 The guitar has become way more than just a musical instrument. I believe that the guitar has become a lifestyle. It creates identity in people who want them. It's beyond just a musical instrument. Detroit's music scene is world-renowned. Shops like Detroit Guitar are keeping the sound and soul of the city alive. My name is Nika Julia. I'm a writer, photographer, creator, and Detroit local. In this series, I'll be taking you around the city and introducing you to the small business owners and entrepreneurs that help power it. This is Icons of Detroit. Charlie is a musician, first and foremost. He was helping somebody tune their guitar when I walked into the shop and was explaining why this guitar specifically suited their needs. My name is Charlie Lorenzi. I'm a co-owner of Detroit Guitar and I have a business partner called Eric Wall. So the idea behind Detroit Guitar was to carry the best possible guitars at every single price point. Where you buy super expensive guitar or your very first guitar, we want you to have the exact same experience. When it comes to even nicer guitars, we personally hand-select them, such as we even hand-select the wood. We want a very strong visual identity behind the guitar store. There was something that was not very common back then. Ten years ago, most guitar stores had a very common look, so we took a lot of ideas from other industries. This is where the guitar starts. We're a full-fender dealer, epiphoned by Gibson. And then on stage you have some Gibson brand guitars. We have a couple of BRS's, Taylor Acoustic Guitars. We're a great dealer, another great company. Detroit Guitar brings back that physical aspect of what a music shop was and I feel like what it should always be to the community. They not only provide educational tools, they also provide excitement about the instrument themselves. I grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. There's a street there where there's one guitar store next to the other one and one day I went to a guitar store. I bought one and my life changed ever since. I moved to the US almost 20 years ago and I started working at a guitar store. There was a customer whose son was taking lessons there. We became very close friends. I told him I would like to open a guitar store myself and he said I love the idea, so we became partners and that happened nine years ago. Charlina, we've been pretty successful with this particular guitar. I think we should do a master build. Do a master build. So let's talk about what levels of reliquing we want. So I had a lot of knowledge when it came to the guitar industry but I had absolutely no knowledge when it came to real estate or finances or accounting or anything like that. That's where the partnership became really, really, really like a powerhouse. During the interview, Charlie said that he was the beauty and Eric was the brains which I thought was hilarious. They play off each other really well but still they have a common bond of music and also education around music. Take out the cash one and let me know how that goes. We have a very personal relationship with all of our customers. Hey Charlie, how you doing buddy? My text message, I got a guitar that I'd like you to check out. You see that's why I came in to see it? Yep. We try to be in touch with them all the time. They become our friends. We all love guitars. So it's a daily thing talking about guitars and texting each other. You know I thought about you when I got this one. Seventyth anniversary broadcaster. Whenever I get nice guitars I always think about you because you made the very first big purchase at the store. So always remember that. The very first thing I do when I come to the store is do a little bit of social media. I'm very into that. We work really hard to have a very strong presence. So what we're trying to grow, we'd like to be one of the top 10 guitar stores in the world. That's my goal. Without losing the soul. We always want to be who we are. We don't want to be a generic store. We're going there. It's a marathon. It's not a sprint. So we'll be there. Sunday evenings is when you realize how good or how bad your life is. If you can't wait to be Monday again, that means your life is good. And I gotta say I'm lucky enough for the last 30 years of my life. Every single Sunday night when I go to bed I can't wait for it to be Monday again.