ABOUT

MY WORKSHOP

Located in my lakeside home in Colchester, Vermont, Lakeside Guitar is workshop for acoustic and electric stringed instruments. Unlike other luthier and instrument service providers, Lakeside Guitar is not a retail guitar shop or a guitar maker. My business is focused entirely on repairs, modifications, upgrades and custom work for your beloved guitars, basses, ukeleles, banjos, mandolins, fiddles, etc

Currently I am equipped to accomplish most repairs and upgrades to acoustic and electric instruments, including full assembly of electric guitars. I am in the process of installing a band saw for body/neck work, and a ventilated spray booth for finish work.

MY PHILOSOPHY

Service to Others. To quote Dan Millman from Way of the Peaceful Warrior, "There is no higher purpose." Every part of my business is designed and refined to be a service to you. Please let me know if there's anything I can do to improve. 

I am NOT a guitar snob. I appreciate all instruments (and their owners) with equal enthusiasm. Bring me anything you want to play! No matter who you are or what kind of music you make with it, if it's got strings, I'm there for it.

I like informed customers. It makes my job easier. If there is anything that seems unclear to you about the plan, please ask for more detail. I am always happy to nerd out about guitars.

My customers are players. While every guitarist becomes a collector of sorts, my customers are players, not museum curators. I believe that nothing is more enjoyable than a guitar or bass that feels effortless to play.

Never Settle. This motto is scribbled on tape above my first workbench. In frustrating moments, which occur quite often when working on instruments, I look up at the tape. Nothing leaves my shop without my 100% best effort.

MY STORY

I began playing guitar over 35 years ago, and still have a lot to learn. That's what I love about playing music, the growth never ends. Like many guitar players, I was intimidated and clueless about the maintenance and repair for a long time. Over the last decade or so, I started to get very curious about working on and modifying my guitars.

Like most musicians in their youth, I had big dreams of touring the world. After many years playing around the Northeast in the 90s and aughts, it became pretty clear that "rockstar" was not in my cards. Instead I started a business, and then another. I even got to appear on ABC's Shark Tank in 2012.

When I closed a nine-year business in May 2024, it presented me with a unique opportunity to change gears. I invested in some luthier educational resources to elevate my guitar repair and modification chops to professional level. 

Little did I know how much joy it would bring!

As it turns out, restoring other folks' guitars has been deeply fulfilling. Each guitar is like a unique puzzle to solve, and getting it just right is super satisfying. Seeing your satisifcation when I give it back to you? Even better. And, of course, I get to play so many different guitars!

C'mon in and let's talk guitars.
~Dan