Cornerstone Music Store owner Troy D. White looks down the body of an Epiphone Red Flametop Les Paul guitar at his music store on Friday. The store carries public address gear, CDs, sheet music and can order band instruments. Rick Gunn/Nevada Appeal
With the energetic strumming of Van Halen in the background, Troy White polishes a used Fender Stratocaster with a yellow cloth. Its body lays open and bare before him, like a wounded soldier on the operating table.
When White finishes repairing the Strat, he'll sell it in his store, Cornerstone Music, for as low as he can go to give a music lover a good instrument to play.
"Here you'll get great service with love and care," he said Thursday. "We don't want people going broke to pay for an instrument."
White compared the guitar's body to that of a woman's - not an uncommon analogy in the sex-driven rock world - saying you have to be careful, gentle, loving with the guitar. But to White that analogy also means commitment and sacrifice - he's been married to Tammy for 14 years.
White said he wants that kind of happiness for his rock inspiration Eddie Van Halen, White's praying for the music icon to reunite with his ex-wife, actress Valerie Bertinelli.
Prayer means a lot to White, a devoted Christian, and Van Halen is second in his book, after Jesus Christ. The Christ is called the cornerstone of the faith. That was also the name of White's first band.
White, a former Southerner not yet out of the habit of saying "git-tar," wore a black Van Halen T-shirt and a Hard Rock Cafe cap. So it isn't hard to see why he closed the store on Wednesday for a family trip to see a Van Halen concert - which he said was awesome, except for the overwhelming turnout of pot heads.
White's shop is in the same building as The Upstage Center Theatre, Chili Bop Entertainment Group and the Connected Christian church.
Cornerstone has only two rooms. One is the business office and the other is filled with more than 30 guitars, some amplifiers and a Ludwig drum set. White's children, 9-year-old David and 12-year-old Ariel, wander around the store. Ariel wears a pink Van Halen shirt; she plays the violin and clarinet.
White carries Gibson and Fender guitars. He plays bass, drums and guitar and does all of that in his one-member band, Son of Jesse.
White has two mottos for his business, which opened July 4.
First: "This is where musicians matter more than money."
White decided to open the shop because he says many local musicians had to go out of town to buy their gear at a good price. He also wants to teach kids how to play.
Second: "We are the school of rock."
A large "School of Rock" movie poster hangs above the Ludwig drum set. Actor Jack Black beckons kids to come and join. White wants to teach kids who come into his shop how to pick out a guitar based on function, not on its color.
He compared picking out a guitar like choosing a wife, you do it in person and you get to know her first, not through a catalogue.
White, 35, is a special-education English and history teacher at Carson High School. When school starts again he'll trade off working the store with his wife, who is a school bus driver.
Cornerstone Music, 900 Mallory Way, is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. He also carries public address gear, CDs, sheet music and can order band instruments.
Contact Becky Bosshart at bbosshart@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.