Although Gallenberger and his seven employees focus on sales, service and lessons, acquiring vintage instruments is a job that never ends.

"The most common question we get is, 'Where do you get it all?'" he said. "We work the road. We go to the shows. We kind of split up the travel that is involved. But, a lot of times people choose to sell through us because, bottom line, we treat people fairly and we pay a very high percentage (on consignment).

"Sometimes, we pay up to 90 percent of resale. You go into some places and they may only have two or three nice things. That's because people feel like they're not getting a good price for their guitar. The biggest reason we have most of it is that we pay the most. We need to average a certain margin, but we generally offer more than other places."

Gallenberger said one customer flew in from Europe last year to buy a guitar for $25,000, then purchased two seats on the flight home so he could keep it by his side. Beneath the display case near the cash register sits a vintage Gibson Les Paul. The price tag: $28,000.

"People may think that the most expensive pieces take the longest to sell," Gallenberger said. "But, a lot of times, that is the stuff that turns over pretty rapidly. We've got a lot of guitars in the $5,000-$10,000 range. Some of the stuff on the vintage wall has been there for six months. Some of it sells in two days. The average is probably about 60 days, but it can be hard to predict."

Most of Cream City's business comes via the Web, either on the company's site or through eBay auctions. "We used to do about 1,000 orders a month on eBay," Gallenberger said. "Now, it's down to about 500, but it's more boutique things with higher prices. We've had years when it's been down and up, but over eight years it's been more up than down.

"We offer some things that other places can't. There is a national chain (Guitar Center) down the road. There are a lot of things you can buy there that I can't sell you -- things like D.J. equipment, P.A. gear and things like that. When it comes to guitars, we absolutely have better value at any price point.

"(The big chain stores) have marketing dollars and they have the walk-in customers. Walk-ins are only about 25 percent of our business. We're 75 percent out of state and international. But, the (in-store) part of our business is important to us. It's a growing part."