Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabriel.
Hi Gabriel, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born in New York City, but when I was six my family moved to West Palm Beach, Florida—the same year my grandmother gave me my first guitar. I’ve been hooked ever since.
By high school, I knew I probably wasn’t destined to be a rock star, but I never lost my passion for music. I started playing with friends who shared that passion, and together we formed one of South Florida’s most successful cover bands. It was an incredible experience.
At the same time, I pursued a career in journalism, earning a B.S. in Journalism from the University of Florida in 1988. I went on to build a successful career in journalism, marketing, and advertising, working for several Florida newspapers and other companies.
In 2006, I moved my family to Middle Tennessee after accepting a position as Web Editor for Gibson Guitars. Unfortunately, the economic downturn led to significant layoffs, and I was among more than 200 employees let go in December 2009.
Almost immediately, I signed a one-year contract to work for Premier Guitar magazine as their Managing Editor. But they wanted me to move my family to their headquarters in Iowa, and we didn’t want to move, so we stayed here. At the end of that year, and unable to find full-time work, I turned to something I knew very well: guitars and finding them. Combining my experience in marketing and business with my lifelong passion for musical instruments, I began buying and selling guitars online. What started as a side hustle quickly grew into a full-time business, and that’s when my company, Blues Vintage Guitars, Inc., was born.
I initially opened a small retail shop near Nashville’s Music Row, but I soon realized most of my business was coming through online sales. After a year, I moved into a smaller showroom closer to my home in Donelson, where I focused on growing both my online presence and local customer base. With a small team and a loyal following, the business continued to expand alongside Nashville’s rise as a major music and business destination.
In 2015, I returned to the retail market with a standalone showroom in Donelson, just minutes from downtown Nashville, the airport, and the Grand Ole Opry.
Since then, Blues Vintage Guitars has become a premier destination for buying, selling, and repairing vintage guitars and high-quality used instruments. In 2016, American Songwriter magazine recognized us as one of Nashville’s top destinations for vintage guitars.
Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of buying and selling instruments with a few major artists including Pete Townshend, Vince Gill, Slash, Duane Eddy, Kacey Musgraves (I sold her “Janice”, her beloved 1957 Gibson J-45), Chris Young, Tim McGraw (Denny Hemmingson, Adam Shoenfeld, John Prestia), Jason Aldean (Jack Sizemore, Tully Kennedy), Mike Wolfe, John Prine, Nick Bockrath (Cage The Elephant), Lee Brice, Terry McBride, Stella Parton, John Fogerty, Larkin Poe, Tyler Bryant, Ed King (Lynyrd Skynyrd), among many, many others.
Besides selling Kacey Musgraves her beloved 1957 Gibson J-45 – to which she now credits much of her success to – one of my favorite stories involves finding a Martin Sigma acoustic guitar once owned by Keith Whitley. I later sold it to Chris Young, who used it to perform Whitley’s classic hit “Don’t Close Your Eyes” at the Grand Ole Opry on Oct. 26, 2011. You can find videos of his performance on YouTube.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Running and managing your own business always has its obstacles and challenges, but – at least in my case – the rewards have far outweighed them all. But it hasn’t all been easy. I’ve navigated a divorce, basically raised both of my kids by myself, all while working tirelessly nearly every day to grow my business. The Internet and social media have certainly changed the playing field, and adapting to those changes has been a challenge, as well, but a good one. When it comes to obstacles or challenges, you can’t complain. It’s all part of what you sign up for. I’ve learned to adapt and move forward, and that’s what I try to do each and every day. Also, there are more competitors now than there were back in 2010 when I started doing this for a living. Back then, I basically had one real competitor, and now there are several. So, staying ahead of game has become a key component of my strategy.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I was an investigative journalist for most of my writing career, and I love to research. And for almost seven years in the 1990s I worked for one of the biggest memorabilia dealers in the country. We were basically in the sports memorabilia arena, but eventually branched out into entertainment, autographs, historical documents, and basically anything old and vintage. It was working with him that I really learned how and where to find things, and I’ve basically applied the same strategies to finding vintage guitars and other instruments and gear. It’s worked very well for me.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Depending on how you look at life, everything has its risks. I believe it all comes down to how we handle those risks. So yes, I definitely view myself as a risk taker. My father and mother came to the United States from Cuba in the late 1950s to escape Fidel Castro and his communist regime, and hearing their stories and watching how they navigated their own lives, and taking the risks that they did, whether it was coming to this country with nothing but the clothes on their backs, or building the business they did in south Florida, it taught me that basically risk taking is a part of life, and that you don’t get anywhere unless you take those risks. Succeed or not, you don’t get anywhere in this life unless you try, so that’s what I’ve tried to do, and so far it’s been a very positive experience for me. I lost my dad in 2011, and my mom in 2021, and not a day goes by that I don’t think about them and wish they were here to see what I’ve built, all by taking risks. I think they’d be very proud. Or at least I hope they would.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bluesvintageguitars.com
- Instagram: @bluesvintageguitars
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BluesVintageGuitars/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BluesVintageGuitars
Image Credits
All photos taken by Gabriel Hernandez
