Guitar Center of Wisconsin founder Greg Ginter: From roadie to thousands of guitars and everywhere between

Brought brandy cow chips and great local music. This is maxing radio. We are local music.

Jimmy, do you remember Ginter's guitar shop over next to the harmony?

Never heard. Oh, boy. Well, I was there a million times Ginter's guitar shop.

They opened in 88. And for many years, we're located in Madison's east side on that

one avenue right next to the harmony bar. And the heart of the shop success was reputation

for its repair service and sales of vintage guitars and amps. Now located just footsteps

from Madison College, the shop's new location brought a new branding as well. And now it's

guitar shop of Wisconsin. And here tonight in the studio with us is guitar shop of Wisconsin

founder and owner, Greg Ginter. Greg, welcome to maxing radio. Ta da. He's here. I do.

I remember hearing about you once or twice. Yeah. We started out small eight hundred square

feet. Okay. Now we have 10,000. That's awesome, man. It's one of the best entrepreneurial

stories in Madison, really? Look, Greg, you know what? If you're, if you're studio,

you had to get out of there quick. You had to grab one guitar. Which would it be? 59

Yes, Paul. I just sold it to a really cool guy from Kansas City, Missouri. It was a

warmeth, an 1982 warmeth parts guitar with Felix the cat holding a lit bomb underneath

the pickup. Wow. Yeah. And that guy bought it. Let's see. I have his picks in my pocket.

I know what name he is. His name is Zito. Mike Zito. Mike Zito. Yeah. Hey, Mike. Wow.

It sounds like a great guitar. You don't cry. Tell us a little bit about your back story.

I mean, you were a roadie doing tech work for local powerhouse band, the Wizenheimers. And

even a twerk at one point, how did you drift into selling guitars and amps? Well, here's

his weird thing. It didn't start there. It started out in the band business in Dubuque,

Iowa in 1974. Wow. I was a box pusher and a roadie for a band called Tussle. Tussle from

Dickieville, Wisconsin. Oh, wow. Yes. And we played high schools and proms and made a decent,

they didn't play for less than $1,000 back in the 70s. Wow. That's that's a big day. I'm telling

you, you know, those people who played the proms and that kind of stuff, they charged double.

Wow. And we played in Galena and all out in those country farm towns in Eastern Iowa,

all the way out to Cedar Rapids. We played Plattville alongside Clicker. Oh, yeah. So it'd be Tussle

one week and Clicker the next and there were just so many good bands. Was it back then?

Were you doing originals or covers? They did just straight covers. But it was, you know,

back in the 70s. So I'm doing. Yeah, they did the King's upland. Oh, no, no, no, earlier than

that. All these jimoles classic. So you really got me by the kinks and the rolling stones. Yeah.

I have a black door and I want a red door and I want to paint it black. Yeah, 60s music. Yeah,

60s music. So how did you go today? You went to the Wies and Heimers. So I'm doing this, right?

And I'm in the bars in Dubuque and Juni's Lunkers, Loverlar bar opening up for black

old car console. Oh, yeah. Right. Was Ruby started with that? Ruby star was the singer of

a side singer, right? And then she had her own band called Grace star band.

A Grey Ghost first. And they were so good. Oh, my I loved Ruby star. She was so beautiful too.

Yeah. Red curly hair. Oh, yeah. Just a personality that just made you feel warm and fuzzy.

Didn't the Wies and Heimers? Did you guys get like this song went pretty big for you over,

I think on Fox or was it? Hang on one second here. Where's it at here? There it is.

There's a town in Wisconsin. It's not as quite as big as LN.

Oh, yeah. That was so fun. You had the whole stage jumping with this particular song.

They sold over 150,000 records. Yeah. Dale Sticker was our manager then. Oh, wow. Oh, yeah,

I have, I actually, Sam lost the singer lost his trophy or, you know, they,

Dale Sticker made up these awesome little plaques for us. And so I gave my copy back to Sam.

But Sam was out in LA now. Oh, I had no idea. That's a great story.

And so now, and then you open the store. Okay, let's continue on the way. Okay. So I'm working

in this band all through high school. And I was a lifeguard during the day. And then I

rodey that night. And then I went to college and I had to get out of the band business

because I had a work. Right. And I was a waiter in Plattville at the Timber's supper club.

I was the master waiter. Not just any master waiter. Not an ordinary waiter. I could handle two

tables at once. Wow. Right. Multitask. I wasn't that good. Anyway, and after college,

I, or during college, it was on work study. And I got, I got friends with the registrar.

And they hired me to be the University of Wisconsin, Plattville's public relations guy. Nice.

So when students from other areas or high schools came to visit, I gave them a tour.

And then I took a picture of them as in photography. And I published the picture in the local

newspaper. Wow. Trying to entice, you know, kids to come to the UW Plattville, the home of the

Badgers. And I'll pine ears. Pine ears. Yeah, not the Badgers. Yeah. We're men. We're men

and sheep. We're nervous. It's an engineering school. It really was 80% men to 20% women.

Oh, listen, and Plattville could confirm that. I'm pretty sure that they know already. They

didn't need me to tell them. Yeah. But I, it was the best eight years of my life. Greg

Gator is in studio with us here on Maxine Corredio. Greg, let's talk about the guitar shop.

I mean, when did that place open? What were the idea come from and tell us that story?

Okay. So I was selling car stereos after I graduated from college in 1986. I went to American TV

and got a job. Yeah. And I TV Lenny with TV Lenny made me who I am today. One of the nicest men

seriously. He's great. He had a heart. He has a heart of gold. He just retired. He sold his

bike shop and he's finally just going to take it easy. He bikes. Yeah. So I worked there until 1990

and then I transferred to a car stereo, a national car stereo company as a customer service rep.

And so I went on this little stint and I worked in freeport at MTX and then I worked at power

precision power industries and rockford. And I worked for sound craftsmen and Los Angeles.

Wow. And I finally decided that I just couldn't do that anymore. So I came back to to Madison and

got a job selling car stereos at a different car stereo store. And on Easter Sunday in 1994, I was

driving with my brother Steve to have Sunday Easter dinner. And on Atwood Avenue, there it was

for rent. And it was the original guitar shop. I remember. Yeah. So it was the original guitar shop

on the first level. Yes. And a lady lived upstairs. The next door was an aquarium shop,

which was the original American TV that Lenny's brother opened up long, long ago and then the harmony.

Yep. So I was working at American TV and the Wyzenheimer singer Sam worked with me and he asked

me to come along and help out the band. I said, okay. And so all at once there began an 88

me getting a Gibson dealership. And I started buying parts under it was called the guitar museum.

Oh, yeah. First. And it just went on from there. And then I quit selling car stereos and just open

up full time. And it's been going ever since. Well, now that place, I remember when you walk in

there was just packed full of instruments and guitars. Tiny rows, you could barely get through

there like a little path. Tell us now about the new store because that is huge.

The new store is a lot bigger. It has parking. So you don't get your car towed away while you're

in buying your guitar strings. And the original store was 800 square feet. And we had a rule there

to get to the guitars. You had a climb up amplifiers. And the rule was never step on an amp with wheels.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's good. It was. And then we had I stored in the I lived in that place in

the back of it. And I had a whole bedroom back there. I had a hundred inch projection TV because

I was in stereo business. So I had all these electronics, you know. Right. And I set a box for

an eggnator amp on my little stove. And after about two weeks, the pilot lights, it

combusted and caught on fire. Oh, geez. Yeah. And Sid, my Sid Williams, my famous repairman from

the Good and Law music days, he ran outside and grabbed the holes and put the fire out. Wow.

But then the fire department had come and they'd, you know, we had used a fire extinguisher.

And so we had a clean all the guitars. So the insurance company paid us to move in my lovely

wife Monica, who was very adept at looking for real estate on the interior web found this store

over by MATC. Wow. So we moved over there. Nice. And it's 10,000 square feet. It's a great

thousand square feet. And it's still packed. I don't, yes. Do you still, you don't have the rules

still don't step on the amps with the wheels? No, we have a new rule now, but it's not appropriate.

Oh, my. Well, tell us about like your your inventory and your vintage guitar specialty.

Oh, my. I have probably in the store right now between two and three thousand guitars. Wow.

Ranging from 1851. Wow. Until, you know, we can't keep up with used acoustic guitars because

people by their acoustic guitar really are attached to them. And they tend to keep that first

acoustic guitar. Yeah. But they'll come in and buy a second one, you know, but now listen,

the manufacturing is all CNC router. It's so good. Even the $300 guitars perform like a thousand

dollar guitar. Well, there's a there's a pro tip for you right there for your, you know, musician

out there who doesn't have a lot of cash, you know, you come in and see me. I'll show you all around

that department. The one thing that hear musicians around Madison talk about a lot in regards to

the guitar shop of Wisconsin is that this, this shop, you know, the repair shop. You guys,

you are kidding. You guys have a great reputation for that. I have 10 repair people. I used to say

this job would be great. If it wasn't for the customers, now I say this job would be great.

If it wasn't for the repair staff and you used to have said he was like, I still have said,

said still there. Said doesn't work as fast as he once did, but we're all, you know,

getting on an age. Nice. And said is the head of the shop. He sits back here. I would never know if

Sid didn't ever leave because when I come to work, Sid's at his desk. And when I leave,

Sid's at his desk. Rain or shine, he is the old dependable and he is so well loved. And I

I'll tell you, there's so many people come in and say, yeah, I need Sid to work on this guitar.

But I have, I just hired another really fancy guitar repairman from the portage area,

who just joined our staff. We have three electric guys, two full-time high-end acoustic guys.

And then we have Sid and we have three amplifier people. That's amazing.

Congratulations. Sid, no, it's Sid one's fixed my lightsaber. Oh, there you go. May the force be

with Sid. He can fix anything. That's it. That's it. He knows everything too, just asking.

So you're right on right street across from MATC. What's the address? 1804 right street. Look

for the monument sign out on the thing. It's kind of a strip mall technical center area. Look

small from the outside, not small. Delta lab brewing is right next to you, right? Delta? Is that

the place? No, it's a, no, it's called. It's a brewery. All to somebody. All brewing. That's it.

Oh, they're a marvelous neighbor. Yeah. And then we have the marijuana store right next to that.

Oh, a dispensary? Yes, for everybody. Okay. It is forever. And we have a computer repair

place right next to the other. Yeah, there's a whole bunch of things and you can spend a day there.

Yeah. Greg, thank you so much for coming tonight and a day there. You're good, man.

And it's thank you for making that awesome commercial. You really, in all 35 years of my business,

rocker made me a commercial long, long ago. Yeah. And it was good. But I have to tell you,

that is, it's fancy. Well, the concept of the, you want your guitar to sound like it's

whatever. It just came to be while I was in the shower. Greg, I was thinking a few miles in the

shower. Oh, no. I don't think the people want to hear about it. Oh, boy, that's against one of the

rules that he has of the store. Greg, I'm going to give you the last word here. Give me 30 seconds

when you hear this. What's going through your head right now?

Yeah, you heard the parable 30 seconds, right? It's not the intro to a wise and ever song.