[Wade Hampton]

For those of us who are interested in Gibson acoustic guitars, for the past quarter century the most person most responsible for restoring them to their former glory has - unquestionably - been Ren Ferguson.

But Ren has retired from Gibson and gone to work for Fender as a consultant on their various acoustic guitar lines.

A friend of mine who alerted me to this change in an email a few minutes ago wrote:

"So, the Ren Feguson era will come to an end, in terms of the daily and direct involvement of Ren with Gibson's designs, building and processes, although his legacy is enormous. Arguably, at least equivalent to, and most of us would say, greater than that of the vaunted Mr Lloyd Loar, who was only with the company for a few years or so. Ren's stamp on Gibson extended back to before they opened up the Bozeman plant, when he came over from Flatiron Mandolin, and spearheaded the revamping and rediscovery process of Gibson's classic and iconic acoustic flattop guitar designs. That process was often stymied by Gibson's own internal management structures and approvals, but he managed to "find back" some of the best, like the AJ, the J-35, J-45, J-200, J-185, Hummingbird, Southern Jumbo, L-00 and others. He also produced some new designs like the J-2000, the entire CL line (which turned into the Songwriter) and the Working Musician line."

I've never met Ren Ferguson, or even talked to him on the phone. But we have a number of mutual friends, and all of them have an enormous amount of respect for him. I, for one, am very sorry to see him leave Gibson.

In my mind there's no doubt that future guitar collectors will designate Gibson Montana acoustic guitars built during Ren's tenure as "Ren Ferguson-era Gibsons." His contribution has been that immense.

This is, without a doubt, the end of an era.


Wade Hampton Miller