Wildwood Guitars owners find success in business that they actually love

Business Report Correspondent

LOUISVILLE ? Marilynn and Steve Mesple don’t know much about economies, nor have they studied business philosophy. But, as the song goes, they do know that one and one is two, and they know that their love of music has added up to one of downtown Louisville’s most successful business operations.

“Neither one of us has ever taken a business course,´ said Steve Mesple, the 17-year co-owner of Wildwood Guitars and former driving force of the band Wind Machine. “But that’s not what it’s about. It’s really about making a living at doing something that you really love.

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“To find a career or life that embraces music or the arts often takes incredible sacrifice, dedication and perseverance. But there are also tremendous artistic and emotional awards that come out of it. We can’t always weigh everything with just financial rewards.”

And so when Mesple is featured as a guest lecturer in the Downtown Business Association’s (DBA) upcoming series of business courses in May, don’t expect him to deal exclusively with the bottom line.

“So many of our businesspeople have been here for so long, they are more like a fabric of the community,´ said Jo-an Barnett, executive director of the DBA. “It’s sort of a school of hard knocks.”

The upcoming series, tentatively called the Entrepreneurship School, is somewhat of a down-home lesson in how to make a living at something you enjoy. Joining Mesple in the series is John Hansen of Mudslingers. He will teach a course on how to turn your art into a business. Hansen has 80 students in his downtown ceramic studio and cooperative.

The series promises to include a lot of ventures that you won’t find mentioned in Business 101. Others businesses featured will be Eliza’s Attic, covering how to put on a high tea; and Crazy Horse II. Rhonda Leggett, owner of the Marketplace Bakery, will talk about the business of natural healing oils.

The Mesples, refugees from California sprawl, started their downtown Louisville business in 1984. Today, it’s the largest independent dealer of Gibson guitars and one of the largest independent dealers for Taylor, Martin and Fender. “We have 200 to 250 Gibson guitars in stock, and that’s pretty much unheard of in this day and age,” Mesple said. Add to that the fact the company sells internationally, especially for custom builders such as Tom Anderson. At least 50 percent of its total business is from out of state.

But Mesple, whose band was tremendously successful on a national level, noted he and Marilynn didn’t really start off with that in mind. “I think she and I really opened the store to have a place to teach,” he said. “Just selling the guitar is not the most important thing, it’s guiding people to the right instrument.

“We never tried to be the kings of the $89 guitar. We have $89 guitars, and we have guitars that sell for $42,000.”

Wildwood also caters to the musicians’ market, whether they are professionals or amateur performers looking to sharpen their acts. That reinforced the concept of matching playing ability to instruments.

“Sometimes, you have to tell your customers: ?This guitar is such an insignificant jump. Come back when you can spend $600 or $700, instead of $400. You’d be better off waiting and getting a more significant instrument.’ “

Mesple noted that a number of his walk-in customers want to hear his philosophy on making a band successful, so the DBA series offers a time-saving proposition to do so en masse. Wind Machine spanned two decades with chart-topping CDs, and lasted long enough for the Mesple boys, Taylor and Ethan, to become effective parts of the act.

Living a quality business life involves attracting quality help, Mesple said. Store employee Steve Boynton designed the company’s first Web site, and fellow musicians and employees Britt Heaps and Zack Yarrow now do all the site maintenance.

“Steve is one of the finest guitar players I’ve ever heard,´ said Mesple, himself a famous champion of extremely eclectic guitar. “Sometimes we scratch our heads and wonder: ?What is he doing working here?’ “

The Web site is an important visibility tool for a company doing a fair amount of business in Hong Kong, but Mesple said Wildwood does not, and probably never will, sell guitars online. “That’s really depersonalizing business,” he said. “We want to make sure that people know exactly what they’re buying, and that it’s exactly what they’re looking for.”

And Mesple? He’s already found what he’s looking for. “In order to survive, musically, we can’t always make enough money just as performers,” he said. “Most musicians are survivors: They supplement their incomes with teaching, promotion, recording. We ourselves have owned a recording studio and record label.

“In the limited amount of time I have, I want to focus in on the course. To have a career or life that embraces music.”