We recently connected with Thor Davis and have shared our conversation below.

Thor, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear a story from back when you were an intern or apprentice. What’s a memorable story you can share with us?

Almost all that i know today about guitar repair i learned from my Father (James Davis). My father was a guitar technician/luthier for all of my childhood. Conveniently the school i went to was right down the road from the guitar shop my father worked at (Paradise Guitars which i eventually took over) and every day after school i would walk down and spend a couple hours with him watching him work. I was always fascinated with guitar repair, i spent most of my childhood wrenching on my bicycles and skateboards. Once i went off to college i realized quickly it wasn’t for me. I left school and apprenticed under my father for a couple years before i eventually took over the repair shop as my own after he retired. I will never forget the days working in the shop beside my father and i will always be grateful for those memories.

Thor, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I grew up in this industry, i considered myself a bit of a shop rat as a kid. I spent everyday after school in the guitar shop either watching my father work or hanging out on the sales floor with the salesmen! Ive been doing guitar repair for 10 years now, anything from standard setups to full refrets and broken headstock repairs, i try to do it all when it comes to fixing guitars! The key to this type of work is attention to detail, each adjustment is measured in 64ths or sometimes thousands of an inch and believe it or not it makes a difference! I take a lot of pride in my work, partially to keep my fathers reputation in the field alive and also because its one of my favorite things to do. Its very rewarding for me when someone brings in an instrument they love and think its dead, the look on their face when i bring it back to life makes it all worth it! Id say my attention to detail sets me apart, i never finish a repair and say “good enough” its always got to be perfect.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

If it wasn’t for covid i would’ve never opened the shop as my own. Prior to the pandemic my plans were to move to Nashville and play guitar for a living and fix guitars on the side. Once the world shut down i had to reevaluate some things and decided to open my store. It has quickly grown and has offered me a lot of opportunities such as working on guitars for most local players and a few professional players as well (one of them being Matthew Lee from Nashville).

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Getting the shop going was not easy. Throughout the many years (7 to be exact) of working at a guitar store i acquired quite a bit of really cool gear from vintage guitars and amp to brand new high end models. Sadly i had to sell almost everything to fund the store including my beloved 1965 Gibson ES-345 in Cherry Red. I miss that guitar to this day!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.paradiseguitarrepair.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/paradiseguitarandrepair
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paradiseguitarandrepair