ABOUT

Concept
Following a change of ownership and with a new management team, Gibson’s new CEO said his first task was to reinvigorate employee morale and focus on Gibson’s core business: high-quality musical instruments. His vision, “let’s be the most relevant, most played and most loved guitar brand again,” required fresh thinking and innovative approaches.

Gibson was looking for better ways of engaging their loyal and growing fan base. Selling their products through a network of music instrument dealers, Gibson lacked a footprint under their own control where fans could experience the brand and its products in an authentic manner. They boldly envisioned an experience that, within a year, would be a top 5 destination for music lovers visiting Nashville.

Each of their guitar brands (Gibson, Epiphone & Kramer) would need to be featured within the 8000 square foot showroom alongside other brands in their family: KRK studio speakers and Mesa Boogie amplifiers. Also within the footprint, they required a private space where artists could come and meet with Gibson executives and shoot content. Being a music brand they wanted to be able to host live performances and music-related events so a stage with concert lighting and audio was needed.

While their vision was set on taking the the brand into the future Gibson's rich history could not be forgotten. They asked that we weave heritage highlights into the experience. As a retail outlet they sought to display an ever changing rotation of products. And every square inch had to look, feel and sound like a Gibson.

Audience & Location
Their target audience was quite simply, music fans of all genres and generations. Music is a unifying language shared by all cultures and age groups. The Gibson Garage was designed to welcome everyone: beginners, amateurs, globally recognized artists and those who don’t play an instrument at all but simply love music. Our experience needed to make everyone’s visit rewarding and memorable.

Nashville has a built-in audience of musicians and people working within the music industry. It is a popular tourist destination too. Located in the center of Nashville, the Gibson Garage is a short walk from the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Nashville Convention Center, Music Row and popular restaurants, shopping and hotels frequented by visitors.

Execution
After a full briefing session and stakeholders interviews we created a number of experience journeys for each audience type. From these we began spatial planning of the 8000 sq. ft. space with areas of focus around products and services.

We began on the exterior studying foot traffic patterns to best leverage the street facing windows where we would feature instrument lines and merchandise. This had a direct correlation to the interior layout.

It’s important to note that the Gibson Garage is located in a building called Cummins Station. Originally built as an industrial warehouse in 1906, it is listed on the Nat’l Register of Historic Places. The building has been transformed from a warehouse into a trendy home for many brands, agencies, shops and restaurants.

Its warehouse heritage immediately provided a significant challenge. A “forest” of 21 concrete columns located throughout the footprint. We carefully carved up the space strategically hiding columns, where we could, within walls that defined key brand and product zones. As a result only two columns are visible within the private space (that welcomes artists) and eleven are visible in the public area.

Main Floor: The centrally located stage rests between two columns providing clear visibility to the Gibson TV video wall and performers on the stage. The six columns within the main retail floor in front of the stage feature the six iconic electric guitars made by Gibson: Les Paul, Flying V, SG, ES, Explorer and Firebird. Interactive screens with KRK headphones invite visitors to hear music made with each of the iconic guitars and an interactive program tells their unique history.

A display case located at the center of these columns (indeed the center of the Gibson Garage) displays a selection of instruments from Gibson’s heritage collection including the first and last mandolin ever made by Orville Gibson himself and the first guitar ever to be played on TV along with other historically significant instruments. Floating overhead this central location is a large, illuminated Gibson marquee sign. It is visible through the store windows from the street and is sure to be featured in many social media posts. #gibsongarage

A nod to Gibson’s manufacturing facility just a few miles away, the entire main floor is encircled by a moving conveyor holding over 200 guitars. The movement of the guitars on the conveyor adds energy and excitement to the space.

Off the main floor visitors can access all of the other areas of the Gibson Garage:

The Acoustic Room, as its name implies, features the full range of acoustic guitars from Gibson and Epiphone. Visitors step down off the main floor into this room. A row of guitars on specially designed turntable displays line the sidewalk-facing window in this room. A harp guitar made by Orville Gibson is displayed here and provides a connection back to the brand's heritage. An interactive touchscreen set into a wall of acoustic guitars tells the story of Gibson craftsmanship among other content. The doors to this room are designed to shut so the sound of the guitars can be heard more clearly. Finally, the material selections in the room include tone woods used in the guitars themselves which add to the resonance of sound when visitors test drive the instruments.

The Custom Shop houses the most refined and expensive guitars in the Gibson line. Customers can select from a range of guitars on display or they create their own Made 2 Measure (M2M) guitar. The first step in the M2M process is to select a book-matched flamed maple wood top from a wall of wood tops. The display is designed so the wood tops mechanically cascade down for viewing and selection or up to provide access to the guitars on display. Once a top is chosen customers complete their M2M guitar by selecting a paint finish, neck profile, pickups and hardware. The Custom Shop also displays Gibson’s Murphy Lab line of guitars. Each of these unique guitars undergoes a special hand-ageing process giving them the appearance of a worn-in and played for years, instrument despite being brand new.

Customers wanting to take a six string for a spin will pass under a set of bi-fold garage doors into the two brick-walled Jam Rooms where a range of Mesa Boogie amplifiers are also on display. Headphones are connected to the amps allowing customers to hear the guitar and amp tones clearly and without any background noise. Conversely this helps to control the noise level in the space. Gibson artwork and clocks are also displayed in these rooms along with a large array of guitars.

Through the garage doors opposite from the Jam Rooms visitors will find an area featuring a range of brands that Gibson owns including: Epiphone and Kramer guitars and KRK studio speakers. In the Epiphone space the walls are finished in a charred wood timber and the two visible columns feature classic Epiphone guitars: the Texan and the Casino. Kramer guitars first became popular in the 1980’s. With a subtle nod to this period these guitars are displayed against a wall of cassette tapes.

Whereas the rest of the Gibson Garage has 20 foot ceilings, this area has a lower ceiling height in the public area. This is due to the mezzanine we added which houses retail stock and provides access to the conveyor guitars.

A special private area within the Gibson Garage called Entertainment Relations (ER) welcomes artists, celebrities and special guests of Gibson. Designed with a comfortable lounge feel, this area is used for meetings, content capture, small private performance and, for artists performing on the garage stage, it serves as a green room. Of course there are many instruments and amplifiers on display and available to play. The ER also has a full kitchen, private restroom and shower, a dressing room and a glam room for hair and makeup.

Before they pass through the security door leading from the ER to the stage performers will pass by a bookcase built into a wall. Many books about guitars and music are displayed here along with small decor elements and historic artifacts. Those lucky to be invited for a special experience will discover that the bookcase is actually a hidden doorway that opens to a space Gibson calls The Vault. In this fire rated, temperature controlled room Gibson displays the most rare and valuable instruments from its corporate collection.

Results
The Gibson Garage: Nashville opened on June 9th, 2021 (Les Paul's birthday). In less than a year it had surpassed every metric for measuring success.

The Gibson Garage is a retail theater and immersive experience which inspires visitors who are passionate about music, tracing the role that Gibson has played throughout music history and continues to play today in shaping sound through the brands iconic guitars. It’s an attraction worthy of being a top-five tourist attraction in Nashville, appealing to all visitors, from those who have never played guitar to experts and recording artists.

The Gibson Garage provides a stimulating environment that immerses visitors in the stories of the Gibson, Epiphone, Kramer and Mesa Boogie brands and instruments. Whether you want to experience playing the latest guitars, create your custom, made-to-measure Gibson guitar, chat with a pro, experience interactive entertainment, live performances and community events, take an education workshop, or just take home some Gibson swag, this is the best place in the world to do it.