Jerre Haskew, Former President Of Guild

I got this from Jerre Haskew, the former president of Guild , some of the most beautiful sounding guitars in the world.  He wanted to clear up a question I had regarding a guitar that Johnny Cash played and is on display in Corona, California at the Fender Guitar Center.  It is part of a display of memorabilia from Johnny that is part of the collection of his friend, Bill Miller.  When I went to the guild site, I tried to run the serial numbers on the guitar to see how long Johnny had been playing guild.  He said in his note to Bill when he gave the guitar to him that he had been playing that guitar for 10 years.  Jerre Haskew as you will read, gave him the guitar.  

Thanks for the note Jerre, I have contacted the Fender Guitar Center, but have not gotten a reply as to how to get to Bill Miller. I also think that I have found Bill on the web and have sent him a message as well.

Bill,

 

Stumbled across your great website and saw these pictures of one of Johnny Cash's two identical Guild D60R cherry sunburst top guitars. My name is Jerre Haskew, and I was President & CEO of Guild from 1986-1991. I personally delivered these two guitars to John at the House of Cash in Hendersonville, TN in the fall of 1987. There were two of these- identical- that I gave to him in exchange for his endorsement of Guild, which I got in a talk with him on an airplane to Boston in the late summer of 1987. When I delivered these guitars, I spent most of the day with him, and he was among the nicest, most humble, literate, intelligent and gracious people I have ever met. He LOVED these guitars. They were hand made in the USA at the Guild factory in Westerly, RI under the supervision of Guild master luthier Kim Walker.

 

You have solved a mystery for me as to what happened to this particular guitar. Where is Bill Miller located- the friend to whom John gave this guitar? FYI the other one just like it was sold at auction at Sotheby's in NY City a few months after John's passing. I am attaching a few pics for you to use if you like. These pictures are owned by me.

 

I can CONFIRM that John was a VERY loyal endorser and exclusive player of Guild from 1987- 1993/1994. You can also see him playing this guitar on www.youtube.com type highwaymen in the search box and scroll down. This was the supergroup of John, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings & Kris Kristofferson.

 

Thanks again, Bill, for helping me find what happened to the other guitar I gave him.

 

My Best,

 

Jerre

Jerre R Haskew
The Haskew Company
The Cumberland Trio & Fiery Gizzard Records/Music, LLC

Here are the Pics that he included.

Day 41 Fender Guitar Factory, Corona, CA

Day 41 Fender Guitar Factory, Corona, CA, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

Since I checked out the Fender Museum, I was curious about the factory. The woman at the counter for the museum was nice when I asked her a couple of questions. I just wanted to know why would Fender put a museum in Corona. It turns out that one of their factories is in Corona. She said that she used to work there, and that it is a pity that they don't do tours since so many people would love to see that. She is right, I know that I would.

The Museum is a non profit that gets sponsorship from Fender. They do not own the museum, but they do have a factory in Corona. Weird to think that Clapton maybe playing a product of the Inland Empire. So I went to find the museum. They are on 311 Cessena Cir, Corona, CA 92880. I found them with a quick online yellow pages search. The other address that you may find if you do the same, 2621 Research Dr, Corona, CA 92882, is vacant. I think that they moved from the one to the other.

Now I am curious if I should be staking out the building for views of Stevie Vai or Avril Lavigne, maybe even Clapton himself has graced the IE....

Thanks for looking.

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Day 40, Johnny Cash's Guild Guitar

Day 40, Johnny Cash's Guild Guitar, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

"Hello, I'm Johnny Cash." for many years, that is what Johnny would say while playing this guitar. It is a Guild D605BE. It was a gift from Johnny to his good friend Bill Miller. This guitar was given to him in Feb of 1993 and the letter that Johnny sent to Bill with it said that he had played this guitar in every concert for more then 10 years.

For curiosity, I wondered, was it really more then 10 years? On the letter that Johnny sent to Bill with the guitar, he scratched out the word "more" and then put "more" in anyways. Why would he do that? It is possible that Johnny mistakenly put more then 10 years. The Guild website does not list the D60 until 1987. The serial number that Johnny notes in his letter to Bill would place the instrument to 1987.

It is important to note that Guild on their website mentions that unfortunately, some of the serial number documentation has been lost over the years resulting in holes. I am also not an expert in Guild Guitars. Certainly, It is Johnny's Guitar, but it was probably not played by Johnny for more then 10 years. It was a fantastic gesture to his good friend Bill. Bill also has the duster that was used for some of the photo shoots with the guitar and the case for the guitar.

The museum is worth a stop if you are in the area and are a Johnny Cash fan as there is not another Cash museum anywhere else. A pity if you think about it. Johnny was part of the quartet that came from Sun records and changed music. Elvis has Graceland, but Johnny is in a small museum in Corona.  A Big Thanks to Mr Bill Miller for placing all that great Johnny Cash memorabilia in the museum.  

Thanks for looking.

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Day 39, Johnny Cash's Boots

Day 39, Johnny Cash's Boots, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

I did not know that Fender was a California Company. They started in Fullerton, but they are in their second factory here in the Inland Empire. They are in Corona. Also in Corona is the Fender Museum of Music and the Arts. Though not officially a Fender organization, Fender apparently supports the non profit group with money and instruments. The museum offers free and low cost music instruction for youth. It also has an exhibit that every guitar slinger should love, with occasional visiting exhibits. Right now they have items from the collection of Bill Miller, one of Johnny's long time friends.

These custom made rockabilly boots are the one of the first things that Johnny bought with his first royalty check from Sun Records. Johnny Designed them and they were the first pair of many custom made boots that he owned.

I will post the other shots from the Johnny Cash exhibit tomorrow and then I will go find the Fender Factory and get you a shot. If you want to visit the Museum, I have added their link in the links section.

Thanks for looking.

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