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Guitar Tex is owned by Mark Waldrop who is a San Antonio native but spent a number of years in Greenwich Village beginning in early 1969 where he & his musical partner Bob Rountree quickly found work in the clubs & coffee houses like the Gaslight Cafe, The Village Gate, & The Cafe Au Go Go. On weekends when not gigging Mark would be found working at the Fillmore East. These experiences exposed him to a wide range of music & styles; in the West Village opening for the likes of Doc Watson & Ramblin' Jack Elliot, & at The Fillmore East seeing some of rock music's most famous performers at their peak. Hanging out in Matt Umanov's music shop was a treat & was in some ways a later inspiration for what would eventually be Guitar Tex.

Mark attended Bryan Galloup's guitar building & repair school in 1993, after moving back to San Antonio, realizing that the area was lacking in experienced guitar technicians. After honing his skills in the basement of 100 year old Alamo Music, with $1,500.00, his tools & a handful of used instruments he set up his own shop in Olmos Park, with a vision of an intimate retail space combined with a full service repair shop.

In 2005 Gus Wanner joined the crew, bringing encyclopedic knowledge of all things guitar related & he's a fine player. Gus worked for many years at a noted guitar shop in Washington D.C.   

In the back right hand corner is John Thurston's workshop. John is among the few repair persons deserving of the term "luthier", which is usually used to refer to a technician at best. A true luthier can & does build instruments from scratch. He knows the entire ins & outs of what makes a great guitar work properly because he's spent years studying such things & practicing his craft. Whether it's a simple set-up, refret, structural repair or cosmetics John brings a masters' touch to the job & you can be assured of a job done right & done well. John has over 30 years of experience in fine instrument repair & building.

After 11 years in the area Guitar Tex has earned the reputation as the go to place for quality instruments & the only place in the area where you will find knowledgeable help on details like wood selection, scale length, nut width, as well as knowledge of folk instruments.

We're celebrating 11 years in San Antonio & South Texas. Come by & see why we're still around.

Almost everyday we meet someone new or see a new & unusual intrument the likes of which we've never seen before. And even among jaded guitar nerds who've seen it all, we can usually show you something cool & exciting.

At first glance we're just a nice little guitar shop with some good guitars. Keep looking & you'll find that we are also members of the community. We often know our clientele by name & what they like & don't like in guitars, allowing us to truly be of assistance in locating just the right guitar for the right person. Come in & introduce yourself & let us get to know each other.

When I was a lttle boy my father owned a lumber business in San Antonio whose slogan was "We don't want all the business. Just yours!". Not the most original quote ever & surely borrowed from someone else. My father died when I was less than 4 years old but I remember him & the lumber yard where I spent my toddler years. And I also remember the giveaway pencils & yardsticks that had that slogan on them. Since he died far too young & I'm left with faint recollections of him, I've decided to retake that slogan because it says things just right:

"WE DON"T WANT ALL THE BUSINESS. JUST YOURS!"                                                

Guitar Tex is a proud sponsor of Ray Wylie Hubbard's "Roots & Branches of Americana" on New Braunfels' KNBT 92.1 FM, Tuesday nights from 7-9 pm. This is an excellent broadcast featuring the best regional & national talent in a casual live format. Ray Wylie Hubbard is, of course, a very fine songwriter & musician whose skills seem to just keep getting even better. He ably plays the role of host, giving the performers space to display their talents & asking engaging & enlightening questions as an interviewer.  Give it a listen!