A Vintage Musical Instrument Store Near Me in Tarzana: Norman's Rare Guitars

Norman Harris was selling old guitars out of a Sherman Oaks apartment before most players used the word vintage, and the business he started in 1975 now fills nearly 6,000 square feet in the San Fernando Valley. Norman's Rare Guitars, at 18969 Ventura Blvd, Tarzana, CA 91356, occupies a corner of a strip mall on the boulevard. If your search for a musical instrument store near me is really a hunt for a pre-war Martin or a 1960s Stratocaster, this is the Valley address collectors already know.

According to the store's About page, Harris arrived in Los Angeles in the early 1970s to be a musician, played in bands and toured, and bought guitars on the side. He placed ads in the Green Sheet, a local classified paper, fishing for older instruments from players who did not know what they owned. One caller was Robbie Robertson of The Band, who liked the apartment full of guitars and came back with Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell.

By early 1975 the first incarnation of the shop had opened in Reseda with less than 500 square feet of instruments. Harris moved twice as the business outgrew each space before landing in Tarzana, where the showroom comes with a hidden back room and a warehouse whose contents Norm has sometimes lost count of. He has also written two books, a 1999 survey of 30 years of collecting and the 2016 memoir Confessions of a Vintage Guitar Dealer.

Hollywood found the shop early. Actor David Carradine asked Harris to supply period-correct guitars for Bound for Glory, the Woody Guthrie film. Instruments from the store went on to appear in The Last Waltz, Back to the Future and This Is Spinal Tap, where a Norman's Rare Guitars t-shirt on Nigel Tufnel became a quiet running joke. Gibson and Fender have also used the collection as a photographic reference for reissues.

In 2024 a feature-length documentary about Harris premiered on Netflix, made with the involvement of Kiefer Sutherland and written and co-produced by his daughter Sarah Edwards. It covered a 2022 health scare that included a rare cancer diagnosis and two heart attacks. In January 2026 TNAG Global, the Nashville family company behind Carter Vintage Guitars and Cotten Music Center, bought the business along with more than 1,000 guitars, while the staff stayed and Norm remained as founding ambassador.

Stock changes constantly, and the Guitar of the Day videos are the best preview of the range. Recent episodes have featured a 1952 Fender Telecaster, a 1958 Gretsch 6120 played by J Mascis, a black 1964 Fender Jaguar with a matching headstock and a 1957 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop. New instruments share the floor with the old ones, including current Gibson, Martin and Fender acoustics, electrics and mandolins.

The FAQ states that plenty of inventory never reaches the website and that some guitars here appear nowhere online. A profile on Our Ventura Blvd described a back section called Norman's Secret Stash, with hundreds of rare Gibsons and Fenders, and stock reaching from mid-century lap steels and mandolins to one-of-a-kind Stratocasters. Anyone hunting a specific year or finish should name it at the counter instead of waiting for a listing.

Repair work has been part of the business since 1975, and the bench specializes in pre-1980 instruments, using era-correct materials wherever possible. Its price list is posted in unusual detail. A basic guitar or bass setup is $125, a Floyd Rose or Kahler setup is $185 and a fret level, crown and polish is $200. An acoustic neck reset carries a base price of $1,050, with a new saddle and finish touchup included, and no work begins until the owner signs off on the quote.

Walk-ins are welcome, and a quick visual estimate costs nothing. Most standard setups are ready within a week, while refrets and structural jobs take longer depending on the queue. Basses, mandolins, banjos and most fretted instruments are accepted along with guitars. One exception is spelled out: rotted or decomposed Gretsch binding is not repaired, because of the nature of the celluloid it was made from.

Appointments are not required, and the FAQ answers the question of whether customers may play the stock with a cheerful "Of course." Let a staff member lift a guitar down for you and keep belt buckles and jacket zippers clear of old nitrocellulose finishes. In-store purchases are not eligible for returns, so spend real time with an instrument through an amp before committing to it.

Sellers get a clear set of rules. A trade-in can be applied toward any guitar in stock, and because the trade offsets the taxable value, sales tax is charged only on the difference. The shop buys outright or takes consignments, and an $85 authentication and listing fee covers setup, fresh strings, photos and a full description, collected only after the instrument sells. Anyone bringing five or more instruments at once should phone first so staff can set aside proper time.

The FAQ calls the shop a gathering place for the world's greatest musicians since 1975, and its About page names visitors including Slash, Joe Bonamassa, Eddie Van Halen, Tom Petty and George Harrison. Norm's son Jordan Harris told Our Ventura Blvd that anyone who stays from open to closing will see at least seven or eight stars. If a famous face walks in, give them the same room you would want while testing a guitar.

For unhurried browsing, arrive close to the 11 am opening on a Tuesday or Wednesday, when an amp is easier to claim. Tuesday is also the day of the shop's TeleTuesday posts, when a vintage Telecaster takes the spotlight in its Guitar of the Day series. A Saturday visit usually means sharing the amps with more browsers. The shop closes on certain holidays and announces those closures on its Instagram and Facebook pages.

Tarzana owes its name to Tarzan. Edgar Rice Burroughs bought 550 acres here in 1919 and established Tarzana Ranch, and the neighborhood remains part of the City of Los Angeles. A short walk west along Ventura Boulevard brings you to the Tarzana Community & Cultural Center at the corner of Vanalden Avenue, a modest 1940s Spanish-style house under towering long-needled pines that spent four decades as Diane and Rudy's Garden Statuary.

Local residents saved the corner from commercial development, and the center now runs programs that suit a guitar errand neatly. Its Tarzana Music Night gathers local singer-songwriters for outdoor shows under those same pines, which makes a fitting stop after an afternoon spent testing old acoustics down the street. Heading east instead, the Encino-Tarzana Branch Library also sits on Ventura Boulevard.

Norman's Rare Guitars is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 am to 6 pm. Repairs can be dropped off during those hours, and out-of-town buyers can have instruments shipped, with online purchases carrying a 48-hour return request window. Custom demo videos of any listed guitar can be requested from its product page.

The contact page notes that street parking is available on Ventura Blvd and the surrounding streets, and the FAQ places the shop just off the 101. Without a car, Metro Line 150 runs along Ventura Boulevard between Chatsworth and Encino, with a timepoint at Ventura and Reseda in Tarzana, east of the store. Arrive early enough to sit with a few guitars before the 6 pm close.