One Three Guitar: Sales, Repairs, Lessons
by Charles McGuigan 03.2020
Outside window of One Three Guitar.
Late one afternoon, as sunlight drained out of the world and the acorn street lights along MacArthur Avenue winked on in rapid succession, I met a group of Bellevue residents who were just stepping out of the newest shop to open on Bellevue’s interior commercial strip—a place called One Three Guitar, which had previously operated out of a 300-foot square space at Sound of Music in Scott’s Addition. This new space is significantly larger.
The cluster of folks who stood out in front of the guitar store included two of Bellevue’s new breed of musicians, members of Sun Against Artemis. Both were extremely impressed by One Three.
June Kambourian, vocalist for the band whose soulful voice is reminiscent of Janis Joplin, said: “It was really chill. One of the instructors there was a local musician. The owners seem very community-oriented.”
Her fellow band member, lead guitarist Nick Erickson, nodded. “I was really impressed by the shop,” he said. “It’s a welcome addition to the neighborhood.”
Owner Matt Avitable invited me in and showed me around the shop. It’s an open space, inviting with two blue couches and walls lined with guitars of every description, acoustic and electric. In the rear there is a workshop area, along with a couple of small, private rooms for guitar lessons.
“This space seemed to really make sense for what we were trying to do,” Matt said. “Our original idea was to really focus on repairs, and we’ve kept that part of our mission here by building out a full-service shop where we can do any kind of repair on guitars and guitar-like instruments.” Pretty much any instrument with strings and frets.
“We’ve expanded our retail offering,” Matt added, gesturing toward the guitars hanging on the walls. “We’ve also added lessons to our roster of things that we provide. And so we have two lesson rooms that are eight-by-ten, and we designed them to be as safe as possible. We have air purifiers; we have a mask-on policy. We’ve done our best to make it as safe as possible.” Those who do not want to do in-person guitar lesson have the option of learning online. “We can support that as well,” said Matt.
Along with an offering of consignment guitars, and other stringed and fretted instruments, One Three also offers a line of AMI guitars that range in price from about $300 to $700. “These are wonderful instruments inspired by tradition,” said Matt. “You’re getting some high level features in these quality instruments.” AMI, incidentally, has its headquarters onsite. They sell guitars to independently owned dealers across the country.
Within the first week of operation, One Three had already attracted customers from the neighborhood and beyond. It’s not surprising because in Bellevue if you swing a possum that’s playing possum, you’re likely to strike a musician.
When asked why he chose the name One Three, Matt said, “The short version is that thirteen has always been a good luck number for me. It’s my lucky number.”
One Three Guitar
4021 MacArthur Avenue
Richmond, VA 23227
(804)966-3038