This St. Paul business owner sells guitars and inspiration

Not too many small business owners can count the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, and Sheryl Crow among their clientele. But then again, there also aren't too many places to purchase a 1952 Fender Telecaster, one of the first electric guitars ever made, or an ultra-rare 1928 Martin hand-crafted from rich Brazilian rosewood.

Willie Del Mar, aka Nate Westgor, spent years on the road playing clubs and getting to know other musicians who shared his love of live music and his passion for guitars. After amassing a growing collection of vintage guitars, and not only looking for a place to put them but also for something, as he says, "to keep me busy during the day," Westgor moved his collection and an initial inventory of 13 new guitars into a tiny storefront on Cleveland Avenue in Saint Paul. He named his new business "Willie's American Guitars" in a nod to his stage name.

His greeting of "welcome to the clubhouse" seems appropriate since the shop feels like a cool place to hang out. The majority of Westgor's day is spent fielding requests about guitar deals or trades. "Musicians are always looking for a new source of inspiration-it's like changing the color of your walls at home," he says. Westgor recalls a unique transaction with members of Nirvana before they hit it big. "They were having a hard time scraping together $95. Most of the money was in change and they were carrying it in a baseball cap," he recalls.

Westgor's 15 employees are all musicians and routinely make "house calls" to venues like the Xcel Energy Center during sound checks. "The roadies for the rock stars know that we know what's going on," he says. "We'll always cover them when they need us." -JULIE PFITZINGER