The Chicago Music Exchange is a music equipment retailer based in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, United States. Located at 3316 North Lincoln Avenue, CME is known for its museum-like showroom and collection of vintage guitars and basses. It is a major Chicago destination for musicians.

History

CME was founded in 1990 by Scott Silver who moved the store from 3270 N. Clark St to its current location in 2005. A major player in the global vintage guitar market, Chicago Music Exchange took an active role in vintage guitar boom of the mid to late-2000s. The business and its inventory of instruments was purchased by David Kalt in 2010 for $7.5 million. Since then, the store has added a full drum shop as well as a dedicated bass room ("The Bassment") which opened in 2013. CME has also rapidly expanded its online presence and sales, and is known for its active

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channel featuring product demos of new pedals and vintage pieces. In June 2012, CME posted a video entitled "100 Riffs" which went viral following a stint on the front page of

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. In 2013, Kalt launched

Reverb.com Reverb.com is an online marketplace for new, used, and vintage musical equipment, including instruments used by notable musicians. It was founded in 2013 by David Kalt, and roughly 85 percent of its employees are musicians. As of 2016, Rev ...

as an open marketplace to buy and sell music gear. In 2019, Reverb.com was sold to

Etsy Etsy, Inc. is an American e-commerce company with an emphasis on the selling of handmade or vintage items and craft supplies. These items fall under a wide range of categories, including jewelry, bags, clothing, home decor, religious items, furni ...

Notable customers

Chicago Music Exchange has hosted many celebrity customers including: *

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* Billie Joe Armstrong * Billy Corgan * Black Keys * Bill Kelliher *

Brad Paisley Brad Douglas Paisley (born October 28, 1972) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His first success came in 1997 as the writer of David Kersh's "Another You (David Kersh song), Another You". After this, he signed with ...

* Brian Blade * Butch Walker * Cage the Elephant *

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* Dawes *

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* Ethan Farmer *

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* Foxygen *

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* Imagine Dragons *

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* Jeff Tweedy *

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* John Depp * Karen O * The Lumineers * Marcus Mumford *

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* Melissa Etheridge *

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* Neon Trees * Of Monsters & Men * Omar Rodríguez-López *

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* Rick Nielsen * Russian Circles * Sleeping With Sirens *

Social Distortion Social Distortion is an American punk rock band formed in 1978 in Fullerton, California. It consists of Mike Ness (vocals, guitar), Jonny Wickersham (guitar), Brent Harding (bass), David Hidalgo Jr. (drums), and David Kalish (keyboards). Emerg ...

* Steve Miller * Sting * Tame Impala * The War on Drugs *

Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the leader and frontman of the Rock music, rock bands Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Mudcrutch and a member of the late 1980s sup ...

* Will Champlin * Zac Brown

References

External links

Chicago Music Exchange Website

Chicago Music Exchange YouTube Channel
{{coord, 41.9421, -87.6706, type:landmark, display=title Musical instrument retailers of the United States Buildings and structures in Chicago