Store History

The Daily Telegraph Article - Link

Gladesville Guitar Factory is Australia's longest running guitar store under the same ownership. We specialise in acoustic, electric and classical guitars, an eclectic array of folk instruments, such as banjos, mandolins and ukuleles, accessories, effects pedals and repairs. Our retail premises also hosts a music tuition facility, Guitar Factory School, training the young musicians of tomorrow and many mature age players, picking up an instrument later in life.

Over the years, our store has been the destination store for musicians of all levels, from beginner to some of the most famous guitarists in the world, who have all come to love our laid-back style combined with a level of product knowledge and experience in our team that is unmatched.

Guitar Factory Gladesville originally started in the early sixties as a guitar repair business known as DeKroo Bros Music. It was one of the few guitar repair shops in Sydney and did work for major retailers such as Nicholsons, Palings and Landis Music as well as wholesalers such as Yamaha Australia and CBS who were the Fender distributors at the time. Up to a dozen Fenders would go through the workshop each week as resprays for CBS.

The business changed hands in early 1972 and the name was changed to Guitar Factory.

For over 49 years the store has been under the same family management and has always focussed on the niche instrument market. Our goal is to provide a down-to-earth, pressure free environment, we are passionate about gear and the customers we sell to. we pay attention to the finer details with first-hand knowledge and experience. We love to play and sell the finest Guitars, Amps, Effects and Classicals and are Sydney’s only specialist store for banjos, mandolins, bluegrass and folk instruments.

We have continued to introduce new, boutique brands, importing directly from US suppliers. We have built strong personal relationships with the founders of these renowned companies, based on our 49 year reputation in the industry. This creates a point of difference for our store, when we become the exclusive retail outlet for highly sought-after niche labels. This includes Handmade Amps, Boutique Acoustic Guitars, Boutique Effect Pedals, Mandolins and Banjos.

As retail moves more and more online, we see the value of our destination retail store going up, not down, as we embrace eCommerce whilst working harder on making the real world retail experience even more special. We are constantly improving the store retail space, systems, inventory management, communications, accounting and customer processing and this will always evolve.

As our shop moves through its 5th decade, the business is transitioning from father to son and with that comes a new generation of thinking, management style and embracing of new technologies. We will continue to evolve in this direction but our roots will get stronger as we reach a whole new generation of tomorrow's musical legends, inspired by all those who came before them, walking into our store looking for the same thing - a Guitar Shop with a legacy they can be a part of.

We can fix just about anything you can break and we pay attention to the finer details with first-hand knowledge and experience. We have a very strong customer base and do our best to encourage return business. We love to play and sell the finest guitars, effects and classical guitars and are Sydney’s only specialist store for Guitars, banjos, mandolins, bluegrass and folk instruments.