Editorial
Front Page - Friday, December 25, 2009
Picker’s Exchange home to a different kind of guitar hero
David Laprad
The Picker’s Exchange on Brainerd Avenue might look like a mom and pop operation, but don’t let the shabby carpet and rickety back door fool you: the store is precisely what owner Chris Stephens wants it to be.
From the well-worn couch that sits alongside the wall of electric guitars, to the chaotic mountain of amps that cuts through the center of the store, to Margaret, his boxer, nothing happened by accident.
“We’re the Floyd’s Barbershop of music stores,” Stephens says. “You can play what you want or just sit on the couch and shoot the breeze with your buddies.”
Across the store from Stephens, a man is perched on a stool strumming an acoustic guitar he pulled off one wall. Instead of enjoying the company of his friends, his young daughter dances around his feet, ready to leave.
That’s where Margaret usually comes in. “She gives customers who bring their wives or girlfriends in here more time to look around,” Stephens says, laughing. “Women fall in love with her.”
That makes Margaret the most important employee at The Picker’s Exchange, as there are a lot of instruments to browse. Hung in neat rows along the walls, Stephens has everything from refurbished guitars, to sleek new models, to a smattering of vintage product.
“In terms of acoustic guitars, we have everything from little $89 three quarters to a $4,000 Gibson Southern Jumbo,” Stephens says. The average price on a quality acoustic guitar at The Picker’s Exchange runs between $500 and $800.
The price for a good electric guitar starts at around $200 and climbs a steep hill from there. “We’re asking $1,800 for our ‘78 Les Paul Deluxe and $1,000 for our Les Paul Studio. It’s used but in excellent shape. And we’re asking $5,000 for an old Johnny Smith.”
No matter what a customer spends on a guitar, The Picker’s Exchange has given it the same loving treatment. “When our stuff comes out of the box, someone sits down and plays it for a few minutes. Sometimes, even new, expensive guitars need fretwork,” Stephens says. “When you buy a guitar here, it’s going to leave tuned, set up and ready to go.”
Over time, a guitar will get to the point where it needs a tuneup. The truss rod might need adjusting for proper relief, for example, or the bridge might need fine-tuning for accurate string height. The Picker’s Exchange handles these and other repairs, as well as customization requests, on the premises.
“That’s one thing that’s kept us in business during these lean times,” Stephens says. “A standard set up is $18 plus strings. We can knock out a couple dozen of those in a day.”
To complete the package, The Picker’s Exchange offers lessons. “If you sell instruments, you need to have instructors in your building,” Stephens says. “Your students are your customers!”
Stephens doesn’t just repair and sell guitars; he plays them, too. He credits the beginning of his love affair with the instrument to a viewing of “A Hard Day’s Night” in his hometown of Huntsville, Ala., when he was 10 years old. “Hanging out with my buddies and being chased by girls seemed like a good way to make a living,” he says.
Like all musicians, Stephens paid his dues, playing in clubs, churches and on the road until he settled down in Lake Charles, La., making “decent money” performing in clubs a few nights a week. In time, he and his wife moved to Chattanooga to be closer to family. Stephens intended to continue playing, but when he found out Chattanooga lacked a club scene, he took a job at a pawn shop. “That kept me involved
with the things I like, which are guitars, stereos and guns,” he says, grinning.
One day, Stephens went to Champion Music to buy a shipping box for a guitar he’d sold through a magazine. Like his fateful viewing of “A Hard Day’s Night,” his life changed when he learned the owner was looking to sell the entire store. Although it didn’t happen
overnight, Stephens eventually became the owner, and Champion Music became The Picker’s Exchange.
“I’m a lucky man,” he says. “I don’t hate what I do for a living; I look forward to coming here.”
So do his customers, many of which visit the store on a regular basis to see what Stephens has purchased. “You never know
what might walk through my back door,” he says.
One thing customers do know they’ll find is a place where the workers know guitars, where they can ask a thousand questions and always get a kind reply and where they can take their time to make the right decision. And they have Margaret to thank for the last one.
|
|