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FORGOTTEN HISTORY: Gabe dalporto | History Defined

More people are visiting Guitar Center, but have its stores improved?

How have your experiences in-store changed over the past year? Has the company delivered on its CEO’s promises of improvement? Let us know your thoughts

Guitar World

“Very few people in the history of the electric guitar have pushed the design forward more than Paul”: John Mayer to induct Paul Reed Smith into Guitar Center Rockwalk

The esteemed guitar builder’s dedication to craftsmanship and innovation has been recognized

Guitar World

“These guitars are sacred things to me”: Guitar Center unveils its latest Eric Clapton charity collab, with the 2026 Exclusive Crossroads Guitar Collection featuring stunning Martin acoustics and the return of the Blind Faith Tele

Martin unveils a Brazilian rosewood $24,999 Custom 000-42, PRS paints the Silver Sky blue and more – all exclusive to Guitar Center with a portion of sales going to the Crossroads Centre

MusicRadar

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“We made a lot of decisions that really pissed off our customers”: Guitar Center CEO explains how customer feedback is helping to turn the chain around

Mistakes were made, but now a community of players is guiding its direction , says Gabe Dalporto

Guitar World

“I think people got scared to play it”: Guitar Center CEO on why Stairway to Heaven was banned in guitar stores

All roads – or stairways – lead to a scene from a certain 1990s comedy classic

Guitar World

“Most retailers simply make copycat products and charge a little less. That’s completely uninteresting to me”: Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto aims to defy skepticism with his new house brand – and insists we don’t need more Les Paul or Tele clones

The CEO’s Guitar Labs ambition – to create an in-house guitar brand that’ll last a century –has its detractors, but Dalporto argues his crowd-sourced approach is essential in achieving such a lofty goal

Guitar World

“A full circle moment after all these years of making music side-by-side”: Billy Idol and Steve Stevens inducted into Guitar Center’s Hollywood Rockwalk

They’ll be be among some prestigious players on Sunset Boulevard

Guitar World

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“A lot of guitar players are like, ‘Oh, well, Jimmy Page was fine with that, so I guess I don’t need more fret access, or I don’t need better balance’”: Tosin Abasi on the art of designing cutting-edge instruments that keep the guitar’s core

The Kaizen – which Abasi designed in collaboration with Ernie Ball Music Man – looks to drag guitar design into a bold new future

Guitar World

“Would you rather we didn’t listen to customers? That we just hide in our offices and listen to some corporate shirts pontificate on pickup choices?” Guitar Center CEO responds to backlash over the brand’s in-house guitar project

Gabe Dalporto gives his take on why gearheads should contribute their ideas to Guitar Center’s new Guitar Lab initiative

Guitar World

“We’ve got the company on a good trajectory. Now we’re playing offense”: Guitar Center has joined forces with the founder of Reverb – what does this mean for the retail giant?

David Kalt spearheaded Reverb for six years and has been brought onboard as Guitar Center enters a new era

Guitar World

“These songs are played a lot. They’re often not played well”: Top 10 riffs played in-store at Guitar Center revealed

And Stairway To Heaven is conspicuous by its absence

MusicRadar

“These songs are played a lot. They’re often not played well”: Guitar Center reveals the 10 most-played guitar riffs in its stores – and no, Stairway to Heaven isn’t one of them

CEO Gabe Dalporto surveyed GC staff to discover the riffs that torment them on a daily basis – but some surprisingly big names don’t get a look-in

Guitar World

“We are about to do something insane… and you're the designer!”: Guitar Center is launching its own guitar brand and it wants players’ input with its design

CEO Gabe Dalporto wants to build a “a revolutionary guitar” and would like you to slide into his sub-Reddit with some ideas

MusicRadar

“Guitars haven’t changed that much in the last 50 years. We’re about to change that”: Guitar Center is setting up its own in-house guitar brand – and it’s asking players for their help

Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto says the retailer is going to build “the best guitar that has ever been made”

Guitar World

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Guitar World

“He said the first guitar was an accident of God. By the fifth one he said, ‘OK, you’re a guitar maker’”: Carlos Santana was one of Paul Reed Smith’s earliest champions – but he thought his first guitars were too good to be true

Smith looks back on his early partnership with Santana in Guitar Center CEO's new 'Inside the Noise with Gabe Dalporto' podcast

Guitar World

“No, that doesn’t sound right”: Robert Trujillo gatecrashes group Enter Sandman lesson at Guitar Center

He then joined in with Dave Kushner, Senior Director of Music Education at Guitar Center, and Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto to play the riff with the students

Guitar World

“It’s like, which kid do you love more? It’s really hard to say”: Guitar Center CEO reveals his favorite guitars he owns

Gabe Dalporto is a keen collector and player, as well as the CEO of the retail giant – and he’s got quite the collection

Guitar World

“We read all the complaints. We’re far from perfect, but we’re moving very quickly to get a lot better”: Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto is on a mission to win back guitar players’ trust

These are uncertain times for brick-and-mortar guitar stores, but Dalporto is leading the fight back against unprecedented competition for guitar stores – and he thinks he’s found a winning formula

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Guitar World

Guitar Center secures three-year debt extension to ensure it can deliver on its business plan

The announcement comes amid increasing challenges for brick-and-mortar guitar stores and ongoing changes at Guitar Center to battle competition from digital retailers

Guitar World

Guitar Center employee allegedly charged over $5,000 to credit cards that belonged to “rude” customers

The 18-year-old reportedly chose “customers who were rude to him, used foul language, and made situations bad for him” as his victims

Guitar World

“Like having a professional gear consultant in the palm of your hand”: Guitar Center introduces Rig Advisor, the guitar world’s first-ever AI shopping assistant

Rig Advisor leverages artificial intelligence in a bid to enhance the in-store shopping experience

Guitar World

“I said, ‘Give me a mop and some cleaning supplies.’ I scrubbed that bathroom and I made it spotless”: Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto is on a mission to raise store standards – and says he’s not above scrubbing restrooms

Dalporto took a trip to assess the on-scene situation at one of his stores – and ended up getting hands-on with the cleaning

Guitar World

“Nike tried to go direct and pull back from retailers. It got crushed”: Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto may be facing new competition from Fender and Gibson in the retail space – but it isn’t fazing him

New Gibson and Fender stores on three continents present fresh challenges for the store, but Dalporto says “bring the competition on”

Guitar World

“I talk a lot about ‘the serious musician,’ and that's our opportunity to create the next generation of serious musicians”: Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto lays out one of the store's next biggest priorities for 2025 – and it isn’t selling gear

Dalporto has already discussed his desire to improve the quality of gear that Guitar Center stocks – but he's also got his eye on avenue for growth

Guitar World

“I used to visit my local GC frequently. That all stopped when they started locking everything up”: How can Guitar Center improve its stores and reclaim its former glory? Guitar World readers have their say

A recent interview with Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto sparked an outpouring of comments from Guitar World readers, all of whom have offered their two cents on how the retailer can get back on its feet

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