Berkshire Guitars has something other area guitar repair stores don't have: AJ Berkshire.
Berkshire has tinkered with guitars since he was in middle school. He learned to play the guitar but soon realized he lacked the talent to make a career as a musician.
"In the ninth grade, my friend and I started playing guitar and all of a sudden he just blew by me," Berkshire said.
He decided to take his guitar apart to see what it looked like inside. That piqued his interest in all aspects of the instrument, from playing it to studying how it functions, he said.
When he was 17, he began an apprenticeship with Jack Pimentel, the owner of JP Guitars in Puyallup, Wash.
After a few jobs that weren't for him -- he worked on an assembly line at an acoustic plant -- Berkshire decided he was more of a custom shop guy, he said.
"It is more fun fixing guitars for everybody else" than playing, Berkshire said.
Using his dad's business background and his skills as a luthier, Berkshire and his father, Ron, began Berkshire Guitars out of Ron's North Augusta home in November.
When they scored a partnership with Big City Music in Augusta in January, the business really took off, the elder Berkshire said. The father-son business does all the technical work for the company.
The fact that Ron Berkshire also plays guitar gives him the knowledge to work in the guitar business, he said.
The Gibson 12 String is Ron's guitar of choice; AJ loves his 1972 Gibson SG.
Berkshire Guitars is a full-line maintenance and repair shop, from restringing and tuning adjustments to custom painting.
The home business includes an office, maintenance shop and paint shop, and it offers Seymour Duncan products.
"If you own a guitar and can think of something you want done, we can do it," AJ Berkshire said. "Some things are restricted by the quality of the instrument."
Using his skills as a graphic artist, Berkshire also creates designs in Adobe Photoshop so customers have an idea of what to expect of the final product.
The father and son are working on creating the first set of Berkshire Guitars and hope to have them in stores in time for the holiday season, Ron Berkshire said. Prices will range from $200-$900.
Custom guitars can take two to five months to build, Ron Berkshire said. Painting can take up to four weeks.
"I love building them and I love working on them," Berkshire said. "I love seeing them revitalized and seeing cheaper (guitars) become better."
For more information, visit their Web site at www.berkshireguitars.com.
Berkshire Guitars can be reached by e-mail at info@berkshireguitars.com or at (803) 279-3376. Business hours are from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 1-5 p.m. Sundays.
Reach Crystal Garcia at crystal.garcia@northaugustatoday.com.
