Fred Paul Hedges

Who was Fred Paul Hedges?

Fred Paul Hedges was a master guitar builder and guitar teacher from Nashville, Tennessee. Hedges designed and built machines to mass-produce acoustic guitars for both the Grammer and Gower guitar companies in Nashville during the mid to late 1960s.

Originally from Ewing, Illinois, Freddie Paul Hedges was a long-time friend of Grand Ole Opry star Billy Grammer who hired Hedges to help establish Grammer's newly formed guitar company. Before moving to Tennessee in 1962, Hedges was a machinist and labor union leader in southern Michigan where he developed the necessary skills to organize and operate a manufacturing business. While living in Tennessee, Fred Hedges founded two companies. In the mid-1960s Hedges established an industrial engraving business which specialized in the manufacturing of guitar parts.

In 1974 Hedges started a retail music store located in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. Fred Hedges is credited for hundreds of people learning to play the guitar and other stringed instruments in Nashville, Tennessee.