Meet us where guitars are made
Danche Guitars sells custom guitars and amps, as well as repairs guitars, but the shop's most exciting offering is its guitar-making workshop.
The art of lutherie, or building and repairing string instruments, is nearly a lost art with very few people able to do it. At Danche Guitars, however, you can learn to carve and construct your own instrument.
Danche Ivanovic, a guitar builder with more than 30 years of experience, will teach you how to craft your own high-quality guitar out of a block of wood.
The workshops are personalized with one-on-one instruction from a master luthier who will spend six to eight weeks helping you build your guitar.
The guitar shop is open Tuesday through Friday from noon to 7pm, Saturday from 10am to 6pm, and Sunday from 10am to 3pm.
Keep an eye out for jam sessions sometimes held on the stage at Danche Guitars.
The build-your-own-guitar workshops are $3,300 for a solid body guitar and $5,500 for an acoustic guitar. Prices vary depending on the type and quality of wood.
Danche Ivanovic was a musician in the former Yugoslavia before he started repairing guitars and other string instruments. He then apprenticed under master luthier Thomas Keller in Munich before returning to Yugoslavia to build a successful music business.
When the Balkan Wars broke out in 1991, Ivanovic was granted asylum in Austria along with his wife and two sons. In 1993, the family immigrated to the United States where they started all over again.
Today they have another successful music business in Forest Park where Ivanovic works to build beautiful guitars and to preserve the art of luthier.
Located at 7232 Madison Street in Forest Park, Danche Guitars is a half-mile walk from both the Harlem/Lake Stop on the CTA Green Line and the Harlem Stop on the Blue Line.
