Give It Up For Guitar Shops (and The Cities They Live In)! : Southside Guitars
Emily Elhaj
[Ed. note: this interview was done pre-pandemic. Southside Guitars is currently shipping online orders and open for curbside pickup only. Please check www.southsideguitars.com for updates].
Travelling to the eastern seaboard, we head to Southside Guitars in Brooklyn. A unique and family-operated goldmine operating in Williamsburg, the full-service shop was founded by brothers Ben and Sam Taylor to showcase their love of vintage gear and their desire to provide quality instruments to musicians and collectors.
After playing in numerous bands, the brothers founded Southside in 2006 on Driggs Avenue after receiving a small loan from their mother. They explain, “Back then, we were always looking for unusual pedals, Jazzmasters, and anything that helped us make the music we wanted to make. We realized that even if we didn’t find the specific thing were looking for, pawn shops and guitar stores often had cool stuff that our friends and other like-minded musicians would want. We started buying and selling that stuff, finding treasures for other musicians…” Now on Grand Street, classic manufacturers like Gibson, Fender, Hofner, and Martin are beloved at the shop. However, obscure and orphan instruments like Stratospheres, Gruggett, Wandre, Herrnsdorf, Bunker, Gower, and Hallmark catch their eye and imaginations when they find them.
Mere blocks from the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, Forgotten New York reports, when Sam and Ben were fixing up the space for Southside Guitars they uncovered a stash of stale drugs in a crawlspace and a rusted police revolver buried in the backyard. These discoveries lend the place nearly as much rock-and-roll cred as the storied instruments inside.
While sifting through the overwhelmingly positive reviews, “friendly” was a word used often to describe Southside. I can attest firsthand to their selection and willingness to work with musicians. On tour, I searched for a shop to visit and wandered over to Grand and Havemeyer Street. Though narrow in size, it is packed with gear you would love to own. They obliged my request to trade an MXR pedal for practically the same MXR pedal (c’mon, I needed the ‘bright’ feature!). No attitude was dispensed and I played a ’78 Musicmaster bass I wish I could have left with. If memory serves, they even gave me advice on where to get the best dinner nearby. It’s only appropriate we continue our conversation with Luigi Cilento of Southside Guitars and see how things are going at the store and in Brooklyn!
Emily Elhaj: How did the shop get its start?
Luigi Cilento: Southside Guitars was founded in 2006 by Ben and Sam Taylor, two brothers with a love for music and a passion for amazing guitars. Since then, we pride ourselves in our effort to have a wall full of guitars you wouldn’t normally see every day and to make every customer who picks up an instrument from us feel like they just got “the one.” Feel free to drop by and talk shop as we are always happy to chat about guitars!
EE: What’s one fact everyone should know about Southside?
LC: If you don’t see it on the wall just ask. We may just have it hiding in the back!
EE: Most interesting instrument currently in the shop?
LC: We have a 1966 Fender Stratocaster that has neck binding and block inlays which normally you would only see on Jazzmasters, Jaguars, and Coronados but in 1966 Fender test-ran a handful of Stratocasters with those features. Super rare and an incredible instrument to boot!
EE: What is a favorite instrument you’ve sold?
LC: Probably a Marshall JMP Combo to Billy Gibbons. Such an awesome guy and an insanely good amp!
EE: What is the best 'trying out a guitar' song?
LC: Most definitely “Smoke On The Water!” 🤘
EE: What are some local musicians/bands that frequent the shop and keep it going?
LC: Sean Lennon, Beach Fossils, Jason Loughlin, Ernesto Hex, West, Pinebox, Goodblood, and too many more to list!
EE: When did Southside start carrying EarthQuaker pedals?
LC: October of 2017.
EE: What’s on your board?
LC: Currently, I am running a Dunlop original run JH-1 Hendrix Wah, 1974 MXR Bud Box Script Logo Phase 90, Electro-Harmonix Micro Pog, EarthQuaker Hoof Reaper, and a Fortin Zuul noise suppressor.
EE: Any tried and true combinations to share?
LC: Any time you plug a 50’s Les Paul into a Marshall stack you know why that is the sound on all those records you love!
Best of Brooklyn
EE: What’s the first thing someone visiting Brooklyn should eat?
LC: A hot dog from the Nathan’s in Coney Island!
EE: Favorite breakfast, lunch, or dinner in Brooklyn?
LC: Atlas Café for the best bagels in Williamsburg!
EE: Best local beer?
LC: Anything from Brooklyn Brewery!
EE: Favorite bar?
LC: Maracuja, Charlie is the best!
EE: Best slice?
LC: Best Pizza for a regular slice or L&B Spumoni Gardens for a Square Slice!
EE: Favorite music venue?
LC: St Vitus in Greenpoint.
EE: What should bands know about Brooklyn audiences?
LC: Have a tight setlist prepared and well-rehearsed, Brooklyn crowds will get restless quick.
EE: What touristy or non-touristy thing is a must-do?
LC: Go check out Coney Island! It’s well worth the long train ride.
EE: Favorite Brooklyn slang?
LC: Not exactly slang but overhearing someone getting called a hipster in passing is always fun.
Southside Guitars
303 Grand St.
Brooklyn, New York 11211
(718) 218-8201
From New Orleans and currently based in Los Angeles, Emily Elhaj is a writer, photographer, and has performed and recorded with Angel Olsen, The Raincoats, Implodes, Sofia Bolt, Anna St. Louis, Vagabon, Hand Habits, and Jess Cornelius. She plays guitar and bass and is generously endorsed by Hofner, Fender, EarthQuaker Devices, & Original Fuzz. Emily runs the label Love Lion which began in 2010 and currently moderates an ongoing collection of conversations with creatives called the Love Lion Interview Series.
