John Hughey plays a JCH

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 8 Dec 2015 10:25 am

I don't believe I have ever seen John play one. It was great to stumble on this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQtYd6UDZR8

Henry Matthews · Post by **Henry Matthews** » 8 Dec 2015 12:47 pm

Richard,I've seen John several times playing a JCH. After all, he was part of the company so sure he played one quite often. I don't know if Jimmy's health and his death is what folded the company but JCH's are great guitars. Mine is one of the best guitars I've ever owned and the spitting image to one John is playing in that video.
Thanks for posting that, haven't seen it.

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 8 Dec 2015 3:00 pm

the best that music ever gets is patty singing with vince!

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 8 Dec 2015 3:06 pm

I agree Chris. Both are great in their own right, but there's a magic that happens when they sing together.

Henry, I know he was part of the company and all, but I can't Remember ever seeing him play one. I'm sure I have, but memory is so bad, I can't even remember what I had for breakfast. Oh that's right, I didn't have anything.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 8 Dec 2015 3:19 pm

Ah, that Patty. Sure miss her.

David Nugent · Post by **David Nugent** » 8 Dec 2015 3:23 pm

John Hughey playing Paul Franklin paying homage to John Hughey, does not get any better than that...Have a video recording of a Vince Gill concert made many years ago with John playing his JCH, believe it was shortly after, 'Look at Us' was released.

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 8 Dec 2015 5:26 pm

Henry Matthews wrote: JCH's are great guitars. Mine is one of the best guitars I've ever owned .

I bet...

Henry Matthews · Post by **Henry Matthews** » 8 Dec 2015 8:41 pm

You should know Damir, lol
You shouldn't have sent me that video of you playing it, it sure sounded good so just had to have it and haven't regretted it for a moment.

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 8 Dec 2015 8:47 pm

Henry Matthews wrote:You should know Damir, lol
You shouldn't have sent me that video of you playing it, it sure sounded good so just had to have it.

and you know what the best part is, I played that through my Fender Mustang V head with 4x12 cabinet... if you think it sounded good recorded with a cell phone, you should have been at the club...that amp kicked some butt... I just sold my Webb 614 and going back to Mustang lol ....

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 9 Dec 2015 5:33 pm

just to clarify , Webb is my all time favorite amp, and as soon as I get ready financially, I will get another Webb, but I am keeping Mustang , no doubt...

Franklin · Post by **Franklin** » 12 Dec 2015 5:50 am

John also played a JCH on Conway's recording of "Lost In The Feeling".

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 12 Dec 2015 12:25 pm

Thanks Paul. I am really interested in hearing and seeing where John played one. I heard that he stepped aside and let Jimmy do all the building and selling. I don't know how true that is, but it would also be nice to know. I am a John Hughey fanatic, and can't get enough info about him. John and Jerry Garcia are pretty much the reason I chose to switch from drums to steel guitar.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 12 Dec 2015 12:38 pm

John and Jerry Garcia are pretty much the reason I chose to switch from drums to steel guitar.

Interesting choice - I would have considered them more or less polar opposites..

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 12 Dec 2015 1:58 pm

John was playing with Loretta when we opened for her at Ponderosa Park. He had never seen a Kline before, and was very interested in mine. I'd have to ask Joe to be sure, but I think John bought one.
Anybody have a link to John playing "Im Not Lisa?" I hated that song until I heard John play it. I've never been one to learn other's arrangements, but I learned that one!

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 12 Dec 2015 3:00 pm

Barry Blackwood wrote:
John and Jerry Garcia are pretty much the reason I chose to switch from drums to steel guitar.
Interesting choice - I would have considered them more or less polar opposites..

True. But they were the first players I heard. I knew who John Hughey was before I knew who Buddy Emmons was. Greg Lasser switched my first ZB to a day setup. It was probably 5 years after before I knew who Jimmy Day was.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 13 Dec 2015 3:17 am

A story about John Hughey and early JCH's, that was told to me by a friend in Nashville that got it from John. When they did the Conway Twitty Riverboat TV show, that aired on TNN, the steel sound track was done with an Emmons because John couldn't get the sound he wanted from the JCH.

Considering the sound of a JCH the "sound issue" was later resolved.

Mitch Ellis · Post by **Mitch Ellis** » 13 Dec 2015 5:23 pm

Barry Blackwood wrote:Ah, that Patty. Sure miss her.

I'm sorry to hijack the thread, but did Patty Loveless pass away? I hope not but if so, when?

Mitch

Dean Holman · Post by **Dean Holman** » 13 Dec 2015 5:45 pm

I think John used to build the cabinets. I'm also thinking John left JCH around 1993 or sometime around there. I just remember that when I went to work for Ricky Skaggs which was in '94', John was playing an Emmons. I'm pretty sure he played the Emmons up till around '99' or sometime around there is when he started playing a Zum. It was not long after John left that Jimmy tried to start a new company and guitar called Crawford-Parks. That never got off the ground so Jimmy made a few changes and went back to building the JCH guitars around '97'. I know this cause I was Jimmy's neighbor and I worked for Jimmy for a couple of years. I helped cut parts for the new JCH guitars. After I left, Buck Reid helped Jimmy out. I'll have to say Jimmy was a perfectionist. I played 4 or 5 of the older JCH guitars but in my opinion, the newer ones were better. I learned a lot from Jimmy and sure do miss him. I thought John always sounded great on his JCH along with other JCH players.

Jerry Roller · Post by **Jerry Roller** » 13 Dec 2015 6:36 pm

I have an interesting story about John and the JCH. I can't remember the year but I attended a concert at the Fair Grounds in Ft. Smith, AR in an open rodeo arena. I was seated a rather great distance from the stage and John was playing steel. I could not make out the brand so after the show I made my way to the front of the stage as John was "tearing down". The guitar had logo on it shaped like the state of Tennessee. John spotted me and spoke. I asked him what brand guitar is that. He said it is a JCH and that he and Jimmy Crawford was building them. The J stood for John and Jimmy, the C stood for Crawford and the H stood for Huey. I then noticed the end plate and said "you are building a push pull?" I recognized it because I had recently had Bryan Adams to build me an 81 push pull. John sheepishly grinned and said well this is an Emmons with our name plate on it because we are just started building them and I don't have one yet. We talked a while and I told him I had an Emmons and for some reason I told him I operated a cabinet shop. He became very interested and asked me to come to their bus so he could possibly get some help. I went with him to the bus and he told me they were having a problem cutting the slot for the bottom neck deck mica to fit into the edge of the front neck deck. I told him about a slotting cutter for a router. I don't know if they wound up using such a slotting cutter or not but that was how I met John. Some years later we played several steel shows and became friends. Perhaps I had a small part in the development of the JCH but probably not. I sure miss him at the steel shows. I have I believe the last black lacquer Emmons he had before he changed to Zumsteel guitars. It is actually a very dark black cherry dye that shows the flame maple thru the finish but looks very dark grey/black under lights. It has a special meaning to me. I can't play it without thinking of John.
Jerry

Steve Hinson · Post by **Steve Hinson** » 13 Dec 2015 10:03 pm

Jerry Roller wrote:I have an interesting story about John and the JCH. I can't remember the year but I attended a concert at the Fair Grounds in Ft. Smith, AR in an open rodeo arena. I was seated a rather great distance from the stage and John was playing steel. I could not make out the brand so after the show I made my way to the front of the stage as John was "tearing down". The guitar had logo on it shaped like the state of Tennessee. John spotted me and spoke. I asked him what brand guitar is that. He said it is a JCH and that he and Jimmy Crawford was building them. The J stood for John and Jimmy, the C stood for Crawford and the H stood for Huey. I then noticed the end plate and said "you are building a push pull?" I recognized it because I had recently had Bryan Adams to build me an 81 push pull. John sheepishly grinned and said well this is an Emmons with our name plate on it because we are just started building them and I don't have one yet. We talked a while and I told him I had an Emmons and for some reason I told him I operated a cabinet shop. He became very interested and asked me to come to their bus so he could possibly get some help. I went with him to the bus and he told me they were having a problem cutting the slot for the bottom neck deck mica to fit
into the edge of the front neck deck. I told him about a slotting cutter for a router. I don't know if they wound up using such a slotting cutter or not but that was how I met John. Some years later we played several steel shows and became friends. Perhaps I had a small part in the development of the JCH but probably not. I sure miss him at the steel shows. I have I believe the last black lacquer Emmons he had before he changed to Zumsteel guitars. It is actually a very dark black cherry dye that shows the flame maple thru the finish but looks very dark grey/black under lights. It has a special meaning to me. I can't play it without
thinking of John.
Jerry

Jerry,I was playing lead guitar with George Jones around the time that you are
talking about(I think)...we were on tour with Conway and Merle Haggard and I
remember the black Emmons with the JCH logo on it...I busted John on it too!

Conway was in on the guitar deal too...I think they told him the"C"stood for"Conway"...

Steve Hinson · Post by **Steve Hinson** » 13 Dec 2015 10:11 pm

Mitch Ellis wrote:
Barry Blackwood wrote:Ah, that Patty. Sure miss her.
I'm sorry to hijack the thread, but did Patty Loveless pass away? I hope not but if so, when?

Mitch

According to Deanie Richardson(Patty's great fiddle player),she worked with PL a while back and Patty is alive and well and singing as great as ever.

Dean Holman · Post by **Dean Holman** » 13 Dec 2015 10:38 pm

The J stood for Jenkins which was Conway's real name. Ironically the J could've stood for Jimmy and John but this is just what Jimmy told me, Jenkins,Crawford and Hughey.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 14 Dec 2015 5:22 pm

There must be several versions as to what JCH stood for. John also told me:

He said it is a JCH and that he and Jimmy Crawford was building them. The J stood for John and Jimmy, the C stood for Crawford and the H stood for Huey.

Too bad neither are with us to clarify it.

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 14 Dec 2015 6:17 pm

i'd always understood it was jenkins, crawford and hughey originally as conway was involved in the funding.
...obviously you can't believe everything that lyin' john hughey says..!

(emmons with jch badge)

Dean Holman · Post by **Dean Holman** » 14 Dec 2015 6:44 pm

I would say that being Conway / "Harold Jenkins ", was the one that financed the company, I'm 100% percent positive the J stood for Jenkins. I can't attest to what Hughey told people but I can attest to the fact that Conway was the major financial contributer thus would only be fair that the J would stand for Jenkins. However, it's not really wrong to say that the J can also stand for Jimmy and John as well as Jenkins. I just think it happens to be one of those ironic coincidences that they all had names with a J.