Very few Nashville musicians escaped Mother
Nature’s wrath in May when flood waters rose
52 feet above normal in the time it takes to
listen to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.
Located on the banks of the Cumberland
River, Soundcheck is a sprawling complex
housing many rehearsal spaces and storage
facilities for a host of musicians, ranging from
session men to outright superstars. A virtual
who’s who of the music industry lost priceless
guitars and vintage amps in the flood.
After being submerged in flood waters for several days,
many acoustics, like this Takamine, fell apart at the seams.
For those of us who had equipment stowed
at the facility, seeing what happens to a guitar or amplifier after it has been submerged
in sewage-laced water for five days was hard
to bear. The water was particularly brutal to
acoustic guitars. Taylors, Takamines, Gibsons,
and Martins all split apart like a Hollywood
marriage. Vintage cases—worth hundreds
themselves—crumbled in our hands, while
amplifiers rusted and molded within days of
their rescue from the muck. Many of these
guitars have been played on now-famous
recordings and most have traveled the globe
surviving heat, cold, and airline baggage handlers, only to meet their demise while resting
quietly along the Cumberland River.
I wrote my very first article for Premier Guitar
some time back on my guitar rig. It included
two Kustom 72 Coupe heads, one 4x12 Kustom
cabinet loaded with Celestions, a Roland GP-8,
a DigiTech IPS-33B harmonizer, and a Boss
SX-700 multi-effects processor. My amp rack
and cabinet were all lost to the rising water.
It was heartbreaking to see them ruined, and
even harder to throw them in the dumpster.
The good news was that several of my guitars
actually survived the ordeal. My Gibson Les
Paul Standard, which was repaired several
years ago after having its headstock broken
off by airline monkeys, is once again in the
capable hands of the Gibson Custom Shop to
be fixed. The body was still sound and mea
sured only 10 percent moisture, according to
a fancy gadget that looked very much like a
drywall hanger’s stud finder. Steve Christmas
with Gibson’s Custom Shop told me that normally when a guitar leaves the factory its moisture content is in the neighborhood of 5 to 8
percent, so mine fared pretty well at warding
off the moisture. Once it dries out enough,
Gibson will replace the rusted hardware and
pickups and my classic Paul will live to rock
arenas worldwide once more. The treatment
from the soaking actually gave the guitar a vintage distressed look that normally would cost
hundreds of dollars to achieve at the shop.
Many of my Paul Reed Smith guitars also
faired quite well. My honeyburst McCarty is
made of mahogany with a maple top and has
an unfinished Brazilian rosewood neck. When
I got to it, I noticed a small crack in the finish
on the top and a little bit of rust on some of
the hardware. Aside from that, you couldn’t
tell it had been damaged at all. My PRS
Swamp Ash Special was not as accustomed to
living in a "swamp" as the name might indicate. Made of softer wood, the Swamp Ash
Special split open and separated at the neck
joint. My artist rep at PRS said they were able
to save many of their guitars after Katrina
ripped through New Orleans, so regardless
of its injuries, I sent the guitar in for them to
evaluate. As of now, they’ve sealed the cracks
and are treating the neck joint, in hopes that
it will return to a playable state.
The guitar that surprised me the most was
my PRS Singlecut Hollowbody. It has a set
of custom humbuckers as well as the patented PRS/LR Baggs Piezo System under the
bridge, allowing you to simultaneously plug
into a PA or recording console and an amp. I
use it to cover both the acoustic and electric
parts on Toby Keith’s hit, "American Ride."
With its thin top and f-holes, I thought for
sure it was a goner. Much to my surprise, it
faired better than all the others. I noticed
some mildew inside the body, and, naturally,
all of the electronics had rusted, but other
than that there was no visible damage to the
body. The wood grain had lifted, giving the
soundboard a unique, wavy ridge. As a flood
survivor, this guitar is now a one-of-a-kind
instrument I will proudly continue to play.
The axes that gave their lives in this ordeal
include my Jerry Jones 6-string bass (which will
now be retired to a museum that Jerry Jones
is going to create to honor his instruments lost
in the flood), my Takamine nylon string, which
separated where the sides meet the back, and
my US Masters Super T, which was a workhorse on the road and in the studio.
It’s really amazing how the Nashville music
community pulled together to help each
other during this crisis. I’ve been asked to
perform in several flood victim fundraisers,
and the Nashville Musicians Union Local
257 has started a fund to help replace dam-
aged instruments. My personal heroes in this
disaster have been Gibson, Kustom, Paul
Reed Smith, R&R cases, Takamine, Taylor,
Toby Keith, US Masters, and both Bill "Ripp"
Mayes and Adam Hudson at the Guitar
Center in Nashville. Your help in getting me
back on my feet has not been overlooked.
Keep jammin’!
Rich Eckhardt
Rich Eckhardt is a highly sought-after Nashville guitarist who has
performed with singers ranging from Steven Tyler to Shania
Twain. He currently plays lead guitar for Toby Keith, and
also works as a spokesperson for the Soles4Souls charity
(
soles4souls.org). His new album, Cottage City Firehouse, is
available at
richeckhardt.com and
CDBaby.com