The old Antiques Building in The Gulch has seen new life since Carter Vintage Guitars moved its showroom from a building across the street on Eighth Avenue.
Outside the space, murals with bright colors on the walls feature guitars that have been sold at the shop. As soon as the door opens, patrons are greeted by the iconic image of Maybelle Carter strumming a guitar that was once painted along the side of the old guitar shop.
“The thing about the old store is you would walk in and it had that pop; it had that wow factor," said Ben Montague, CEO of Carter Vintage Guitars. "We really worked hard to try to recreate that here, all while simultaneously trying to make it feel that it was a home from home and that it felt familiar.”
Walter and Christie Carter, co-founders of Carter Guitars, own the building that previously housed the vintage guitar shop at 625 Eighth Ave. S. and have yet to say what they plan to do with the property.
Before customers walk into the showroom of the new space, a wall full of pictures greets shoppers who can see Walter, Christie, Ben and famous musicians who have all visited the former Carter space to buy an instrument.
Ben’s favorite memory of the previous space was selling a rare instrument to Kirk Hammett of Metallica.
“We had the whole room set up," Ben said. "We had the exact amp he liked, at least sort of to his spec. And he came in and started playing this guitar closed door ... You could just hear that it was Kirk Hammett. One of the highlights was Walter, myself and Kirk got to take a photo, which is actually on the wall, of us together before he walks out with the guitar.”
Carter Guitars began to outgrow its previous retail space a few years ago about the time the shop merged with Ben's company The North American Guitar.
“I remember when we got in that collection of like 250 guitars," Ben said. "We couldn't even put them out. So then that becomes a bit of a negative experience for the customer as well as the consigner.”
Ben first came to Nashville in 2007 as a songwriter and wrote his first album here. He returned in 2019 when The North American Guitar acquired Cotten Music, which was owned by Kim Sherman at the time. Sherman became a managing partner and director of sales under the new brand. Ben and his family officially moved to Nashville (they at one time lived in London) in 2021 just before the merger with Carter (read here).
“I think our job now as sort of custodians of these brands is to continue the legacy within Nashville," Ben said. "To continue to serve customers in Nashville and outside of Nashville, and to be the finest guitar retailer of vintage instruments in the world. That's our goal.”
Bringing Carter Vintage Guitars in alongside The North American Guitar and Cotten Music, Ben said it was smooth sailing simply because it felt like the right time with each merger.
“I think putting three brands under one roof can have challenges," Ben said. "But because Carter's was such a well-known and loved Nashville brand, it felt right for us to kind of lean into that as the leading brand and the other two to sort of support it.”
Walter and Christie suggested to Ben that the Antiques Building across the street would be the perfect fit for the vintage guitar shop. With the Carters blessing, Ben and his team got to work on turning the building into their new home.
During the design process, Ben said they realized that in moving around some of how they structured office space behind the showroom allowed for a new opportunity to create an open studio space.
“This became an open canvas to be able to do events, content creation and all different style of events that runs from here,” Ben said.
Lianne Montague, Ben's wife, runs the studio operations. The studio has teamed up with Nashville Basement Stage, a nonprofit that supports local independent musicians, by funding expenses such as studio sessions, album releases and music videos.
Lianne said a California-based band recently visited Nashville for their Opry debut. Relatedly, the moms of all of the artists flew in and the band did something special in the space for them.
“We just set up some seats and it became a concert in the middle of the day,” Lianne said. “We could put all of the blinds down so it was dark and they set up their cameras and it was a lovely vibe.”
The space is even scheduled to host writers sessions called "Carters in the Round" for Americana Fest this year.
In addition to music, the space has become a place of community, Lianne said. It hosts, for example, yoga sessions and sound baths for the people in the Paseo South Gulch area, such as the new Prima apartment building next door, which is also owned by SomeraRoad.
“It just feels like you're part of a really lovely community and we're trying to maintain that within all of the things growing around us,” Lianne said.
“I think it was a real leap of faith from SomeraRoad … us coming here, it was nerve wracking, I’m not going to lie,” Ben said. “To move something that is so loved, and the customers know it so well, it's been there for a long time — is really scary. So, it felt like a partnership and to see how in that big building they are just building this community here. It's really encouraging to see."
But more than just a space for others, Ben said it's a great space for the people within the company too.
“Everybody in this company, we’re musicians,” Ben said. “And they all can use it as and when they want. If they want to do a music video, they can use it. If they want to do a photo shoot, they can use it. It’s really about trying to give back. … To be able to allow guys to use the space for their own musical careers is pretty cool.”
The staff was critical in making the move successful, Ben said.
“It took a year to design [the current space]. It took four months to build it and then we moved in four days,” Ben said.
Carter Vintage Guitars staff had about 2,000 guitars to move at that time and Ben made sure to note that without his staff it wouldn't have been possible.
The new space was designed in a way that the back-end office operations flow around the edges of the showroom, including the repair shop. He calls that piece of the building the brains and the heartbeat of the operation.
“We are literally a chain,” Ben said. “If one chain is not getting the support it needs, then that chain can break. So everybody really works hard at supporting each other.”
With the new system in place, just four months after moving the company processed its greatest number of instruments to date with about 400 added and and about 325 sold during July.
Keeping things efficient and moving smoothly on the operations side was something the staff thought about in the design of the new space.
Ben said that pre-building out case racks in the back was probably the best decision the staff made so that when guitars were added, staff could store them immediately. All cases on the wall are in sequential order, which makes it easier when sales team comes in to look for a specific case.
“We're working on technology as we grow and more inventory comes in," Ben said. "We're building our back end inventory management system. It’s a proprietary inventory management system that will have a QR code.”
The code will allow the sales team to match displayed guitars with their cases more efficiently. Ben said the store's inventory is about 85 percent consignment, which means in addition to customers buying guitars there’s a lot of people selling that Ben wants to make sure the company gives a good experience.
“In terms of the speed at which we can process their guitar, the speed at which we can facilitate the sale for them, to making sure that they're paid on time and all of these things,” Ben said.
Since acquiring the business in 2022, Ben said the company has almost doubled revenue, but his focus remains on the customer.
“I feel that if you have that customer obsession in terms of your buy side and sell side to your consigners and your buying customers. The rest kind of takes care of itself,” Ben said.
