The History of Colfax Guitar Shop | Denver's Guitar Shop Since 1998

OUR HISTORY

ABOUT US

Baxendale Era: 1998-2010

Scott Baxendale started Colfax Guitar Shop in 1998. It was good timing as Colfax Ave was having a revival after decades of decline. The historic Bluebird Theater across the street brought live music back to the venue in 1994. The revamped venue, which sat vacant for several years, now brought a new life to the neighborhood. When he wasn’t building custom guitars Scott mostly focused on guitar repairs and restorations, a theme that has remained consistent throughout the shop’s history.

Original Storefront

As the reputation of the shop grew, Scott hired his son John full time in 2001 to help handle the workflow. John had already been working part time at the shop while in high school. As a way to train John they took apart an old Harmony guitar and re-braced it giving the solid wood guitar a complete overhaul. The end result produced a guitar that rivaled some of the best flattop guitars in history.

Scott and John Baxendale

Eventually the process became known as a conversion and was the blueprint for training future luthiers at the shop. Many facets of repair are covered in a conversion which was a great way to create a well rounded luthier. It was also a low risk way for green luthiers to make inevitable mistakes on a guitar that didn’t belong to a customer. Over time word got out about conversions until the Baxendales developed a year long paid internship program to keep up with demand. The current owner of Colfax Guitar Shop, Christian Phillips was one of those interns.

Scott narrowed his focus to building custom guitars for some of his favorite musicians. He developed a close relationship with the Drive By Truckers and built them several guitars. It was likely during this time that Scott started planning a fully fledged luthier program built around the conversion model.

During his time at Colfax Guitar Shop John Baxendale turned into a master luthier in his own right. He was making guitars that could hold their own against some of the best boutique builders in the world. In 2009 John left the shop to start his own business called The Colorado Guitar Company. There he honed his craft even further until moving to Durango, Colorado in 2015. John is still in Durango where he devotes his time building world class flattop guitars under the J.C. Baxendale name.

In 2010 Scott sold Colfax Guitar Shop and moved to Athens, Georgia where he started his next venture training luthiers via Harmony conversions under the name Baxendale Conversions. In the early 2020’s he moved his operations to Santa Fe, New Mexico where he is still doing conversions.

Current owner Christian Phillips

Dougherty Era: 2010-2022

Originally from Philadelphia, Dave graduated from Roberto-Venn school of Luthiery in 1993. From there he went to work for Rockley Music in Denver where he worked managing the repair department for several years

Dave moved back to Philadelphia in the late ‘90s where he headed the repair department at Melody Music. Originally founded by music industry legend Harry Rosenbloom, Medley offered Dave the opportunity to work on and learn much about all stringed instruments (guitars, bass, autoharps, violins, etc.). Harry’s connection as a member of the board of directors at Martin Guitars allowed Dave inside access to their repair department, where he would spend time picking the brains of Martins best techs in house at the factory.

Dave also had connections with all of the industry's top names as a service center where he provided warranty work for Martin, Taylor, Fender, Ibanez, Takamine, etc. for many years.

Eventually Dave broke out into his own shop, where he continued to provide service for many local music stores as well the his personal customer base in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

In 2010 Dave moved back to Denver and purchased Colfax Guitar Shop. Having an expansive background in the industry, Dave was able to implement his vast knowledge as the new owner of Colfax Guitar Shop. With the help of Christian Phillips, a luthier who stayed on at the shop as a holdover from the Baxendale era, Dave was able to hit the ground running. Over his 12 year ownership he created a retail storefront where one was lacking, as well as growing the shops reputation, tripling the number of repairs that came through the door in a given year.

As the shops reputation grew the workload overwhelmed the small space and renovations were needed to fit more luthiers as well as creating more storage for the instruments in for repair. The back of the shop was renovated and machinery was updated to improve guitar manufacturing and increase efficiency of repairs.

Dave trained his luthiers to be approachable, accountable, and experts in their craft, further cementing The Colfax Guitar Shop as one of the best repair shops in the country. Having expanded the retail side of the business the shop soon became a go-to spot to find vintage and rare instruments which had the distinct advantage of being restored by professionals in house.

Dave Dougherty

Three generations of owners: Christian, Scott, and Dave

Christian with Prince's guitar

Christian and his son Jude

Phillips Era: 2022-Present

In 2022 Dave Dougherty retired and sold Colfax Guitar Shop to Christian Phillips who had been a luthier at the shop since 2008. With a wealth of knowledge learning from the two previous owners, his experience as a prominent figure on the front lines of the shops evolution, and having formed an intimate connection with its customer base, it was only natural to pass the torch off to the in-house veteran. Christian is thrilled at the opportunity to contribute to the rich history of the shop he loves so much.

In his 15 years as a dedicated luthier leading up to purchasing Colfax Guitar Shop, Christian was able to fine tune his own philosophy and sense of self within the industry as a whole. While honoring the founding principles that are cornerstones of the shop, Christian is excited to usher it into the next stage of it’s evolution.

When Christian took ownership, Colfax Guitar Shop was in the fortunate position of having more work than it could handle. The shop was again running low on space and needed room. At this point Christian had been instrumental in three previous renovations, all with the same goal of handling an expanding business. Now he was tasked with planning a complete re-design of the shop, and this time it really had to count. The blueprint was down to the inch and planned with as much future growth in mind as the space could handle.

In 2023 the project was completed by Colfax Guitar Shops talented luthiers, family, friends, and customers. This brought the shop into the modern era by providing a state of the art workspace which mirrored the level of craftsmanship people have come to expect of the shop. The inventory of used and vintage guitars on display tripled while providing a more inviting space to experience them. The response has been overwhelmingly positive with customers describing the space as whimsical, and like a church for guitars. Renovating the shop provided room to grow but most importantly it cemented its place serving the community in the same location for years to come.

Christian Phillips

Having an established crew of talented luthiers the shop has afforded Christian time to focus on the construction of a redesigned wood shop. This is the last foundational phase for what will spawn several exciting projects in the future, like improved facilities for building custom instruments and a space for future repair and building classes. Recently, Christian launched Tiny Shop Concerts—an intimate, recorded concert series inside Colfax Guitar Shop—and plans to introduce a second series in the near future. With many projects in the works, he shows no signs of slowing down, continuing to engage more deeply with the community he loves.

Shop renovations begin

Spencer, Christian, and Nils