WHO WE ARE
We are located across from the IFD Fire Station at:
1311 Prospect St.
Indianapolis, IN 46203
Indy String Theory is located in the historic Fountain Square neighborhood of Indianapolis. Our mission is to promote and introduce as many beautifully hand-made and handcrafted instruments from hard-working, purposeful artisans to our community as possible, while providing a safe, trustworthy place to bring your personal instrument for the repair, modification, or custom services musicians of all stripes rely on. Additionally, we are committed to supporting independent builders, creators, musicians, artists, and our fellow business partners from all around our city of Indianapolis in any way we are able.
We encourage a welcoming environment where players of all skill levels can shamelessly demo products, so please come on in and try out some of our exciting new inventory. Not sure what’s new and exciting these days? Just let us know and we will be happy to give you a first-hand demo of what could be your next favorite piece of gear.
We are interested in buy, sell, and trade opportunities, especially for guitars, basses, pedals and amps so feel free to bring us your musical equipment! We will research and review your gear to determine a fair market value while you browse our shop. Unfortunately, not all instruments keep their value once they are considered “used,” but we believe the methods we use in finding the value are fair and up-to-date and allow great opportunity for both parties. Once we have established a value we will make an offer up to 65% of the value. This is an example of where we find our pricing estimates:
Price Guide from Reverb
Are you a local artisan, tinkerer, or builder with products we can help you sell?
Please feel free to contact us at [email protected] or call us at (317) 502 9184 to set up an appointment.
We would love to see what you have to offer not only us, but others as well.
OUR MISSIONS
Together, we at Indy String Theory aim to offer you:
-An honest, hard working team aimed at serving the local music community
-A safe, trustworthy place to bring your personal instrument for repair, mods, or custom
work
-A relaxed demo-friendly environment to experience new, used, boutique, and up-and-
coming products
-A solid knowledge of our products and the companies that make them
OUR TEAM
Brent is the Owner and General Manager of Indy String Theory, and a certified luthier hailing from right here in Indianapolis, IN. While running the day-to-day operations of the store drawing on his past retail and management experience, Brent specializes in our more advanced structural instrument repairs and fretwork. Brent works personally with our brands and partners aiming to bring a refreshing, new definition to the meaning of "Guitar Shop" to Indianapolis.
Brent has a music business background as a former member of an international touring and recording act, and has diplomas in both Guitar Repair & Building, and Guitar Development & Production from Minnesota State College Southeast Technical in Red Wing, MN. He is primarily a bassist, but also sings, plays guitar (and a bit of everything here and there, of course). Brent performs with his band, River Thief, in his free time, and cares for two big, lovable Pit-mix dogs with his wife, Allison.
Steve is part owner and the Head of Repairs for Indy String Theory. He is a certified luthier originally from Milwaukee, WI. As our lead repair luthier, Steve handles the majority of our repair work, but has an especially keen eye for wiring and electronics. As our primary parts and project specialist, Steve is proficient in a variety of in depth repairs, and ensures our pedal and amp repair services are thorough and reliable. Steve has also become an integral part of IST's in-house custom build processes.
Steve has a degree in Speech Communication from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and is also a graduate of Minnesota State College Southeast Technical with High Honors Diplomas in both Guitar Repair & Building, and Guitar Development & Production. Steve’s main instrument is guitar, and he largely spends his nights and weekends learning Baroness and Incubus riffs. Steve is a die-hard Brewers fan in a sea of Cubs and Reds fans, and is also our MLB standings ledger and ridiculous quote purveyor.
Cody is our Sales Manager and Online Sales Administrator. Using his years of experience in the music industry and knack for thoroughly understanding various products, Cody has ensured that our Reverb and eBay stores are fully stocked. He actively tests and demos nearly every piece of gear that comes through our doors, and is always willing to offer well-informed guidance for your tonal journey. He manages most of our communications via social media, online retail platforms, or email, and is likely the voice you'll hear when you give us a call. He also designs merchandise and graphics for our brand!
Cody is an avid Trekkie, amateur mycologist and forager (with the help of his partner and their sausage dog, Oscar Mayer), and a musician who performs in the local scene.
Kevin is our Lead Repair Technician, General Administrator, and Customer Service Specialist from Indianapolis, IN. While working hard behind the bench to keep our repair line moving smoothly, he often serves as our second for the sales floor. Constantly on the search for the perfect tone out of his personal guitar arsenal, pedal collection, and amp/cab rigs, he brings the same enthusiasm to helping customers find their sound. As a keeper of the spreadsheets and manager of our in-house custom cable company, Alphatone Audio, you'll often find him buried in a computer screen or trying not to breathe solder fumes; upholding the high standards we strive for.
Kevin is a classically trained violinist who grew up performing in concerto competitions and with the New World Youth Symphony Orchestra in his youth, and previously filling in for the Carmel Symphony Orchestra. In addition to his skills on the violin, he is also a proficient vocalist, guitarist, bassist, and can even jam on some mandolin. Kevin is primarily known around the all-ages/DIY music scene as a grumpy sound tech at local venues (Hoosier Dome, The Hifi, and HealerDIY), or as the vocalist and primary songwriter for his long-time passion project, The Day After, or as a guitarist for another band, Echo. His vanishingly small amount of free-time is mostly consumed by attending shows with his partner, Sammy, fantasizing about buying new music gear, and cuddling one of their feline roommates.
Jesse is our Head Guitar Instructor here at Indy String Theory. His holistic approach to the basic building blocks of music theory combined with the understanding that learning music has to be intrinsically motivated and fun along the way makes Jesse a great teacher for students of all ages and skill levels. With a personal interest in jazz, fusion, progressive metal, and even some country, he's willing and able to get new players up to speed with most genres and styles. If you've ever read our "Weekly Spark" email blasts offering tips and tricks about theory and creative concepts to expand your writing, that's all from his personal knowledge and recent research. Additionally, Jesse regularly helps us in the store-front and ensures that product listings are up-to-date and accurate. If you've ever talked to him about gear, theory, or most anything music-related, you know how passionate and open-minded Jesse is about music generally.
Jesse is originally from Eureka Springs, Arkansas and studied Music Theory at the University of Arkansas. When he's not teaching or working at the shop, he's often practicing, producing his own music at home, or playing gigs around town, and if you ever find him without a guitar in his hands, he's probably watching the Arsenal game or pwning n00bs in CounterStrike.
Brody is a Repair Technician here at Indy String Theory. Although he may be the youngest member of our team, Brody already has years of experience tinkering with and modifying his personal collection of guitars, which made him a prime candidate to learn the more formal elements of our trade. When he's not cranking out excellent setups, he is helping us clean and maintain the shop, and making specialty Alphatone cables. If you're a fan of inexpensive guitars, Squiers of all shapes and sizes, or modding an instrument to make it your own, Brody surely has some input and opinions to help you explore your options, and if you’re ever excited about how well a guitar off the wall plays, chances are Brody is responsible.
Brody spends his time outside the shop skating with friends and writing music and playing shows with his grunge-inspired band, New Disaster. At home, he can be found tinkering endlessly with his own guitars, building some Lego kits, or studying the history of early 20th century ocean liners.
Erica is our newest Repair Technician here at Indy String Theory. Recently, Erica moved to Indianapolis after several years living in both Athens and Atlanta, Georgia. While in Atlanta, Erica worked in film and television production as a Camera Assistant on projects like "1,000lb Sisters" and many other short films. She's played guitar for at least 25 years, and has prior experience in music retail. Erica is occasionally away for tours as a guitar tech for notable bands like The B-52s, and also leaves for tours as a guitarist for her band, Service.
Erica spends her free time writing music with Service and for her solo project, Gorgeous Beast, watching TV or movies, feeding her local neighborhood porch cats, cuddling her small hound-dog, Toula, and generally making absurd noises with her pedalboard.
COME VISIT US SOON!