Spent a few hours in NYC yesterday, mainly to meet up with two photographer friends and pick up some of my photo books. One of them was a zine I worked on with a friend (I’ll share that in the coming days…) and it came out great.

While waiting for one of them to get home, I wandered over to a shop in Brooklyn called RetroFret. I’d found it through Reverb while scouting guitar shops nearby, so I figured why not walk the mile and a half to check it out. Ended up being the best decision of the day.

This was the best guitar shop I've ever been to.

You have to be buzzed in, and once inside, you’re basically surrounded by holy relics of guitar history. The staff welcomed me in, encouraged me to play whatever I wanted - which is insane considering the instruments ranged anywhere from $3k to $20k+

I got my hands on a variety of Gibson SGs, including my dream: a 1964 SG Standard with a vibrola. Unreal neck and body. Played a few SG Specials with P90s (not really my style pickup-wise), plus some vintage Gretsches, and even a 1910 Gibson acoustic. Amazing relic, even if it sounded like poopoo.

Best part is that they accept #bitcoin!

I asked the owner directly and she told me they’ve taken it a few times before - even ETH.

If you’re a musician, especially a guitarist, and you find yourself in NYC, this is a must-visit.