New Braunfels Edition | June 2022

BUSINESS FEATURE RCS Guitars and Gear Local shop expands for growth and more services with move across town I n 2022, RCS Guitars and Gear outgrew the small retail space the guitar shop operated out of since 2018. The new location at 227 Courtyard Drive in New Braunfels expands not only its retail space. RCS Guitars and Gear will open more practice space, stage, and audio and video production capabilities in the near future, said Kyle Reed, general manager for RCS Guitars and Gear. “The goal here also is to have, you know, cameras mounted and set up to be able to do audio, video and light in here,” Reed said. “It could be a soundstage. People could use it for dierent things. One step at a time; I’m just waiting for the go-ahead.” RCS’ owner—Robert Carl Steves—lives in Spring, but also spends a signicant amount of time in New Braunfels, Reed said. The idea for the shop was born out of his hobby of building custom guitars and making repairs. An abundance of guitars, basses, amps and other gear he and Reed accumu- lated over the years were sitting in storage, and eventually the idea to sell some of it and oer repairs prompted the idea of opening the shop. The new space provides separate rooms for gear such as replacement strings and pedals as well as an acoustic room and a main room lled primarily with electric guitars, basses and ampliers. “We do [sell] some new stu but a lot of used gear … a lot of what we have [is] a lot of cool vintage stu. We can do repairs—everything in-house,” Reed said. He added that the shop was also founded on a need to oer more repairs and vintage gear in New Braunfels rather than have the area’s growing number of professional and amateur musicians travel to Austin or San Antonio for the same service. Reed and the store’s other two employees—Jor- dan Peña and True Labowski—work both the retail side of the store and on instrument repair. “New Braunfels is just a really cool hot spot right now. For me, it has been for a long time for music; you know, there’s tons of great musicians here,” Reed said. “New Braunfels is just a mecca, you know? There’s so many musicians here.” BY ERIC WEILBACHER

From left: Kyle Reed and Jordan Peña run the day-to-day operations at RCS Guitars and Gear.

PHOTOS BY ERIC WEILBACHERCOMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER

ALL THE VINTAGE GEAR

RCS Guitars and Gear provides custom setup and repair on any fretted instrument a customer brings in, but it also oers a variety of vintage guitars and basses.

BRANDS AVAILABLE:

PRICING:

• Danelectro • Fender • G&L • Gibson • Guild

• Hofner • Ibanez • Jackson • Supro • Taylor

Because the condition, value and rarity of each instrument can vary greatly, prices run anywhere from $200-$4,000 .

The shop specializes in vintage gear, such as this 1972 Guild.

The shop oers a selection of new and used ampliers.

The store keeps a variety of vintage pedals in stock.

RCS Guitars and Gear 227 Courtyard Drive, New Braunfels 830-837-5553 www.rcsguitarsandgear.com Hours: Mon.-Fri. 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m., closed Sun.

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COURTYARD DR.

NEW BRAUNFELS EDITION • JUNE 2022