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Our story

A shop run by people who play

Fret & Fader started with a bench, a wall of guitars and a simple rule: nothing ships until it plays right. That rule still runs the shop.

A luthier's setup bench with tools and a guitar
How we work

The bench is the whole idea

Plenty of shops sell instruments. Fewer set them up before they go out the door, and that difference is the entire pitch. A great guitar on a bad setup is a bad guitar, so we fix the setup first, every time.

The pro-audio side grew from the same instinct. Players kept asking what interface, what microphone, what monitors, so we started carrying the gear we actually recommend and giving straight, vendor-neutral advice about it.

The shop, in short

How it came together

  1. Bench

    It starts on the bench

    Every instrument is set up by hand before it is listed or shipped.

  2. Floor

    Six departments

    Guitars, keys, drums, amps and pedals, and pro audio, all under one roof.

  3. Online

    Live catalogue

    The whole floor is online, in stock and searchable, and ships in 48 hours.

  4. Support

    After the sale

    Setups, fretwork and pro-audio advice keep your gear playing for the long run.

The people

Who is behind the counter

An acoustic guitar on a dark ground

The buying desk

What makes the wall

Chooses every instrument and piece of gear we carry, and turns down far more than it takes.

Setup tools laid out on the bench

The bench

Setup & repair

Sets up every instrument, handles fretwork and repair, and signs off before anything ships.

A studio mixing console in low light

Pro audio

Studio & live sound

Specs interfaces, microphones and monitors, and gives vendor-neutral advice for your room.

What we stand on

The house rules

Set up first

No instrument leaves without a bench pass. It plays right on arrival.

Play what you sell

We do not carry gear nobody here would use.

Advice over upsell

The right instrument for you beats the dear one on the wall, every time.