When most people think of a guitar store or music store, big nationwide businesses such as Guitar Center come to mind. The problem with this is that you are restricted to their selection of brands, their styles of guitar and repairs could take weeks or even months to finish at an off-site center. What if I told you there was a place right here in Jacksonville that repairs and hand makes custom-built guitars?
Located just off Beach Boulevard near the Southside Boulevard intersection you can find Dale’s Instrument Repair; a place where all your wildest guitar dreams can come true. “You can come to us and say, ‘I want a guitar that’s shaped like an ox, have the tail for the neck, I want it to shoot fire from its mouth and I want to add a mandolin over here on one leg.’ Alright, we can do that for you,” Dale Roberts, owner and founder of the shop, said. “If you can think it, we’ll figure out a way to do it.”
Dale Roberts operates the store with the help of Chris Kemp, a Jacksonville native and one of the shop’s luthiers, which is essentially a fancy word for someone who builds and repairs guitars.
The duo builds and designs custom guitars and does all their repairs in house. From plank of wood to guitar, when someone purchases an instrument at Dales Instrument Repair, it’s all made here in Jacksonville. Roberts, who was born and raised in Connecticut, has always been around guitars and has played since he was very young. Before making the move to Jacksonville, Roberts played in several bands, including a reasonably well known southern rock band called Coal who toured with famous bands such as Lynyrd Skynyrd and Molly Hatchet.
Roberts originally got the idea to open a guitar store after having so many negative experiences with letting other people work on his instruments. “I just started working on my own [guitars] and my friends’, I actually broke a few guitars before I started doing them right,” Roberts said. “Then I just went to school to finish off what I didn’t know and from there on out it just seemed like the logical thing to do.”
Roberts attended luthier school at Luthiers International Guitar Repair & Building School where he received certification to repair a wide range of guitars including big names such as Ibanez and Gibson. Kemp said Roberts was also an accountant in Connecticut, but got tired of it and after saving a bit of money, he left for Jacksonville. Since Roberts arrived in Jacksonville 11 years ago, he has always operated the repair store, though it has moved three times from its original location. Dale’s Instrument Repair has always been moderately successful, but to Roberts, success is measured by factors other than just making money.
“Success I suppose is measured in different ways, but I would say yes [we are successful]. It’s a tough market,” said Roberts. “Jacksonville is tough for everything in general, especially this.”
Starting a business in Jacksonville is a seemingly daunting task. The city’s massive size and its various communities and neighborhoods can make it a challenging place for small businesses to branch out. Roberts said the most challenging part of running his store is getting publicity and increasing their customer base. “If we had the money to be on a television commercial or a billboard we’d probably be fine,” said Roberts.
The store makes most of its profits from setting up guitars and doing basic repairs, but both Kemp and Roberts are always looking to build more. When asked to “briefly” describe the building process, Roberts said, “A lot of blood, sweat and swearing.” Each guitar starts with wood pieces purchased from a wood supplier and is hand shaped, cut and carved ultimately into the completed instrument.
At the shop, Kemp said the saying goes, “Building a guitar is nothing more than a series of mistakes that you work your way through to accomplish the goal.” Each acoustic guitar takes several months to complete, adding up to roughly 1000 hours per instrument. The electric guitars are a much quicker job taking only a few weeks. Both agreed that the shop specializes in unique, custom-built guitars and wants to build instruments that you cannot buy anywhere else. “Come to us and give us something unique. If I’m going to sit here and cut my fingers and bleed and swear, give me something we’re going to be proud of when it leaves the store,” said Roberts. “That’s the difference between us [and other stores], we’re not afraid to figure something out.”
Recently, Roberts and Kemp designed a device to prevent acoustic guitars from folding up and warping, a common problem in many acoustic guitars as they age over time. The shop has even requested an official patent on the device. This problem has perplexed luthiers for decades, but the pair has solved it by placing two carbon fiber supports from that sit inside the body of their custom-built acoustic guitars, helping to stabilize the guitar’s body and prevent warping.
Since opening shop, Roberts has sold over 250 guitars, 12 of which include their patented device. In addition, Roberts said the shop has sold guitars to people in several places throughout the country, though most of the buyers come from Florida. “There’s nothing like having a guitar built for you. To have one actually built from the ground up and be placed in your hand, that’s what it’s about,” Roberts said. “That’s satisfaction.”
