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Owner Tim Hochstetler grew up in Goshen, Indiana. He’s a guitarist and composer specializing in jazz, fusion, Latin, rock and classical music. His studies took him west to the University of Oregon and then east to the Berklee School of Music in Boston. Between his junior and senior years, he returned to Indiana to teach guitar. It was then that he knew what he would do.
After graduation, and with the motivation of having a number of school loans to pay off, Hochstetler got to work teaching classes above T.G. Music. At the time, the music store at street level was owned by Tim Guy Robie. (It’s where the T.G. originated.) Robie started the business in 1977 and he found Goshen to be a thriving music scene. By 2004, Hochstetler was able to buy the building. Robie continued to handle all the retail until retirement in 2013. It was then that Hochstetler took over the store as well.
T.G. Music is known for doing repairs on guitars and amps and it has a wide selection of new and used guitars, drums, pianos, violins and musical accessories. Hochstetler, who is also a professor at nearby Indiana University South Bend , and his staff teach lessons for all the instruments they sell in the store. The school features 20 of what Hochstetler says are Michiana's best music teachers, experienced in all styles of music. This includes Grammy Award winner Johnny B. Gayden who has performed with the Staples Singers, Son Seals, Junior Wells and KoKo Taylor, to name a few. He teaches bass to a few dozen students of all ages and different skill levels.
Located in the northern part of Indiana, the population of Goshen is just more than 32,000. Hochstetler says it still feels like a small town.
The historic Main Street hit hard times in the early 2000’s. Hochstetler says there were many run down and vacant buildings. Since then, there has been an effort to revitalize the area. From 2004 to 2006, downtown went through what Hochstetler says was a “Goshen Renaissance.” People bought up old shops and started renovating.
Hochstetler is still in the process of renovating. After buying the building, he put in an apartment and an office for a massage therapist in the back. He hopes to fix the façade in the next year. The building was erected in the 1890’s and housed a bank. After the Great Depression, it transformed into a hardware store in the 1930s. The giant bank vault in the basement remained. Hochstetler uses it today to store valuable guitars. “Only Tim Robie and I know the combination,” he says, “Robie had to originally figure it out by using a stethoscope and listening.”
Customers who stop in to buy an instrument or have something repaired never know who may pop into the store. Members from the band moe . have come in. The Bros. Landreth also stopped by to check out some gear before playing a nearby concert venue. Even actor/director Steve Buscemi has been in while on location for the film, “Lonesome Jim.”
Sometimes Hochstetler thinks he would like to come up with a cool jingle for the store, “down at 123 Main Street,” he sings. “Something like the Empire Carpet song.” He likes the easy-to-remember address and says he gets a kick out of people who write it down on a piece of paper after he tells them where he is located.