Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 121, No. 82, Ed. 1 Sunday, October 12, 2003 Page: 49 of 58
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Polk County Newspapers and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Livingston Municipal Library.
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“Guitars are like shoes. One fits one guy, one f
another. I prefer Gibson. In my opinion, then
not a better guitar made."
—Charlie Dani<
A dozen years ago, unemployed with limited oppor-
tunities. he had taken up crafting instruments—fiddles
and guitars—in his workshop to pass the time
Now here s the |xirt where some people with lesser faith
might view his story with raised eyebrows. Hill says.
I was upstairs and it came to me like, like a calling
from the Master: You need to call Gibson Guitar."
So that's what he did. I lill grabbed an old Nashville,
Tenn., phone book, brought with them after an unsuc-
cessful lour-month trv at fame in Music City, and turned
to the Gs."
"I remember )ust like it was yesterday 1 say. I d like
to speak to the purchasing manager in the wotid shop.
Now where that came from in mv brain 1 don’t know
because 1 had no idea what I was going to say when
someone answered. Hill retails.
His tall was transferred. A woman answered. "I asked
her it thev were interested in buying any hard rock curly.
The woman put the phone down and asked her boss
the same question. In a moment. I lill was
talking curb with an excited vvtxxl buyer,
who was very interested in what the Vir-
ginian had to offer. The Gibson man want-
ed a sample. 8 inches-by-22 inches, planet!
smooth
“That's when 1 got kind of nervous,
because, taith be told. I didn't have a piece
to send him,’ he remembers with a laugh.
But Hill had an idea where to ltxik.
"Me and mv wife went way back on this
mountain and saw a man who had some
I card rock curly maple up in his ham where
it had been for years. I bought it from him tor 525," the
wood hunter says.
He sent the slab to Nashville and waited a few days.
1 le got his answer soon enough. The curly was excellent;
could he fill an order for 1 I mure'
He replied "yes," but had no idea whom he’d find
trees to fill the order.
I went back on this mountain tor 35 miles to get one
piece. How was 1 going to get 1 I more'" he remembers
asking himself.
“Gibson was
my first guitar,
the very first
instrument I put
in my hands.
Forty some
years later, I still
play one on
stage. They're
timeless.’’
—Vince Gill
The answer was found by driving his tour-wheel-drive
Blazer through the mountains of Dickenson County,
talking to logging friends he knew and becoming
acquainted With others. A few days into his search,
a logger directed him to a pair of cut maple trees.
"Now not every maple has the curly grain, ” Hill says,
in fact, some scientists estimate this prized grain, which
is actually a deformity, occurs in only about one half of 1
|iercent of all maple trees. Each curly maple
barrel is unique, with no two exactly alike.
When Hill removed a section of bark on
these trees, however, it was one of those eureka
moments. “The curly grain just jumped out at
me. 1 was excited, he recalls.
Hill was also broke.
But he had a deal to offer the logger: his
four-wheel-drive truck tor the two logs. A
handshake sealed the transaction. Hill could
supply his first order.
“Man, those logs were beautiful."
Of course, that led to another Gibson order,
and another, and another.
"I’ve been hunting curly ever since," he says.
Gen initially questioned his new profession, especial-
ly when he bought a sawmill and planer that put them
in debt, but she’s come around since then.
"1 couldn't have clone it without her, that's for sure,
especially during those days when we were working with
a S-KXi-a-month payment and a prayer," he says.
The pair has traveled Virginia and surrounding states
on a curly quest, talking to landowners and loggers, stop-
ping at wood yards to examine logs, putting out the
word they pay gtxxl money tor curly maple
“People think I lead a ciiarmecl life, staving in the
wcxxls ltxiking for curly maple, but it hasn't made me a
rich man, |ust a comfortable living for my family.” he
says. In addition to he and Geri. his daughter and son-in-
law, Christy and Steve Mullins, also work in the business.
But. he admits, the business ckx-s have its perks. He.s
met many of the stars who use guitars made from the
vvixxl he supplies
“What I reallv get out of the business is an opportu-
mtv to enjoy the beauty of the wood, to work with it and
feel it. and know that it's going to be used on an instru-
ment that will make gtxxl music," he says.
Recently, he learned that Vince Gill used a Gibson
guitar made from Hill s curly maple while performing on
the Country Music Association awards telecast.
“I remember that piece of wood, kept it under
mv bed tor six months because it gist had a special
feel to it." Hill says.
“When I heard it was on the CM A show I was tick-
led to death. It made mv day." ^
Stephen Lew AlligouJ lives and unto in Tninessa.
Chris Roberts proudly airplays a new finishing technique.
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White, Barbara. Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 121, No. 82, Ed. 1 Sunday, October 12, 2003, newspaper, October 12, 2003; Livingston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth790198/m1/49/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 13, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Livingston Municipal Library.