FROM THE TOP THE NORTH AMERICAN GUITAR I BEN MONTAGUE
RARE GUITARS IN LOS ANGELES. HOW DID THAT DEAL COME TO BE? Well, once we acquired Carter’s, that was really the moment when it became clear there was an opportunity to ensure suc - cession plans for key brands within our industry. Christie and Walter Carter [the former owners of Carter Vintage Guitars] both wanted to retire, and we were able to make that happen while still maintaining the employees, the brand, and taking on the responsibility of being custodians of their name.
The plan is to professionalize their e-commerce platform, and we’re actually moving pretty quickly on that — it should launch around the first week of April. After that, the plan is to do what we did at Carter’s and open up the consignment model. We want to grow new inventory, continue buying and work on some exciting new projects. But the main thing is to take our consignment engine from Carter’s and layer it over at Norm’s, so we can really serve the West Coast. There isn’t really a dedicated dealer on the West Coast with a strong consignment process.
At the end of 2022 or beginning of 2023, Norm and I just started talking. I’ve been a fan of Norm’s for over 20 years — I mean, who hasn’t been? And now, knowing him as well as I do and spending so much time with him, every day I walk away thinking, I just love that guy even more. He’s a tough businessman, but his knowledge, his kindness, his love for what he does — that’s what I’ve really respond - ed to. I said to him when we did the deal, “You can stay home as much as you want or come in as much as you want. It’s your shop, your name, whatever you want.” And he said, “I’ll be there every day.” And he is.
The dream is to do that, maybe build out additional space within the current show - room, but keep it exactly where it is and just build on top of the amazing legacy that Norm created. And the biggest key with all of these things is understanding the people behind the person. Every founder who is the face of a brand has a phenomenal team behind them. Norm’s has some of the most incred - ible people in that store, and it’s just about working with them to grow it carefully. SPEAKING OF STORES WITHOUT SUCCESSION PLANS, IS THIS ACQUISITION BUSINESS
“WHEN WE ACQUIRED CARTER’S, THEY WERE DOING ABOUT 150 CONSIGNMENTS A MONTH AT MOST. WE NOW
REGULARLY BREAK 450 PER MONTH.”
SOMETHING YOU HOPE TO CONTINUE? Yes, there are a lot of phenomenal mom-and-pop shops in this industry, and so many great brands that were the foundation of it — especially in the vintage space. Right now our primary focus is getting Norm’s back to its full, glorious room of inventory and growing that business so we can serve that part of the country. Once we’ve nailed this with Norm’s, the plan would be to look at acquiring other locations around the U.S. FUN QUESTION: WHAT’S THE LAST BAND OR SONG YOU STREAMED? That would be Sam Fender’s “People Watching.” And there’s actually a quick story behind that. I turned 46 a couple of weeks ago, but in another life I used to play music — a lot of touring and put some records out — before I realized I was better at selling guitars than actually playing them. Anyway, one of my last gigs was in Newcastle, U.K. at this little club called The Cluny. I’d just done my sound check and was in the dressing room warming up when I heard this kid down the corridor singing. I thought, ‘That guy is incredible.’ So, I went to introduce myself. There was this young lad with just a guitar, and I told him he sounded great. Turned out it was Sam Fender. THAT’S AWESOME. IF YOU WEREN’T WORKING IN THE MI INDUSTRY, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’D BE DOING FOR WORK? I love this industry! But if I had to say, I’d probably be working in a live music venue because I love live music. MI
So, we started talking in 2023, and we very nearly did a deal around that time, but it didn’t quite come together. Then, he had his Netflix documentary coming out on his store, and I was actually lucky enough to sit in his house with his wife Marlene and watch it with them. I was nearly in tears in his living room. After the documentary came out, we went quiet for a while — he was busy, I was busy. Then, when it released, I texted him. He doesn’t really text much, but I said, “Congratulations, my friend. It’s amazing to see that come to life.” He picked up the phone right away and said, “Hey, we still haven’t figured out what’s happening next.” I said, “I’ll fly out.” We’d just opened the new Carter’s space, so it was still very early days. I flew out, we met, and we talked for about six-to-nine months before we finalized things. WHERE DO YOU HOPE TO TAKE THE BRAND? That’s a great question. When you’re this passionate about something, you want to run in and change everything — or not change everything, but you want to dive in and bring your ideas to life. But the plan is to move very slowly, with baby steps. First, just adding more inventory. All the staff are stay - ing. We’re improving the repair shop and working on basic operational flow. We’re also building a new website using our own proprietary tech stack. We’ll introduce our Exchange IMS and CRM to professionalize their systems, because that’s the biggest opportunity — they have a phenomenal online pres - ence, but their website doesn’t quite marry their socials in the way we’d want.
30 I MUSIC INC. I APRIL 2026
Powered by FlippingBook