Tips & Tone

Special Edition

Nashville Guitar Rescue

“The Great Flood of 2010”

On May 1, 2010, Nashville was hit by a devastating series of storms. As a result, Nashville experienced its worst flood in the history of the city. Tragically, 22 lives were lost. Thousands of homes and hundreds of businesses were destroyed, resulting in over $1 billion in damage – thus far. Ironically, there was sparse coverage from the national media, and not even a whisper from the White House. But the city of Nashville didn’t bat an eye; we did what we are all called to do, help our neighbor(s)!

SOUNDCHECK
One of the hardest hit areas was the riverfront by the Cumberland River. The Cumberland crested nearly 12 feet above flood stage. This is where Soundcheck is located, one of the largest rehearsal/storage/stage facilities in the US. The flood completely engulfed it, ruining thousands of guitars, amps and touring equipment. Many of the local, as well as National acts use Soundcheck.

After the waters subsided, I got a call from Joe Glaser from Glaser Guitars, asking if I could help dig out some of the guitars. The plan was to setup a Guitar Triage Center at a warehouse (on Saturday, May 8), to try to salvage what we could. He also informed me that Ed Beavers (the resident repair guy at Soundcheck) had lost everything in the flood.  As a professional Luthier and an obvious guitar lover, I thought “I’ll do what I can.” I didn’t see how I could be much help, but I was willing to do what I could.

I called three local guitar repair technicians that I had trained years ago and asked them if they could help. I was pleasantly surprised that all of them said “yes.” Then I spoke with a couple of recording/mastering engineers that work on my block and again, the answer was “yes!” At this point I was starting to look forward to setting up the Guitar Triage center. While I was at lunch (at where else – OTTER’S!), I told the owner, Steve, what I was doing. He immediately posted an ad for volunteers on Twitter. The response was phenomenal!

By the time we had the work benches setup, we had a 14-person crew, willing to help people they didn’t know, without any expectations. They were from all backgrounds and professions, engineers, lawyers, doctors and artists. This is what makes Nashville such a great city!

I want to thank every person in my crew for sacrificing their time and expertise to help us salvage hundreds of guitars.

My crew:

Tommy Dailey            Simon Ripley Music

John Miller

Norm Urmy                 Red Mountain Guitars

Don Cobb                   Independent Mastering

Eric Conn                    Independent Mastering

Jill Costello

Elyse McMeen

Pete Finney

Dawn Kramer

Elizabeth Marlowe

Jackson Oglesby

Curtis Cameron

Noah Oahyull

Special thanks!

Steve Logan – Otter’s Chicken Tenders (Music Row)

Bill Taylor, Judy Hall, Dave Dorton from the Sub Stop on Broadway (The BEST SUBS in town) thank you for donating the awesome subs for the Triage!

The atmosphere at the Triage was unlike anything I have seen. Everyone was walking around with a confused, zombie-like look on their faces. We were astounded at the destruction from the flood. It was a sobering experience that left us all in shock. As time passed, this gave away to an incredible desire to do whatever we could for each other. Everyday, seeing more of my clients and old friends and their expressions of gratitude to all of the volunteers was overwhelming.

CATASTROPHIC FAILURE

The damage was far beyond anything I have ever experienced, and that’s a lot! Imagine thousands of musical instruments that had been submerged under water for 5 days! Keep in mind, that water was more like a toxic soup! It was full of sewage, chemicals and other things I don’t even want to think about. It was a recipe for catastrophic instrument failure!

First, my crew & I had to catalog, stabilize and evaluate as many guitars as we could. We were shocked at how most of the acoustic guitars disintegrated as they were removed from their cases. Many of the electric guitars had split into several pieces from the pressure of the water.

Next, we evaluated and documented the damage. Then, we removed all of the hardware, sprayed it with oil cleaner and bagged it up. Then we placed the guitars back on top of their case. We had to wait for the guitars to dry out for several days before any repairs could be done. After a few days of air-drying, the guitars were placed in a new case or bag with a few HumidiPaks to stabilize the moisture content. It’s important not to dry these guitars out too fast, or even more problems will occur. Some pieces had to be cleaned with bleach or vinegar to avoid mold from growing on them. I’m very hesitant to take any more than a few flood guitars in for restoration. In future articles, I have more on the progress of the ones I’m doing.

COMPANY DONATIONS

Several companies generously donated tons of products to help those who lost their gear in the flood. Once the fog lifted, I called a few manufacturers to ask (beg) for their help. I was blown away at their response! The D’addario String Company donated HumidiPaks (to help stabilize the guitars), wood conditioners and thousands of guitar strings! Taylor Guitars donated hundreds of shipping boxes, guitar cases and more HumidPaks! Then the Martin Guitar Company donated over three hundred cases and boxes.

These companies really stepped up to the plate and hit it out of the park! I am honored to be associated with them!

VOLUNTEER STATE
When tragedy struck, the people of Nashville banded together and helped their friends, neighbors and even total strangers. Instead of looting, rioting and exploiting those in need, this great city truly demonstrated why Tennessee is called the Volunteer State.

John M. LeVan
LeVan’s Guitar Services
guitarservices.com
guitarservices@aol.com