{"id":1318617,"date":"2020-03-07T23:16:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-08T06:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/sunday-profile-yes-they-are-all-steves-guitars\/"},"modified":"2020-03-07T23:16:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-08T06:16:00","slug":"sunday-profile-yes-they-are-all-steves-guitars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/sunday-profile-yes-they-are-all-steves-guitars\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday profile: Yes, they are all \u2018Steve\u2019s Guitars\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Steve’s Guitars owner Steve Standiford plays a tune on his guitar inside his shop in downtown Carbondale.<\/strong>
Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Step inside Steve\u2019s Guitars and you are immediately surrounded by guitars of every shape, style and color \u2014 a virtual army of guitars standing sentry on every wall, and looming overhead, like soldiers in the battle for authentic, original music.<\/p>\n

I asked Steve Standiford \u2014 Steve\u2019s Guitars owner and namesake \u2014 the obvious question: Are all of these actually your guitars?<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are,\u201d he said. \u201cI think there\u2019s one that might be contested. Somebody got drunk and left it here and never came back for it. So I guess it\u2019s mine now!\u201d<\/p>\n

So\u2026 how does one acquire so many guitars?<\/p>\n

\u201cOne at a time,\u201d Standiford said. \u201cExcept when I first bought (the business) I bought a couple dozen. Every other one has come in with its own unique, one-of-a-kind story. Either I found it down the street at a second hand shop, or I was in California and picked one up at a pawn shop. Some of them were just given to me.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I stopped doing retail I started just keeping all my guitars. Every once in a while I\u2019ll sell one to a musician, but that\u2019s about the only thing that pries them loose from this orphanage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite its size, (some describe it as \u201cintimate\u201d) Steve\u2019s Guitars has become one of the premiere live music venues in the region, hosting over 100 concerts a year by high-level musicians playing original music.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was one of the original intents, to have a space where you can hear original music,\u201d Standiford said.<\/p>\n

The taking of Wally\u2019s world<\/p>\n

While growing up in Southern California, Standiford delved into the L.A. music scene, including attending the now legendary Elton John performance at the Troubadour depicted in last year\u2019s biopic \u201cRocketman.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe looked normal then,\u201d Standiford said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know it at the time but Cheech and Chong were over at the bar. I was oblivious to that (celebrity) scene. They weren\u2019t famous yet, and I was just there to see the guy who did \u2018Your Song\u2019 on the radio, that I loved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Standiford and wife Mary Margaret O\u2019Gara moved in 1979 to the Roaring Fork Valley where Steve began working for the nonprofit environmental organization Roaring Fork Energy Center.<\/p>\n

The following year he bought two guitars from Wally\u2019s Music in Carbondale\u2019s Dinkle Building \u2014 the same space that is now Steve\u2019s Guitars. He started playing in a band, and was drawn into the Valley\u2019s live music scene when, a few years later, a unique opportunity presented itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cWally (Bacon, now the owner of Glenwood\u2019s Guitar Cellar) wanted to sell the place and I was able to afford it because I had acquired 5 acres in Idaho, and I was able to sell it for the same amount that Wally wanted for the business,\u201d Standiford said. \u201cSo he kick-started me into the music world.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1994 Standiford and O\u2019Gara opened Sopris Music in the space they shared with a couple of friends \u2014 luthier Louis Hayes, who now plys his trade in Paonia, and guitarist Pat Winger of Valle Musico.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we had three people take over this space, including upstairs,\u201d Standiford said. \u201cThe back room was used to make guitars \u2014 about 40 or 50 guitars were made there.\u201d<\/p>\n

After four years of holding informal musical gatherings in a small upstairs room, Standiford turned the front room of Steve\u2019s into a music hall and began booking musicians.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Hayes and Winger) eventually found better places for themselves, and I figured out a way to pay the whole rent, and that was by putting on 100 shows a year. That was the niche we settled into.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when I got stuck on \u2018let\u2019s do this; this will be our focus. Forget the coffee shop, forget all the other retail ideas, let\u2019s just be a live music venue and be the best we can,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that appeals to a lot of people because they come for the music, then they realize how much fun it is to socialize, hang out and root on a band together. It\u2019s a very inclusive kind of feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Musical admiration society<\/p>\n

The ticketing policy at Steve\u2019s Guitars is about as informal as can be, (think house show as opposed to Ticketmaster). The jar is by the door, and the price is very affordable, generally $20-$30, which is split between the band and the venue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one of our keys to success is that we don\u2019t guarantee (the bands) anything but a good sound system and a good time, and the rest is a door split, so it\u2019s kind of risk sharing,\u201d Standiford said. \u201cIn the beginning our shows were not lucrative, but for some reason we\u2019re getting more popular. People want this. They want every new venue to be this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two other keys to the venue\u2019s success are the quality of the bands \u2014 Red Rocks Ampitheatre quality like Trampled by Turtles, Lake Street Dive and Elephant Revival, among others \u2014 and the quality of the sound.<\/p>\n

Ralph Pitt of Mad Dog Ranch Studios recently helped Standiford improve the sound system in the little room, and the results have been exceptional.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sound is just magnificent,\u201d Standiford said. \u201cI\u2019ve been lucky enough to visit a whole lot of different venues all over the world, and it\u2019s the best I\u2019ve heard in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Standiford\u2019s vision for Steve\u2019s also included making it into a venue with a vibe that is all about music appreciation and respect for the performers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the Troubadour the vibe was everybody talking, but here it\u2019s like \u2018sit down and shut up, because we came to hear them,\u2019\u201d Standiford said. \u201cNinety-nine percent of the time that\u2019s what happens. People will wait until the end of the last note (to clap). Good Lord, that\u2019s attention!\u201d<\/p>\n

Standiford is currently in the midst of a fundraising drive to acquire the equipment needed to fulfill his goal of creating \u201cStreamin\u2019 Steve\u2019s\u201d \u2014 live streamed concerts from Steve\u2019s Guitars.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came up with an original goal of about $20,000 to raise to buy all new HD cameras, all new switcher, controllers, the whole nine yards,\u201d Standiford said. \u201cWe\u2019re over halfway to that goal thanks to 1st Bank of Carbondale, which put up $6,000, and GrassRoots TV is putting up funding, too. So it\u2019s starting to snowball, but it\u2019s still at the stage where we\u2019re hopeful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Standiford also will continue to partner with the town of Carbondale this summer to produce the long-standing Second Sundays in Sopris Park concert series, which are free live concerts on the second Sundays of June, July, August and September.<\/p>\n

The success of Steve\u2019s Guitars is a tribute to Standiford\u2019s business plan \u2014 or lack thereof \u2014 that he describes as \u201crandom.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want it to be organic, changing, evolving, getting better. That was always the goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

jbear@postindependent.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steve’s Guitars owner Steve Standiford plays a tune on his guitar inside his shop in downtown Carbondale.Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent Step inside Steve\u2019s Guitars and you are immediately surrounded by guitars of every shape, style and color \u2014 a virtual army of guitars standing sentry on every wall, and looming overhead, like soldiers in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1318617","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-06 13:10:21","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1318617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318617\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1318617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1318617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1318617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}