Lexington, KY - When Jesse Taylor was a young teen, he bought - with his own money - his first guitar at Chuck's Music, a used instrument and equipment shop on Southland Drive operated by Charlie Moreland, who ran the store with the unsolicited assistance of a crew of regulars who hung out there. It was a $600 Fender Stratocaster - at least that was the asking price. It was a good deal, but Taylor was about $50 shy. Moreland went ahead and let the guitar go for what Taylor had.
The deal was a good investment on Moreland's part, as Taylor said he went on to purchase the bulk of his gear at Chuck's Music while honing his chops on the guitar and nurturing his obsession with music production. Eventually, he toured the country, fronting a local band called The Gloria Bills during the first half of the last decade.
Any time the group was back in Lexington, Taylor stocked up on strings, guitar picks and other doodads while swapping stories and tricks with the people at Chuck's Music. Then, about three years ago, Taylor decided he was going to stay put in Lexington. He bought a house on Stratford Drive, just a few blocks away from Chuck's Music.
"I remember being excited because I was going to be that much closer to the music store," he said. "And then I went over there the day after I bought my house, and he was packing stuff up and leaving."
Moreland closed Chuck's down after being in business for more than 15 years, but he and Taylor maintained their friendship. During a meeting early last year, Taylor mentioned how he had curtailed his consumption of music equipment since Chuck's was no longer around.
"Tongue in cheek, I told him, 'I think I'll reopen the store just so I can get some gear,'" Taylor said. "He laughed and said, 'Well, I've still got the signs in barn; go ahead and open it up.' Two months later, I ended up calling him back, saying, 'I think I'll take those signs now.'"
Chuck's Music reopened in the summer of 2010, across the street from its original location, with a very basic inventory: six guitars and four amps. Six months later, the store is teeming with instruments and other musical equipment, a lot of which Taylor wasn't very in tune with at first.
Fortunately, some of the crew that previously hung out at the store have found their way back to Chuck's, and Taylor said they have been quick to offer all the assistance they can about any particular item.
"I have the best customers in the world - the people who come and hang out in the shop," Taylor said. "If I have any questions, they will just volunteer information."
As one of the only music retail venues in town that will buy, sell or trade used gear (or "pre-loved," if you want to use a vintage aficionado's parlance), Chuck's Music is a nice accompaniment to the assortment of music shops on Southland Drive, including Willcutt Guitars and Doo Wop Shop - each catering to a certain niche of musicians.
Before reopening Chuck's Music, Taylor said he conferred with some of these other businesses, and aside from thinking Taylor was "crazy for wanting to do this," they said they would be able to send business his way.
"Every day I get at least one or two people sent here from another store," Taylor said. "And I send them business as well. Everybody's right here, a bunch of great family-owned businesses."
Along with his unique inventory, Taylor hopes another facet of Chuck's Music will bring musicians through the door: a recording studio on the second floor, which includes an isolation booth and all the other bells and whistles required to cut a professional recording - not to mention an arsenal of instruments readily available downstairs.
Taylor, who produced his first record when he was 12 on a four-track, enjoys his time in the studio just as much as playing music. The space, Taylor said, is a facility anybody within Lexington's sizable music community will be able to utilize.
"Lexington has a lot of talent; this town is full of it," he said. "This is an opportunity for that guy who works 40 hours a week to record something for his family, or it can be a band coming in to record something they can shop around. We really cater to anybody who wants to do something with music."
In the first six months the shop has been open, Taylor, who also owns a commercial cleaning franchise and a Cingular store in Frankfort, Ky., said a lot of people in the local music community are glad that Chuck's Music is back, including the store's progenitor.
"Charlie loves it. He was impressed," Taylor said. "He said I'm doing one thing wrong, though. I'm keeping the guitars clean. He never cleaned the guitars."
Chuck's Music is located at 132 Southland Drive and is open Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.