What is Freddie?

HERE IS WHAT HE IS!

Here are the entires from the "What Is Freddie?" contest.
Those of you with a "Freddie" below your entry will be receiving a small token of our appreciation shortly for either getting the answer correct or just really entertaining us. Winners were chosen based on votes from a panel of four Gruhn Guitars employees. We loved all of the entries!

"Freddie's the strumming rabbit squiglly, of course!" -- Brian Y. (Livermore, CA)

"Freddie is obviously a frog with a long lasting love for country and western. He has been known to perform into the early morning hours singing about his lost pond. His biggest set back are his ears. The drag from the water has made him so slow that he took up singing as a career instead of swimming as any normal frog would do. The oly thing that I cannot explain is how he ended up in Nashville with Gruhn Guitars." -- Henrik L. (Lafayette, LA)

"George Gruhn's alter ego" -- Samuel P. (Lexington, KY)

"a walrus with guitar picks for ears..." -- Stan M. (Crownsville, MD)

"Freddy is a:
Friendly
Rodent
Enjoying
Dreadnought
Delight
Ya'll"
-- Al J. (Spanish Fork, UT)

"Merle Travis' caricature of a young bespectacled George Gruhn in the light of a famous storybook character, Curious George."
-- Mark S. (Knoxville, TN)

"Freddie is the physical manifestation of the pent-up desire of all guitarists have to own a fine, high-quality instrument; he has big mobile ears to more easily hear from whence comes the strumming dulcet tones he seeks, and large eyes advantageously situated on top of his head to more easily scan a full 360 degrees in his tireless search for guitar excellence. He first came into being years ago, when someone said "Dude! I sure would like to have THAT cool guitar!," and has been fed on the continuously renewing supply of newly initiated young musicians yearning for that instrument perfectly matched to their temperment and playing style. And didn't he make a cameo appearance at Woodstock?"
-- Scott G. (Sacramento, CA)

"Freddie is actually an extraterrestrian who landed on planet earth in the 1930's. What brought him here was a beautiful musical sound he received through his gigantic radiotelescope: The sound of a then brand-new Martin D-45. So he came and bought a D-45 because he knew that 50 years later everybody would be dying for such a guitar. So we know now who Freddie is and why he became the Gruhn mascot: Freddie was the world's first vintage guitar collector."
-- Felix W. (Winterthur, Switzerland)

"Freddie is the entity that watches over all guitars; protecting them from harm, preserving their voice and legacy for future musicians to enjoy and appreciate. He's the "Wonderdog" of the guitar world. Faster than a speeding power chord, stronger than the meanest, toughest metal pick, yet as soft and sensitive as the most delicate jazz passage ever played.
He's George Gruhn in cartoon incarnation.
He's George Gruhn's 'id'."
-- Tal M. (Arlington, VA)

"Freddie is the knight of the vintage guitar." -- Magnus B. (Vallda, Sweden)

"The first time I saw Freddie, it was obvious to me that if you want a guitar that sounds good enough to inspire a frog to grow external ears (and big'uns too), you need to go to Gruhn's - so I did. Though I haven't been able to teach any frogs to play; you should see the ears on some of the frogs around my place."
-- Richard M (Sherwood, AR)

"Freddie is the Gruhn house-mouse who comes out at night and fulfills his wildest fantasy by playing only the highest quality instruments. He also retunes some instruments, just to keep the salespeople on their toes." -- Kenn L. (Boulder, CO)

"Flaming Freddie the Koa Bear is the reincarnation of the Gibson Nick Lucas special of the 1920's and 1930's. Maybe just a red frog with a guitar."
-- Jack S. (Walnut Creek, CA)

"Freddie is a musical doodle-bug." -- Andy F. (Pembroke Pines, FL)

"Freddie is, in the words of David St. Hubbins, "a rock and roll creation." Freddy is like me. His guitar ain't that pretty, but he looks like he enjoys playing it. Except I'm not red."
-- Shawn D. (Nashville, TN)

"He's the little guy that plays all the instruments when the lights are out, the little guy who lives in guitar paradise."
-- Kerry B (Clemson, SC)

"An Okie from Muskogee." -- Bernard H. (Princeton, NJ)

"Freddie is from the dust-bowl era. He used to hobo around, picking with some of the finest pickers in the country. In the forties, he jumped a freight to Long Island, and invented what later became known as the "clinched-fist chord position." This was so popular with the locals, that it spread throughout the east, and eventually caught on in the west. In the fifties, he attended the opening of one of the first malls, and started picking in the parking lot. Not many know this, but this is where "parking lot pickin'" originated. Freddy spent much of the sixties in New York, and in fact, was the first guitarist to use a capo in the key of "D", using open tuning, with fingerpicks, playing Travis style, while tap dancing. He tried electric guitar in the seventies, but quickly switched back to acoustic, since it was hard to hear the guitar. Freddie got a lot of studio work in the eighties, and few know this, but he actually created the Nashville sound, one night after supper (Only he wasn't in Nashville at the time.) He has spent a lot of time teaching during the last six years, and will be publishing his guitar book "The Freddie Method," later this year. The guitar community is very excited about the opportunity to learn his secrets."
-- John B. (Campbell, CA)

"He is BUG in guitar kids minds." -- Yutaka T. (Tokyo, Japan)

"Freddie is the mascot of Gruhn Guitars. I think he is/was George Gruhn's or whoever the owner of Gruhn Guitar is, dog. And I think it's a chiwawa." -- Ken L. (Shelton, WA)

"Freddie's a jack-a-jump. A few years back when Iowa was underwater there were a lot of frogs and some real mixed-up rabbits. Well, Freddie was real confused and real depressed ('cause he couldn't figure out why he was orange.) He started hopping South and when he got to Nashville he discovered guitar playing. Well, it put a smile right on his face (or whatever) and everything's been ALRIGHT ever since."
-- Neena S. (St. Charles, MO)

"A psychadelic-dachsunt-glimmik" -- Dave T. (Chandler, AZ)

"Alf's distant cousin playing a D-28!" -- Vic R. (Palmdale, CA)

"Freddie is George's original doodle from 1963 when George first started thinking about collecting!"
--David S. (Marietta, GA)

"A Moo-sician?" -- Roger C. (Fort Worth, TX)

"Freddie sort of looks like the fuzzy silk end of a worn-out bass string!"
-- Eric T. (Springfield, IL)

"Never have been able to figure that one out..." -- Bo P. (Scottsboro, AL)

"Freddie is the rocking fret finger." -- Michael H. (Pocking, Germany)

"Freddie looks like a doodle gone punk: So along those lines: Freddie is a "Doodle Rocker." Freddie is off his doodle! He's a yankee-doodle-dandy (or a confederate doodle-dandy)."
-- Richard F. (San Jose, CA)

"The "pre-war" music mouse that assisted Lloyd Loar and C.F. Martin in achieving the mystical sound we all want to have in our instruments. He also was there when the first Gibson flat head tone ring was cast."
-- Mark W. (Northport, AL)

"The red cartoon Guru of Gruhn's Guitar Shop." -- Dennis T. (B.C, Canada)

"Freddie is a duck billed platypus whose ears became extended after years of searching for the perfect tone. Always quick with a lick, Freddie has been known to confuse and frighten many a hunter in his native bayou swampland, with an aresenal of guitar sounds ranging from Hank Williams Jr. to Jimi Hendrix. He allows his image to be reproduced on Gruhn Guitars collateral materials as it is good PR for platypusi around the world."
-- Satoru W. (New York, NY)

"One of the original "Nashville Cats," Freddie has been around for about as long as Gruhn Guitars. Some old timers seem to remember him buzzing around backstage at the original Grand Ole Opry while others believe that he is a Vandy grad who got tired of going to school but could never decide what he wanted to do with himself so he just played guitar. Freddie has an engaging personality and is always in a good mood when he is holding his six-string acoustic."
-- Eric S. (Riverside, RI)

"Freddie Ray Gaughn, ghost of all the pickers." -- Steve L. (Memphis, TN)

"Obviously a serious Gretsch fan." -- Gary M. (Setauket, NY)

"Freddie is the fret-lovin' fool of every good Gruhn Guitar geek! A lint ball from a guitar case."
-- Ron F. (Arcata, CA)

"Freddie is a cross between a Texas Longhorn bull and an invisible Martian cow that was left behind by aliens after a landing near San Antonio in 1967. That explains the fact that parts of Freddie are invisible, such as the top of his head, his horns, his legs, etc. Freddie wrode to Nashville in the back of a pickup driven by a cowboy who was coming to Gruhn's to check out their guitar inventory. Freddy escaped and was adopted by George Gruhn."
-- Rob H. (Plainfield, IN)

"Freddie is the embodied spirit of all of the amateur musicians. He is our reminder that we don't play as often as we'd like to, and he's made from the lint that sealed guitar cases manage to pick up even though they've been hermeticallu sealed and residing in the back corner of a closet."
-- Daniel N. (Sebastopol, CA)

"Freddie's a mouse (cousin to Mighty) who got side tracked in the 60's when he moved into the wall next to the Spray Booth in the Fender Factory."
-- David "Tube Head" S. (Santa Clara, CA)

"A red frog." -- Preston S. (Wellington, FL)

"...kind of looks like Ross Perot to me." -- Stan Z. (Munroe Falls, OH)

"OK, OK, it's me, I admit it!" -- Ken M. (Rexford, NY)

"Freddie is a Nashville Cat - Playin' clean as country water, wild as mountain dew. A former Orlando poice officer, one of his songs was recorded by Nanci Griffith. Bats right, throws left. "If you can't play it clean and fast, play it clean." Musical influences include George Gershwin and Leonard Blush. Once changed a flat tire for Merle Haggard."
-- Mark T. (Charlotte, NC)

"Freddie is an artist's depiction of the only known photograph of Snuggles as he was composing the classic 'Skink Love Song Of Broadway.' It is believed that he was playing a 00000000000000045."
-- T. Miller (Chatanooga, TN)