A stop at Rudy's Music in SoHo

My brother, who’s a talented musician (here's the link to his band's Website), was in New York this weekend. We were walking in the lovely neighborhood of SoHo when our path randomly led us to a beautiful and unexpected music store: Rudy’s Music.

Rudy’s Music Soho opened in 2009 as an expansion of the famous Rudy’s Music in Midtown, whose clientele over the past 32 years has included Mick Jagger and John Mayer. The owner of the place, the guitar designer and collector Rudy Pensa, has in his new location what he calls a “guitar gallery” : the store contains over 100 vintage hand-built acoustic and electric models.

Photo credit: Jean-François Gagnon

Rudy Pensa came to America in the 70’s from his native Argentina with a suitcase and a dream to be a part of the music industry. He started his business with only a few guitars but has now established a world-wide reputation. Rudy also designed Pensa custom Guitars, his own brand name, which continues to be hand made in his shop.

Here you can watch a short video about the collection of vintage bases hidden in the basement of the SoHo store (if only I new that before we went there... my brother is a bassist).

Gibsons and Fenders start at $2,000, while some retro models can reach $200,000; impressive! Moreover, the 3 levels 2,400-square-foot store is beautiful and it is always enjoyable to hear musicians trying the guitars…