About Us

I’ve spent much of my nearly 50 years involved with music and instruments, picking up the guitar at about 12 years old. I glommed on to my parent’s limited record collection (Jim Croce, Simon & Garfunkel, early Chicago...), leading me to my brother’s stash (Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen), then to the flea markets of Southern New Hampshire to build my own collection.

The flea market filled my musical brain, but also instilled me with the picker’s spirit as I dug through junk to find nuggets that had value greater than the price tags implied.

I never really achieved a high level of guitar skill, and I certainly had no idea what vintage guitars were until well into adulthood, so my love of music pushed me to find a possible career path connected technically with the gear surrounding guitars.

I attended recording school right out of high school and was smitten with the process. The passion ultimately had me migrating west to attend recording school at CSU Chico, which I quickly found out was a top party school with a vibrant music scene.

My intent was to move into the film business, on the audio side.  I spent a summer working in Hollywood, but it had me reflecting on the lifestyle Chico offered. I moved back to Good Old Chico and began doing sound for bands, leasing sound systems in clubs and ultimately opening a music store called Sound Source in 1995 with a band mate and close friend.

We spent the decade between 1995 and 2005 running the store, buying, trading and selling whatever we could get our hands on - including guitars.

In 1998 we attended our first vintage guitar show, which opened my eyes to the possibilities of this niche market. By late 1999 I took the business over and was early on the internet with a decent quality website. I soon found myself shipping guitars all over the planet.

In 2004, a big staff turnover and a deep analysis of the business led me to the conclusion that I could make a living just from vintage and used guitars. By 2005, Sound Source was no longer and Mahar's Vintage Guitars was born. 

The simplification was welcome as my first child was born. By this time I was going to guitar shows nation-wide, flying my guitars in and out with me. The shows were a blast, and the friends I made among the dealers and customers added greatly to the appeal.  Professionally, 2005 to 2009 was a blissful blur. 

The great recession was hard on the business. I felt forced to shift gears again, moving into audio/visual systems integration, something I dipped my toe into in the early 2000’s while running the store.  After leveraging endless hours of sweat equity, I turned this job into a career as a licensed contractor after buying my employer out in 2014 and going out on my own, eventually employing as many as 14 people.

The AV business grew and my financial woes from the recession subsided, allowing me to enjoy guitars without having to churn them to feed my family. 

The pandemic put contracting work on hold, along with nearly everything else.  In the downtime I reconnected with my vintage guitar friends.  They all said that if I found any guitars I should let them know - COVID was driving huge sales.  That was my cue - it was time to get back into the business I always loved.

The guitar business clicked immediately.  It felt that I hadn't skipped a beat.  Things moved so quickly that I was able to take a look again at my career path and what was important to me.  While contracting had pulled me out of a huge life and finance reset, it was not something I truly loved.  In fact, it was incredibly stressful and draining.  In January of 2024, I closed my contracting business to fully focus on the guitar biz.

We have a stealthy location in Chico in the building I bought in 2018 for my contracting business.  We have customers in on an appointment basis and welcome you to reach out.  The shop is a great place to check out the gear on our site.  You will generally have the place to yourself.

These guitars are truly investments, and an investment should be made with eyes wide open.

You’ll see that I am all about documentation of my used and vintage guitars. I feel that this is a problem with the market - dealers sometimes ignore or overlook issues with vintage instruments and pass them on to customers without fully vetting them.  Guitars with repairs, changes, issues, etc are fine, as long as you know before you buy.

I spent years shipping guitars, amps, drums, etc around the globe, so you can trust that I'll handle the items I sell here professionally, insuring that your purchase arrives safe and sound.

That is my mission, to bring quality instruments to the market with transparency and honesty, and have some fun with you while doing it!

Return Policy

Returns accepted if the purchaser responds within 48 hours of receipt of an item and there is a discrepancy relating to the condition or originality of an item.  Returns are not accepted for items that do not meet the needs or sonic tastes of clients due to the subjective nature, unless such concern is stated prior to the purchase and arrangements are made in advance of the purchase.  Subjective returns, if allowed, will result in a charge to the buyer for payment fees related to the original purchase that were incurred by Mahar's Vintage Guitars, plus a re-stocking fee equal to 25% of the original purchase price of the guitar.  Any return for reasons other than incorrect advertising of condition or originality on the part of Mahar's Vintage Guitars shall be the responsibility of the buyer, which shall result in the buyer paying all shipping costs (to and from) their location.  Returns sent without pre-authorization from Mahar's Vintage Guitars will not be accepted.