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Tuesday March 25th, 2003

Hutch Day at Gibson honors 40-year employee Jim Hutchins

Forty years to the day after Jim Hutchins began working at the Gibson guitar plant in Kalamazoo, Mich., Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz has proclaimed March 25, 2003, Hutch Day. To thousands of guitar aficionados who are familiar with the signature of "James Hutchins" on the label of a Gibson archtop, Hutch represents a critical link to Gibson's long history of handmade instruments.

"We just wanted to say how much we enjoy working with you and how much we feel you're a part of our family," said Juszkiewicz, as he and Gibson president Dave Berryman presented Hutch with an official letter proclaiming Hutch Day. "We wanted to recognize this special day and everything you've done for us."

Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz, right, and President Dave Berryman honor Jim Hutchins 40th anniversary at Gibson with a proclamation of Hutch Day

An avid hunter, Hutch will receive a new 10-gauge shotgun from Gibson, along with a special plaque naming a part of Gibson's Custom Shop after him.

Hutch began his career with Gibson in Kalamazoo, Mich., where Gibson was founded and based until headquarters were moved to Nashville in 1984. "I was working for Checker Cab for about three weeks," he recalled, "and I saw the smokestack that said 'Gibson.' I went home and told my wife, 'I wonder what they do there?'"

"I went in the front office and asked if they were taking applications. They said yes, and they asked me 'How soon can you have it back to us?' I said, 'About an hour.'"

Custom Shop engineer Lynn Mathews, left, celebrates Hutchs 40th year with two more Gibson Kalamazoo veterans, Louie Biss and Dick Ickes

Hutch interviewed with Julius Bellson, who had been working for Gibson since 1935 and would go on to write the first history of the company. "He said there was an opening in the mill room running a band saw," Hutch said, "but when I got there the next morning I found out the janitor took that job. So I started as a janitor. It took about four years, and I ended up in the pattern shop, which was the top job there."

Hutch received a piece of good advice from his father that served him well at Gibson. "My dad told me, keep your mouth shut, listen to the older guys, and you'll learn. It was the best advice I ever got."

"Some of the guys had been there 30, 40 years. You did it the old way because that's the way the did it. Then later on the boss that I had said to find a better way. And that's the part I really liked. Make the project easier but keep the quality there."

The pattern shop was the design shop in those days. "The pattern shop makes the whole guitar," Hutch explained. "You present the guitar when you're done with it, then you make the tooling. Keep in mind that we didn't have NC (numerically controlled routers), just shapers and saws."

Hutch takes the first slice of archtop cake as Custom production manager Mike McGuire looks on

In the mid-to-late 1960s, Hutch and his colleagues in the pattern shop worked with some of the best guitarists of the period, designing guitars for Tal Farlow, Barney Kessel, Herb Ellis and Howard Roberts. The highlight of his Kalamazoo years came near the end, when Chet Atkins left Gretsch and became a Gibson artist. "Engineering worked differently then," Hutch recalled. "You'd take a model and have an engineering meeting to discuss the project. We had as many as nine pattern makers and one of us would get the project. Fortunately, I got Chet's project. The Country Gentleman was pretty much my baby. We built 300-and-something up there as it was going down."

Gibson was a sinking ship in 1984 when the company closed up the Kalamazoo plant and moved to Nashville (to a facility that had been built in 1974). Hutch hadn't planned on making the move. "I used to remodel bathrooms and kitchens," he said, "and I set that business back up. I had built a big shop for that. But they just kept making offers - would you come down for a year. They nagged me and nagged me. Then they got smart and flew my wife down here. She's the one who really wanted to stay."

Hutch was a key figure when Gibson established the Custom Shop as its own division, based around the Historic Collection, in 1993. "Rick Gembar (general manager of the Custom division), when he took Custom, said 'What do you need?'" Hutch said. "I said, The best wood we can buy and the best people we can get.' Rick has backed me 100 percent. We doubled production several years in a row."

Although his title has changed numerous times through the years, his business card still carries the title he had 10 years ago: Senior Design Engineer, Historic Collection. He's not planning on retiring when he turns 65 in December, although he and one of his sons have bought 120 acres of land in nearby Waverly, Tenn., where he's thinking of building a home and devoting more time to his other passions - guns and dogs.

Hutchs co-workers at Gibsons Custom Shop showed how much theyve learned from him, fashioning a special archtop cake

A 40th anniversary cake celebrated Hutchs connection to Gibson in the 1960s