Profile

Musician and recording engineer Matt DeSilva rose through the ranks at Manny's Music—the famous music superstore on West 48th Street's "Music Row”—before leaving in 2005 to open his own store, Guitar Man. What makes the small shop stand out from other guitar retailers is the focused selection of high-quality gear from smaller manufacturers. Guitars are predominantly electric and bass, and attract professionals with labels such as Tom Anderson, Suhr, and G&L, which was Leo Fender's last company. The decent selection of acoustics includes Canada-based Godin and affordable Simon & Patrick. A range of guitar accessories like amps, pedals, strings, timers, and straps are also on hand. The store welcomes trade-ins and consignments, and its repair shop provides speedy fixes on instruments under warranty and discounts on guitars without warranty coverage that are purchased there. — Caroline Kinneberg