillbilly/HTML/Biographies/bio_Meade.htm

Be sure to check out George Gollin's great site on the Gower guitar. You can find many Grammer guitar enthusiasts here as well as photo's of their guitars:

http://www.hep.uiuc.edu/home/g-gollin/guitar/

Thanks to Turtle Hill Banjo Company for the great photo of the early Grammer guitar with the mustache bridge. It's not for sale since one of there savvy employees snapped it up long ago.

http://www.turtlehillbanjo.com/

Thanks to Bobbi Geyer who is the proud owner of the Grammer guitar shown on the Gallery page and the Turtle Hill website. There are more photos of this guitar in the Specs section. Check out the Windy Strings website for all your banjo needs.

http://www.windystrings.com/index.htm

Other Related Links

Here is Billy's obituary in The Southern:

http://thesouthern.com/news/local/article_f552dbce-c3d0-11e0-858b-001cc4c002e0.html

Here is Billy's death notice on the Opry site:

http://www.opry.com/news/2011/08-10.html

Here is the CMT page on Billy:

http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/grammer_billy/bio.jhtml

Billy's Wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Grammer

Here is the article from the Southern about the Johnny Cash Grammer guitar:

http://www.southernillinoisan.com/articles/2004/12/08/top/ doc41b6f6dfc5a17808188245.txt

Check out the National Music Museum and their beautiful Grammer guitars:

http://www.usd.edu/smm/PluckedStrings/Guitars/Grammer/6763/ 6763GrammerGuitar.html

This is Web Pierce's custom made Grammer:

http://www.usd.edu/smm/PluckedStrings/Guitars/Grammer/10771/ 10771GrammerGuitar.html

Billy's custom made Gibson ES-335:

http://orgs.usd.edu/nmm/PluckedStrings/Guitars/Gibson/6762/GrammerGuitar .html

VintAxe.com has the Grammer Guitar Inc., catalog available for downloading:

http://www.vintaxe.com/

Here is a site on Little Roy Wiggins:

http://www.well.com/user/wellvis/wiggins.html

Colonel Buster Doss who managed just about everyone including Billy:

http://www.stardustcountrymusic.com/History.htm

Heritage Guitars in Kalamzoo Michigan makes a Billy Grammer model:

http://www.heritageguitar.com/

Gruhn Guitars on Broadway in Nashville may just have a Grammer for sale. Also thanks to George for his encouragment from the get go:

http://www.gruhn.com/

Gregs Guitars - Greg is a Grammer Guitar enthusiast and usually has several Grammer's for sale:

http://www.gregsguitars.net/vintage_acoustic_guitars.php

Grand Ole Opry

http://www.opry.com/

Crafters of Tennessee

http://www.crafterstn.com/

Here is the Amazon.com link to the Bob Wills 100th Birthday album containing Turkey Texas Blues:

http://www.amazon.com/Bob-Wills-Tribute-100th-Birthday/dp/B000BFNZDS/sr= 1-1/qid=1170456922/ref=sr_1_1/105-3314557-6186814?ie=UTF8&s=music

Reference Material

Ampeg - the Story Behind the Sound

By Gregg Hopkins and Bill Moore

Hal · Leonard Corporation

The History and Development of the American Guitar

By Ken Achard

The Bold Strummer LTD.

The Southern Folklife Collection

Guthrie T. Meade Collection

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Vintage Guitar Magazine

George Gruhn & Walter Carter

August 2009, Volume 23, No. 10

Special Thanks

A very special thanks to Billy and Ruth Grammer for everything they've done and contributed. They are truly the best kind of people. Billy and Ruth lived the story and Billy tells it how it was/is.

Thanks to Drew Morrison for his help throughout this project. Also for the great old RG&G catalog and the photo's of the nicest cleanest looking Grammer out there.

Thanks to my wife Cheryle for proofreading and editing the History section. Also for letting me take a few trips to southern Illinois and listening to me ramble on and on about Billy & Ruth and Grammer guitars.

Many thanks to Jim Gass, Jay Friedlander, and Vivek Dwivedi for the technical assistance.