We recently had the privilege of spending some time with a guitar owned by the great Norman Blake. This 1936 D-18 was featured on the cover of Blake’s iconic album, Whiskey Before Breakfast, and after a time was sold by Blake. Brent Hawley, a friend of store owner Jim Baggett’s, has been the caretaker of this guitar for almost 50 years and recently brought it in for Jim to do some setup and fret work.

The guitar has since been in the hands of friend of the store Bob Minner, a fantastic guitar player in his own right, who has convened some of the finest flatpickers around, both to celebrate Norman and Brett’s guitar along with sharing some insights and influences. Scroll down to check out more photos along with the fantastic video from the Fretboard Journal featuring Bob, Byran Sutton, Kenny Smith and Chris Eldridge talking all things Norman and vintage D-18s. Thanks of course to Bob for mentioning Jim!