The Tone Mob Podcast

Emerald City Guitars: Trevor Boone and the Art of the Guitar Hunt

The Tone Mob Podcast

Show Notes

Trevor Boone basically grew up inside a guitar shop.

His dad started Emerald City Guitars in Seattle back in the mid-90s with a shoestring business plan, a small loan, and a whole lot of secondhand guitar-store dream dust. Trevor was the kid at the counter, surrounded by musicians, weird old guitars, shop talk, and the kind of musical obsession that tends to permanently rewire a person.

In this episode, we get into Trevor’s journey from pre-eBay guitar hunts with his dad to becoming one of the people collectors call when they are searching for serious vintage pieces. We talk Bursts, Dumbles, Silvertones, funky under-a-thousand-dollar treasures, and the strange balance of loving the oddball stuff while also surviving in the high-end vintage guitar world.

We also dig into how guitar retail has changed, why proper setup and authentication matter more than ever, the pressure of social media, the magic of instruments that simply make you play better, and why the best guitar shops still feel like the barbershops of the music world.

There is also some Boss DM-2 love, Seattle pizza talk, Garth Brooks, Stringjoy Foxwoods, and the usual amount of beautiful guitar nonsense.

Support The Show And Connect!

The Text Chat is back! Hit me up at (503) 751-8577

You can also help out with your gear buying habits by purchasing stuff from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tonemob.com/reverb⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tonemob.com/sweetwater⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or grabbing your guitar/bass strings from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tonemob.com/stringjoy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More from The Tone Mob Podcast

Oct 19, 2026

When somebody asks what you do for a living, sometimes the easiest answer is simply... “guitar.”

Oct 13, 2026

My buddy Philip Carter from the 40 Watt Podcast is back, and this one started the way a lot of our conversations do... We were talking about guitars before hitting record and eventually realized we should probably be recording this nonsense.

Oct 6, 2026

Shelby Pollard of Black Bobbin is back on the show, and apparently we had some things to work through.

Sep 29, 2026

Zoe’s path into guitar building is a pretty fascinating one. She grew up surrounded by artists, started out as a drummer, dove deep into piano and composition, and at one point thought she might pursue film scoring. Eventually, though, she realized she missed actually making physical things with her hands.

Sep 21, 2026

My buddy Jason Verlinde of The Fretboard Journal is back on the show, and this time we’re fresh off the Fretboard Summit in Chicago.

See all episodes →