EL RENO, OKLAHOMA –A musician who once found his way to this store called it ‘heaven for old guitars’.
Their savior is an Arkansas kid who’s mom loved Elvis. Bobby Boyles loved the Beatles, especially the instruments they played.
“I don’t know if I wanted to be John Lennon or Paul McCartney,” he says. “I didn’t know the difference between a bass guitar and a regular guitar. I didn’t want to be Ringo. I knew that.”
Bobby’s mom bought him a cheap guitar that he still has somewhere.
“My granddad showed me how to play,” he says.
He worked at a music store growing up, played in churches as a pastor, and kept collecting his favorite instrument.
In 2000, Bobby opened a little music shop of his own, mainly to house the instruments he couldn’t store. 8 years later he found a century old store front in El Reno and filled that up too.
Of the building, Boyles says, “I fell in love with it immediately. It was just exactly what we were looking for.”
Oklahoma Vintage Guitar buys and sells old instruments.
If it were up to Bobby, he might just buy them.
He admits, “If it’s part of my original collection then I probably still have it.”
Some of his treasures are a musical form of retirement fund.
Others he likes because of the wood or their back story.
Old speakers and amps have a place here too, but if it has strings and you can pluck it to make music, Bobby can’t resist at least a look.
Neither can some of the people who float in to pick something off the wall and fall in love just like he did.
For more information, go to www.oklahomavintageguitar.com