Ever since becoming Guitar Center CEO in late 2023, Gabe Dalporto has been determined to turn the store’s fortunes around. His latest idea: an in-house guitar brand.
It’s a plan that’s been mooted for some time, with the news hitting Guitar World back in April. Now the store is ready to get its first guitars in the hands of a small core of players to test out, but those who do will be sworn to secrecy.
German giant Thomann launched the budget-friendly Harley Benton range and is now a major player in the accessibly priced guitar market. But Dalporto isn’t in the mood for copying Thomann's winning formula note for note.
“Guitars haven’t changed that much in the last 50 years,” he said in a TikTok in April. “We’re about to change that. We are going to build a revolutionary guitar and guitar brand from the ground up."
He also said he wants customers to shape the final designs of these models through direct feedback. Later, he doubled down on his revolutionary claims by stressing that the brand wasn’t leaning on copycat designs to shift units, which has long been Harley Benton’s approach.
Guitar Center is now ready for the next step in its impending brand launch.
“We’ve been building and creating a new guitar line from scratch, and that new guitar line has been based on interactions with you and your feedback,” Dalporto details in an Instagram post. “You guys have been giving us tons of feedback on your aspirations, dreams, and hopes for what you would like to see in a new guitar.
@guitarcenter It’s time to throw out the rule book and build a new guitar with no constraints, and you’re the designer! Follow @ gdalporto on Instagram to stay tuned in the guitar building journey, and join the subthread, r/GuitarLab, on Reddit to see the whole conversation unfold—link in bio. ——— By submitting your idea, design, suggestion or feedback (collectively, “Idea”), you affirm that your Idea is your original creation, and that any Idea submitted by you is wholly original and owned by you, and cleared for use by Guitar Center, Inc. (“Guitar Center”) without the need for additional licensing. By submitting your Idea, you assign, transfer, give and relinquish to Guitar Center all right, title and interest in and to the Idea or any material based upon or derived therefrom for no consideration. Guitar Center may use and exploit, without any payment or attribution obligation of any kind, any Idea you provide to Guitar Center. You waive any moral and similar rights you may have in such Idea. If requested by Guitar Center, you agree to execute and deliver all documents needed to confirm the assignment and transfer of your Idea to Guitar Center.
♬ original sound - Guitar Center
“We are now at the point where we’re getting prototypes into our office, and we want real-world feedback from you.”
There are, of course, stipulations for getting involved. That includes all participants signing a Non-disclosure Agreement (NDA) so its presumably six-stringed revolution remains top secret.
Testing will take place in late September and early October at the Guitar Center HQ in Westlake Village, CA. According to Rich Thrush, who is leading the project dubbed Guitar Labs, phones will also need to be left outside. All measures are being made to keep its work-in-progress guitars under lock and key.
“We’re looking for genuine players who are willing to share honest opinions,” Thrush writes in a Reddit post. “If you’re primarily an influencer or represent a brand, please let us know when you reach out. We’d still love to connect, but we’ll likely involve you at a later stage of the project.”
Brick-and-mortar stores continue to struggle against the might of online brands. Sam Ash shuttered its doors after 100 years of business in 2024, and a host of UK stores, including PMT and GAK, have since followed suit.
It’s an interesting new chapter from a firm which, Dalporto believes, is already on the up. In August 2025, he admitted the firm has been far from perfect, but reiterated his desire to win back customers’ trust and use its physical, rather than strictly online, presence to its advantage. Whether this latest move works or not remains to be seen, but it will be hoping to emulate Harley Benton’s success, with customer feedback as its cornerstone.
Guitar Center asks interested players to email info@GCPLB.com and include background information on themselves and their playing style.
Meanwhile, Fender and Thomann remained locked in legal disputes after Fender’s cease-and-desist campaign.
