Thanks for visiting!
I'm Alan L. Mapes, 
The owner of Guitar Shades.
I've been living in the Texas hill country for nearly 30 years, I am a nurse at the local VA hospital until this business grows or I retire which ever comes first. I am 63 years young so retirement is not too far off and I have been thinking of something to keep me busy. I trained dogs for 40 years and even wrote a book called "Puppy Training". I have enjoyed playing the guitar for most of my adult life. My love of guitars and music is what inspired me to start Guitar Shades. I have several guitars, which I leave out on stands because I find that if I put them in a case I rarely play them. I can't play all of them at the same time so, over time they gathered dirt, dust and dog hair. Then when the grandkids visited they would get knocked over, de-tuned, or even worse damaged. It was either put them away, throw sheets or towels over them or buy some covers. I was not impressed with what was out on the market so I decided to get creative and design some of my own. Friends began to ask me to make some for them and the business has just grown from there. After I applied for a design patent, I began to market them and here they are. If for some reason none of the shades in the catalog appeal to you, feel free to custom design your own and I will send you the shade that speaks to your unique sense of style!
Guitar Shades are custom made in the USA, in the beautiful hill country of Texas, 60 miles Northwest of San Antonio in the town of Kerrville. Kerrville happens to be the home of the Kerrville Wine & Music Festival & The Kerrville Folk Festival - kerrvillefolkfestival.com -. The Wine & Music Festival is held annually in Sept. and The Folk festival is held every spring (during the Memorial Day weekend) at Quiet Valley ranch just 9 miles south of town. Guitar pickers and players from around the world congregate here yearly...if you haven't attended, it is quite the event!
If you head just up the road going North on Hwy. 16 about 35 miles you will find the legendary Luckenbach, Texas, www.luckenbachtexas.com made famous by Willie Nelson who wrote the song of the same name back in 1977. On August 23 of this year (2009), Luckenbach held an event to attmept to break a record in the Guinness Book of World Records. The attempt was to have the most guitar pickers assembled and playing the same tune in one place... and that tune was Luchenbach Texas. The old record set in Germany was 1,802 players. The record was successfully broken by 57 players a total of 1,859 folks took part. Missing were over 200 who paid the donation fee, (which went to the VA Truma Center) but did not show to register. These extra 200 would have put the record way over the top.
Guitar Shades is proud to be a part of the growing businesses in Texas.
