My Happy Place
Willie's American Guitars - on Cleveland Avenue in Saint Paul is one of the coolest places on earth:
A slender, soft-spoken man who sports a small triangle of beard below his lower lip, Westgor, 47, is a former guitar player and singer who started collecting used guitars in his teens. That collection -- 13 instruments in all -- formed the initial inventory when he opened his store in 500 square feet of space on St. Paul's Cleveland Avenue in 1989.
The space has grown to 3,500 square feet and the inventory has blossomed to more than 800 guitars, upward of 250 amplifiers and a variety of other equipment.
The result is a business that grossed $2.5 million in 2004 and headed for nearly $2.8 million this year to continue a pattern of about 13 percent annual growth for the past six years.
The core of his business, Westgor insists, is the local bands who frequent the store in search of top-quality gear. About two-thirds of the business is top-of-the-line new and used equipment -- sorry, but "we don't sell student instruments," he said -- and the typical sale is $750 to $1,500.
But it is the other one-third of the business -- his collection of vintage guitars, some of which sell for five or six figures -- that has given the business its cachet.
Here's the part that amazes me:
His highest-priced deal came four years ago, when he sold a 1960 Gibson Les Paul model for $160,000, which would be "a bargain today," Westgor said.
His most expensive offering right now is a $35,000 1958 Fender Stratocaster. There's also a 1939 Martin D-18 priced at $25,000 -- no dickering allowed, considering that "it'll be worth another 10 percent next year."
I haven't looked at the whole collectible guitar market for a decade or more. I remember when a mint 1960 Les Paul ran for under $5K.
Anyway - a trip to Willie's is just about my favorite way to spend an hour after work. Even if all I can afford is a new set of strings and some picks...
Posted by Mitch at
September 28, 2005 06:19 AM
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Isn't it funny how times and tastes change?
Martin couldn't give away dreadnought guitars back in the 30s. Now it's the most blatant ripped-off design in history, and every acoustic player would love to own a prewar model.
Other good examples are the Gibson Flying V and Explorer; both were immediate flops when they came out in the late 50s, became HUGE in the 70s (Try to imagine a 70s metal concert without them...well, except for the Nuge). You need a big bank account to get them now.
I love good guitar stores...that and good tool shops.
Posted by: Paul at September 28, 2005 11:00 AMCommon ground!
I have a decent collection of vintage amps and own way way too many guitars.
Willies just causes my bad case of GAS (Gear Aquistion Syndrome) to flare up and then I HAVE to have some cool new pedal that they have.
I have to avoid the place lest my disease get the best of me!
Posted by: JB Doubtless at September 28, 2005 11:05 AMPaul and JB:
Exactly.
A good guitar, tool, gun or book shop is a treasure.
As to GAS: Finances have kept it in remission. But I'm soooo jonesing for a couple of new guitars these days; I haven't bought a new acoustic since I was 15, and my main electric (a highly hotrodded '60 Jazzmaster) was another I bought in high school.
After my kids are out of high school - or after I get my next unspoken-for windfall - I got a stack of Grants that are earmarked for Willie's.
Posted by: mitch at September 28, 2005 11:26 AMJB, I hear you. I don't have to go to a guitar shop to have GAS...making the mistake of visiting eBay does it also.
Mitch: so does bookstores, tool or gun shops, and their eBay equivalents.
Posted by: Paul at September 28, 2005 12:37 PMAhh Willie's!! One article said the sales people were a bit aloof. Well, if aloof is letting you pick up a guitar and stum it without a sales person asking you a thousand times what they have to do get you to take it home today, then I'll take aloof any day of the week. Whether you buy a guitar once a week or once every three years your treated with the same respect. Who wouldn't like that?
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