Memphis Gibson Research Paper

The Memphis Gibson Guitar Factory Memphis is the city of blues. Being known for having artist such as B.B. King and Elvis, music is just part of the city. One company that ties it all together is the Gibson Guitar Factory. The Memphis Gibson, provides one of the many contributing factors to the cities music. With the beautiful sounds that the guitars provides, Memphis would be completely different without it. The company itself has proved to be a huge success, with only a few setbacks of course. The factory provides tours to the public, beautifully constructed guitars, and music for all to hear. The Memphis Gibson plants is one of three factories in the U.S. (“Interesting Insights”). Being built in 2001, this is the youngest of the Gibson plants (Mckenzie). Located one block from central Beale Street, this is a widely recognized factory. This is also the only factory that is open to tours in the whole world (“Interesting Insight”). Memphis is the perfect home for this factory, with all the history of music the city holds. With being one of the only guitar factories in the wold that allows tours, Gibson has made it very enjoyable. With a ten dollar entry fee and the requirement of eye wear, the tourist are able to see how the process of making the famous guitars (“Interesting Insight”). Upon entering, there is a vast display of custom guitars

Nagel sold ebony wood from, “the grey market”. Four shipments of ebony wood were made for the Memphis factory (Revkin, Andrew). The ebony wood from Madagascar, was now being built into guitar fingerboards. Six other guitars in the Nashville plant contained traces of ebony as well. On August 24, 2011, the Memphis Gibson Guitar Factory was shut down for investigation. This violated the Lacey Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife shut down the Memphis location until the investigation was complete (McKenzie,