ABOUT US

Real Guitars is owned and operated by Frank Greathouse and Phyllis Hincher.

We first opened the doors in January, 1999 in a cute little building smack-dab in the middle of Punta Gorda, a great little town on the banks of the Peace River way down in southwestern Florida. Punta Gorda is blessed with a many musicians and wannabes who form the “guitar army” that gathers every Thursday night to sing and play and generally make merry. Punta Gorda needed a music store. Having just moved to Charlotte County, we needed a way to earn a living. Frank’s long-term GAS (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome) made it a natural fit for him. My job was to keep us from going broke. It’s a good thing I like a ch allenge.

Real Guitars started with Frank’s collection – everything but his “babies” got a price tag – and a Martin dealership. We built from there with credit cards and home equity, adding National Resophonic, Gretsch, Fender, Guild, and so on over the next few years. About the time we finally became profitable, we decided the building was too small and started looking for a new location.

What we found, however, was in Fort Myers – downtown Fort Myers a block or so from the Caloosahatchee River, an area now called the River District. There was this little old Florida enclave sheltered from the Fowler Street noise by big old trees. The shop building is an old house that had a family living there in the 1900 census which, in this part of the world, is prehistoric. Two barracks buildings, built in 1938 at the Buckingham Air Field and moved here in 1948, face one another across a landscaped courtyard and house four apartments. The fourth building on the property became our home, a little earlier than we had planned when Hurricane Charley blew through Charlotte County.

We bought this property in June 2003 and after enough aggravation from the City of Fort Myers to give even easy-going people ulcers, we finally opened for business just in time for Thanksgiving that year. Two stores, 30 miles apart. What were we thinking?

Then along came Charley.  We had a bad feeling about Charley from the beginning. The entire town of Punta Gorda is five feet above sea level, and they were calling for at least 10 feet of water from the storm. We rented a moving van and loaded up as much inventory as it would hold and parked it at the shop in Fort Myers. Thursday afternoon (Charley hit on Friday the 13^th) when we were packing up, the folks at the coffee shop adjacent to Real Guitars, laughed at us. Saturday morning, they called us the smartest people in Punta Gorda.  Poor Punta Gorda! What a mess!

But thanks to Travelers’ Insurance who paid promptly and generously (really!), our very handy friend Emil from North Carolina and Frank’s practical knowledge of how to do most anything, we were open again in late October. We arranged with Travelers’ to sell the guitars that were left behind and damaged in the storm and to donate the proceeds to help Charlotte County schools rebuild their music programs. We raised a little more than $5000 for the cause.

With very little retail space left in Punta Gorda, however, our little building was suddenly a hot property. When we were offered five times what we paid, we decided to give ourselves a break and just run the one store in Fort Myers. And so, here we are.

We’re Martin Marquis dealers now and carry a nice selection of Fender Custom Shop guitars as well as National Resophonic Guitars, G&L, and Robin – all American-made instruments. What Frank really loves are the vintage instruments that come our way.  Problem is: he doesn’t want to sell them. (GAS continues.)

We’re trying to make a space for ourselves between the Big Box up the street and the ultimate Big Box, the Internet and those warehouse websites. We carry “the good stuff” and lines that are not available just anywhere. We also try to identify the best low-cost instruments to get beginners off to a good start. Surely there’s room in this world for an old-fashion guitar store with a beautiful showroom, friendly and knowledgeable staff, customer service before and after the sale.

It was at Punta Gorda’s Guitar Army that Frank met his current musical partner, Paul LaRonde. Together they formed an acoustic blues duo called Screamin’ & Cryin’.

Paul, from Syracuse, N.Y. has played and sung in various bands, including The Kingsnakes, Little Georgie and the Shuffling Hungarians, and Doctor Root's Medicine Show, and toured with John Lee Hooker and Earl King.  Paul plays guitar, bass, slide guitar, and sings lead.

The material ranges from legends like Charlie Patton, Jim Jackson, Tommy Johnson, Robert Johnson, and Muddy Waters to originals.  The songs are from many eras and writers, but are selected to fit the musical styles of the Delta and Piedmont. The tunes refer back to the days when blues was lively dance music, lusty and vigorous.  We think it still has relevance in this synthesized, processed world. For bookings, call Frank at Real Guitars. 239-334-4638 or toll free at 888-334-4638

My own background is in education, systems and process analysis, and business management. I sang back-up with the afore-mentioned World of Trouble (aptly named) and lately Frank and I are both involved with a “quirky” rhythm-and-blues band called Grits & Gravy.