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<\/p>\nEddie West knows guitars. As the owner of Area 22 Guitars in the heart of Brevard, it\u2019s his business to know what musicians want in electric and acoustic guitars and other stringed instruments and accessories. But for him, it\u2019s more than business: it\u2019s a lifelong passion.<\/p>\n
West, a North Carolina native, describes his first guitar as a \u201cpiece of junk.\u201d The strings were so far off the neck that it was near impossible to play, much less tune. He soon upgraded to a better instrument. \u201cBut after playing for four or five years, I realized I wasn\u2019t getting significantly better,\u201d he recalls with a laugh. So he signed on with a teacher in Asheville. \u201cHe set me on the right path to really<\/i> learn the guitar,\u201d West says. \u201ctheory, harmony, all that stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was hooked. \u201cSo in 1982 I went over to UNCA to see what kind of courses they were having,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThey said, \u2018Well, we just added a music program!\u2019 And I said, \u2018Sign me up!\u2019\u201d West studied music and audio engineering, and upon graduation he and a friend opened a recording studio of their own, Heart Recording.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But as much as Western North Carolina is a hotbed of musical activity today, in the late \u201880s West may have been a bit too far ahead of the curve. \u201cThe music scene in Hendersonville just wasn\u2019t going to support a recording studio,\u201d he says. \u201cSo in 1990, we moved the studio down to Charleston.\u201d<\/p>\n
The studio thrived in the coastal city, but West was homesick. \u201cI missed the mountains,\u201d he says. So in 2004, he and his wife moved their family back to Western North Carolina. Once settled, he started teaching guitar. And he started thinking out loud about opening a guitar shop. He knew the kind of quality, craftsman-made guitars he liked, and he believed that he wasn\u2019t alone in his desire for to avoid mass-produced instruments.<\/p>\n
Guitar manufacturers Fender, Gibson, Martin and others are globally popular makers of musical instruments. But in his dealings with fellow musicians, West was convinced that Western North Carolina would be a good market for guitars and amplifiers that don\u2019t roll off an assembly line. He believed that many of the region\u2019s musicians prefer the kind of gear that\u2019s hand built by artisans, not factory workers.<\/p>\n
So he opened his shop in 2007, carrying instruments made by luthiers, as well as amplifiers built by artisans like Fred Taccone at Divided by 13 Amplifiers in California. \u201cSome of my guitar builders could be a four- to five-man shop,\u201d West says. \u201cThey just want to make a good product, and make a decent living doing it. It\u2019s small business America with these guys, and I love being a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once you play a good boutique guitar or amp, \u201cyou never go backward,\u201d West says. He believes that for anyone serious about buying a quality guitar or accessory, there\u2019s only one path. \u201cThe first thing they\u2019ve got to do,\u201d he says, \u201cis do their research. And then get to a shop and play something.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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