Guitar shops worth the trip in Houston

Left-handed instruments, and close to nothing else — the shop’s own account of itself, and true of everything counted here. Its about page dates the shop to 1980, when Jim Duncan and Bill Townsend opened a music store under earlier names, and says it had outgrown that first location by 1985. Duncan is described there as a left-handed guitarist who ran into the trouble of finding decent left-handed instruments in the late 1970s. The catalogue is the argument: 390 distinct instruments across acoustic, electric, used, bass and vintage — basses included — the two largest being 175 acoustics and 170 electrics, with roughly nine in ten of each showing as available.

The shop’s FAQ says it holds over 900 left-handed guitars in stock at any time, and its banner calls it the world’s largest left-handed guitar shop. Both are its own claims. The 390 counted above — guitars and basses together — falls well short of a claim about guitars alone, which may only mean it lists fewer than it holds.

The bench takes setups, neck adjustments, crack repairs and finish work.

Monday to Saturday from ten, closed Sunday. Assume it shuts at 5pm: the location page and the homepage both say so, and only the about page says 6pm.

The shop describes itself as an independent Texas small business of over 31 years’ standing. Of the two Houston shops here that publish a catalogue on their own site, this one’s is the deeper: 839 electrics, 515 acoustics, 158 basses and 48 amplifiers listed — every acoustic, bass and amp showing as available, and all but three of the electrics.

The bench is deliberately limited, and the shop says so: basic repair and maintenance in-house — restrings, setups “and more” — with anything it calls more advanced or specialised referred out to local technicians. It also asks you not to expect work while you wait.

Ten to six on weekdays, ten to five on Saturday, closed Sunday.

Two things about the address. The shop publishes it with no East or West on it, which is worth a call before you set out. And if you go looking for it yourself, it is on neither the homepage nor the contact page; the one above came off the shop’s policy pages.

The shop bills itself “Rockin’ Houston Since 1972” and describes its stock as “new and vintage gear” — both its own words, and between them most of what it says about what is on the floor. There is no catalogue to look at: the online store is Reverb.

The bench is the part it describes in detail, and it names the two luthiers separately. One covers a wide range of string instruments — mandolins, banjos, ukuleles, basses, guitars and others — from setups through complete restorations. The other specialises in acoustic string instruments such as banjos, mandolins and guitars, from a basic restring to full restorations. An amp technician works off site.

Check the hours before driving over. Both pages say Monday through Saturday and both close at 6pm, but they disagree on opening: 10am on the homepage, 11am on the contact page. Ring first.