For Eron Harding, the journey to becoming a music store owner started in 2000 when he got burnt out from gigging the local scene music since he was a teenager. He just had his first child and decided to take a break from the gigs and dove headfirst into learning the art of guitar repair and lutherie services. He started in a small shop on his property and fixed local musicians’ instruments and bought cheap broken instruments from garage sales to perform a wide range of repair work on. Once word spread that there was someone in town to fix their gear, his work load quickly and drastically increased.

As his clientele list increased, he and former bandmate and close friend, Steve Cox, decided to open a music shop dedicated to the gigging musician. At first, they rented a small room in an office building, using nothing but gear from their personal collections for inventory. Business quickly grew and required them to buy their first building: a 1200sq/ft building just down the street. In a few short years, they outgrew that building too, and that’s how they ended up purchasing their current location: a three-story 3200sq/ft historic building in downtown Sedalia, Missouri, built in the late 1800s.

Now Backwoods Guitar features hundreds of musical instruments ranging from guitars and basses to mandolins, banjos, band instruments and much more. They now sell the industry’s leading brands including Fender, Taylor, Gretsch, Ibanez, Jackson, and many more. Whatever you need, they’ve most likely got it.

Backwoods Guitar was recognized as Sedalia’s 2023 Small Business of the Year for their commitment to serve their community and overall success and impact on Sedalia. They attribute their success to not only listening and understanding their clients, but by consistently providing top notch service.