The North American Guitar
About Us
Home of the world’s finest guitars
The North American Guitar is the home of the world’s finest guitars. Representing the greatest luthiers and handmade guitar brands on the planet, TNAG is the number one destination for discerning players and collectors alike both online and in their showroom in Music City, Nashville, Tennessee.
Together with an incredible passion for everything that is high-end steel-string guitar, and with music running through their veins, The North American Guitar has grown from a passion project in London to a world-renowned guitar store.
As the number one destination for the finest guitars, TNAG’s mission has always been to bring the very best guitars to the most discerning players and provide a superlative customer experience both in-store and online.
Meet the Team
Board
Founder
Robert J Montague
The North American Guitar was founded by entrepreneur and keen blues guitarist Robert Montague CBE in 2010. Having experienced first-hand the pleasure of owning a bespoke instrument he decided to start a new company to bring the work of the guitar builders of this new Golden Age to wider attention. Before this, there was nobody in the UK with the experience and expertise to offer a true bespoke service for discerning players. The North American Guitar was born!
Co-founder and CEO
Ben Montague
Ben has been a vital part of The North American Guitar's growth since it was just an idea over coffee with his father in early 2010. An established singer-songwriter and touring musician in his own right, Ben's love of bespoke guitars has led to him using the work of several prominent luthiers in front of audiences of thousands. With accolades from BBC Radio 2 including Album (Tales of Flying and Falling) and Single Of The Week (Haunted) and high-profile tours with some of the biggest names in the UK music scene.
Chairman
Simon Morse
Since leading the management buy out of the marine division of Inchcape PLC, Simon has chaired a series of private equity backed businesses specialising in the service sector with established brands looking to achieve accelerated growth through either M&A or disrupting traditional markets by expanding the range of scope of their specialist services through digitisation
Magenta Parnters
Max Hallam
Max is an InvestmentAssociate at Magenta Partners and has over 10 years’ experience working in bothfinance and industry.
Sales & Customer Relations
Managing Partner
Kim Sherman
Kim has been playing guitar since she was 13 and writing songs since she was 16. She grew up on a western Kentucky farm and came to Nashville to be a songwriter. She studied guitar, English Literature, and history at Belmont University, graduating Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in English and History. After working for some time in the music and book industries, Kim found herself ‘on the other side of the counter’ at Cotten Music where she had years to work on moving from full introvert to partial extrovert. Co-owner of the shop for the past 23 years, and now Managing Partner at The North American Guitar, Kim loves her work of matching her customers with instruments that suit them best.
Head of UK/EU Sales
Richard Poll
Richard is a trained rock and pop acoustic and electric guitarist, reading music at the University of Chichester and working as a professional musician and guitar tutor before developing a digital marketing career in the professional audio and musical instrument industries which resulted in the global coordination of brand marketing for Chinese microphone manufacturer sE Electronics and British pro audio brands MunroSonic and Aston Microphones.
Manager of Customer Experience
Ryan Flynn
Marketing
Head of Digital Marketing & Strategy
Scott Frans
Scott has over 15 years of digital marketing experience in the music industry, but his passion for guitars has taken up most of his free time. After studying New Media at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, Scott moved to Nashville where he managed digital strategy for record labels, artist management, the Grand Ole Opry, and Country Music Association. He combines his passion and experience as Head of Digital for TNAG. Scott lives in Nashville with his wife and two daughters, and still spends his free time looking at guitars online.
Head of Bespoke, Content & Social Media
Lindsay Straw
Lindsay, though born and raised in Montana, spent over a decade in Boston, MA before joining the TNAG team in Nashville. There she forged strong connections in the acoustic folk and Celtic scenes, performing and recording both solo and in traditional Irish bands, and touring and playing festivals in New England and beyond. She also taught at Cambridge’s legendary Passim School of Music, and served on the organizing board for the Boston Celtic Music Festival. Here at TNAG, she gets to blend all her skills and interests, not just playing and connecting customers with guitars, but working with and interviewing luthiers and producing content, too.
Videographer
Thien Phan
Thien is an experienced videographer, photographer, and editor with a demonstrated history of working in the music industry. Born in Bangkok, Thailand as a Vietnamese refugee, Thien’s family moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1985 to seek a new life. At the age of 15, his dad taught him a few chords on the guitar which led to his desire to pursue music. He auditioned and got accepted into the Nashville School of the Arts guitar program. In 2006, he graduated from Middle Tennessee State University with a degree in Music Business and Production Technology. Thien spent the next 13 years working in the music business as a music video director, touring videographer and photographer working with Grammy-Award winning artists such Roy “Futureman” Wooten, Bela Fleck, Brooks & Dunn, Tim McGraw & Faith Hill. Today, he spends his time off the road to focus more on family while still pursuing his love for music and the arts.
Photographer
Zane Dumont
Zane began his journey with photography in his high school dark room, which later lead to graduating from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, with a BFA in fine art photography in 2014. When he's not snapping glamour shots of guitars, he's a sought after photographer and videographer around Nashville, working artists like Logan Ledger and Sierra Ferrell, and for record companies like Sony and Rounder.
Product
General Manager
Eli Wilson
Product Specialist
Grayson Jones
Operations & Finance
Head of Operations
Nick Davison
Nick is a Nashville-based guitarist who is part of the TNAG foundations: looking after customers, organizing stock, fulfilling orders, packing guitars, checking inventory… you name it, Nick’s on it. If he’s not doing any of the aforementioned, you’ll find him in front of the camera leading our Presents videos and talking about the guitars he loves the most.
Logistics Manager
Sarah Eitel
Sarah is a guitarist and singer/songwriter originally from Southeast Michigan. She plays guitar in various bands located in the Nashville area in addition to performing as a solo act. She is happy to apply the experience she’s gained working for a customs broker towards running the logistics side of TNAG. She understands how important the right guitar is to the creative process, and she loves working with customers and luthiers to ensure that TNAG provides the best vehicle for musicians everywhere to reach their creative goals. In her free time, Sarah enjoys going to see live music, reading books about indie/punk subculture, and rollerblading with her French bulldog, Sheldon.
Operations Assistant
Jason Peterson
Finance Manager
Megan Barbarotto
Join the team!
If you’d like to join the TNAG team, we’re always on the lookout for passionate guitar afficionados. Check out our vacancies and apply today!
