Dave Rogers
I want the pretty blue one.
Dave’s Guitar Shop, one of Wisconsin’s — and the Midwest’s — legendary guitar stores, has come to the Madison area.
The first Dave’s opened in La Crosse in 1982 and quickly became an institution for guitar players, growing from 400 square feet to over 21,000 square feet with an inventory of 2,500 guitars. Dave’s expanded to open a second location in Milwaukee in 2017 and just opened its third location in Fitchburg on June 1.
This is a shop with high-end instruments, yet a policy where customers can take any guitar off the wall, regardless of its price tag, and sit down to play. Adam Steinquist, an employee at the Fitchburg location, says it’s been fun to see the response to the new store: “People walk in and they are giddy.
“We want everything to be accessible,” says Steinquist, a Minnesota native who bought his first guitar from Dave’s 20 years ago and interned with founder Dave Rogers in La Crosse.
Rogers opened the original shop after selling and trading guitars out of his home. Charmed from the start, he sold his first to guitar to Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick on the eve of his opening; the sale funded his sign for the store, says Steinquist. Since that time many famous musicians have visited or purchased guitars through the shop, including Eric Clapton, Joe Walsh, Eddie Vedder, and members of Pink Floyd and The Rolling Stones.
A big draw at the original location is Rogers’ impressive personal collection of vintage guitars, which includes a 1959 flame top Gibson Les Paul with a current market value of $300,000-$500,000. While the Fitchburg location doesn’t currently house any of the vintage collection, Steinquist says this is a possibility in the future.
The store does already have 400-some guitars in stock. The front of the space is called the electric room; acoustic guitars are in the back.
Dave’s carries guitars and amplifiers with household names as well as brands special to its shop. Acoustic guitars include Martin, Taylor, Collings, Huss & Dalton and Goodall. Electrics include Fender, Paul Reed Smith, G&L, Gretsch and Rickenbacker.
Dave’s will repair equipment, or ship it to La Crosse at no charge to be fixed. Steinquist also plans to offer workshops on guitar maintenance so users can fix their own guitars.
In addition to selling guitars, amps and, to a lesser extent, ukuleles, banjos and mandolins, Dave’s also buys used instruments, sells on consignment and accepts trades. “We are very fair about trade-in values,” says employee Mike Turk. “We want to make it easier for people to make the purchase they want to.”
Dave’s Guitar Shop
2990 Cahill Main, suite 200, Fitchburg
608-405-8770; davesguitar.com
