Gray Dog Music

These days, thriving independent music stores are as rare as local booksellers, but Prescott’s Gray Dog Music hits all the right notes. Perhaps that’s because, like Peregrine Book Co. up the street, Gray Dog opened to fill a need in the community. “Some of the other music stores were closing, and we were needing a place to find certain brands of guitars and accessories and things,” Gray Dog owner Ty Fitzmorris says. “So we started really small right across from the Raven [Cafe].” And he tapped longtime local musician Addison Matthew to manage the business.

From those humble beginnings, Gray Dog has evolved into a full-service guitar shop, selling instruments to suit every ability, as well as drums, keyboards and pro audio equipment. Working musicians offer a variety of music lessons at the store, which, in addition to a partnership with adjacent Ponderosa Lutherie, has helped make the corner of Cortez and Sheldon streets a destination for a wide variety of music lovers.

Matthew began working on what was Gray Dog Guitars in 2013 and opened the store the next year. “That was a fun, really cool experience to get to open a store and figure out what works and what doesn’t work,” he says. 

It was also a challenge because the store was so small. So Matthew took a curatorial approach, specializing in rare and vintage guitars as well as smaller brands you couldn’t find everywhere. “We were the only dealer in the state for a lot of smaller brands,” he says. He also had a small workbench upstairs for minor repairs. 

“It was an awesome little store, and I really miss it,” Matthew says. “It was a very inviting atmosphere, where you’d be able to come in and try stuff out and talk shop.” But he also dreamed of a place big enough to offer a wider selection of instruments, with rooms for music lessons and a full-service repair shop. All of that became possible in 2022, when Fitzmorris bought a larger building down the street.

Gray Dog Music became everything Matthew envisioned. “We pretty much have all the big brands now, like Martin, Fender and Taylor, to name a few,” he says. And there’s still a selection of rare and vintage guitars. 

“We’ve had a lot of really cool guitars come through the shop,” he says. “Any opportunity I have, I jump on vintage stuff. It’s a lot of fun.”

The expanded facility also includes six soundproofed lesson rooms, where working professionals teach vocals, guitar, bass, drums and piano. To manage them, Matthew brought on another longtime musician, Anton Teschner. Drawing on his local connections, Teschner recruited musicians to teach a variety of instruments and genres. Soon, word got out and others followed. 

Teschner interviews interested instructors to get an idea of what they want to teach so he can refer callers to a musician who meets their needs. Most people looking for lessons want to learn guitar, and he has one teacher who caters solely to them. “That makes it easy on me,” he says. “And it keeps him as busy as he wants to be.”

Musicians visiting from out of town also rent lesson rooms when they want to practice before a gig, especially if they need a piano or a set of drums. 

And when customers need to get an instrument set up or repaired, they can go right next door to Ponderosa Lutherie. A graduate of the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery in Phoenix, Sean McDermott took over the business from Chris Fleming, a former senior master guitar builder with Fender. Fleming still does some of the repair work. 

“We stay busy,” McDermott says. “The only shops that were doing this kind of work in the area had pretty recently closed. And so there was just a real need. We have a lot of older customers who are getting into it as a hobby, collectors and things of that nature. And then we have a ton of business from local musicians as well.”

It doesn’t hurt that Gray Dog is located near the heart of the downtown music scene. “There’s venues practically within walking distance,” Teschner says, and Gray Dog has become a social and information hub. When new musicians come to town, they usually stop by, and locals pop in regularly to hear the latest news. “If there’s something going on in the musician community,” Teschner says, “that’s the place to find out.”  

The combination strikes a chord with guitarist Steve Edwards, who teaches at Gray Dog. “I’ve worked a ton of places and taught for 40 years,” he says. “This is the best I’ve ever experienced. The employees are all musicians. They know what they’re selling and they know the business.”