Guitar Store Owner Strumming a New Tune After Personal Loss

“I had a dream. Crazy dream...”

-Led Zeppelin, “The Song Remains the Same”

When longtime Rosemount resident Brad Wegner decided he wanted to repair guitars for a living, much like the Led Zeppelin tune “The Song Remains the Same”, his idea went from being a simple instrumental into the title of something much larger.

In Wegner’s version of the dream, that simple instrumental quickly did an upward spiral into , the south metro’s newest music store which opened on Friday in downtown Rosemount.

“Originally, it was going to be fixing guitars out of the garage,” said Wegner as he was putting the finishing touches on his new guitar showroom, lesson studios and repair shop on the second floor of the Rosemount Mall. “But I figured if I was going to put that much money into fixing up the garage, I might as well find an out of the way shop location. Then it became, if I’m going to spend that much on rent, I might as well be downtown. And if I’m going to be downtown, I might as well sell guitars...”

And the song goes on, crescendoing up to the sparkling downtown facility which also features an in-store stage complete with house drums and PA.

But for the 53-year old Wegner, this tune is anything but the same.

Personal Loss Changes the Notes

After reaching the upper octaves of a successful banking career, Wegner lost his wife to cancer in 2007 leaving him as a widowed single father with two adopted children.

The tragedy prompted Wegner to quit his banking job and focus on his kids.

“I was working eleven hours a day at the bank,” he said. “And I couldn’t put those kids in daycare eleven hours a day right after they lost their second mom.”

Wegner and his wife had adopted the children, now 13 and 11, four years prior to his wife’s passing.

“So I just stayed home with the kids,” said Wegner.

Using prior investments and insurance money to finance his leave of employment, the budget was still tight during the next few years and Wegner admits the scrimping and saving was an adjustment. 

“We didn’t have any kids before we adopted, so I guess we were, what do you call them, DINKs?” said Wegner in reference to the couple’s prior dual-income-no-kid status. “Yeah, the budget was tight the last five years, but it was worth it. Those kids are my life.”

Wegner said his decision to quit a stable job which he had worked hard to advance in raised some eyebrows among some in his circle. But said the decision was an easy one to make once he looked at the situation and has no regrets whatsoever being able to spend the last five years raising his children.

“Originally I was just going to take the summer away from the job and be with the kids,” Wegner recalled. “But that was in 2007, and we all know what happened in 2007.”

The collapse of the economy may have helped turn a summer into five years, but at some point, Wegner knew he would have to re-enter the workforce and quickly dismissed banking as an option. 

“Even if there were banking jobs, you know how it is,” said Wegner. “They’d rather have the 25-year old kid, and I understand that. So it was, well, what do I love to do?”

Writing a New Song

As it turns out, the musician, who has been playing in bands for more than 30 years, including 20 with his current band Flashback, loved guitars.

A Google search of the best guitar repair schools in the country turned up Southeast Technical College in nearby Red Wing, a sign Wegner took as being meant to be.

After completing his schooling, his new business tune quickly started changing keys as his dream and passion grew.

The new business owner is hoping to attract a wide swath of musicians from the south metro area by filling a void in local music stores and says from the beginning he was focused on finding a location in Rosemount.

“I thought Rosemount was the perfect spot,” said the 17-year resident. “It’s right in the middle and it’s really growing.”

As an added bonus to being surrounded by something he truly loves doing, Wegner also installed an in-store stage so musicians can come and jam after hours on the weekends.

“We put up the stage so people can come in with acoustic guitars and jam,” said Wegner. “I want it to be a place where musicians in the area can come down and hang out, sing some songs and have some fun. That’s what I want to do. I just want to hang out at music stores all day.”

Hoping This Song Remains the Same

And thanks to The Guitar Shop, Wegner is doing just that.

But more than following his dreams, crazy as some might think, songs always come back to the chorus. And for Wegner, the chorus is his children.

“I’m hoping it’s something I can leave to my kids,” he said. “If they decide to go to college, that’s great. If they don’t, well, they’ll have a guitar shop they can take over. That’s the most important thing to me right now.”

For now, The Guitar Shop is a one-man show, but Wegner is hoping enough people will seek out repair, instruction and his retail items so that he can provide a few additional jobs in town and keep the record spinning.

In fact, Wegner would love for his current song to remain the same for years to come. He’s actually banking on it.

The Guitar Shop is located at 14555 South Robert Trail in downtown Rosemount.

Planned hours for The Guitar Shop are: 10:00 a.m - 8:00 p.m. M-F, 10:00 a.m.- 6:00 p.m. Sat., Sunday TBD. For more information, contact The Guitar Shop at 651-344-8177 or visit their website.