STARTUP NOOK

By Rajesh Ghadge Images by Aakash Ghadge

AAKASH GHADGE

RUNNING A LAUNDRY FOR GUITARS!

You will most definitely know about laundries which clean your clothes and iron them for you but this may be the first time you ’ll have been introduced to a “Guitar Laundry ”! Well, just as we received our clothes from a laundry nice, fresh and crease-free, The Guitar Laundry makes your soiled, dirty guitars and musical instruments look as good as the day you got them brand new! Let' s check out The Guitar Laundry - an emerging start-up of Goa.

Aakash Ghadge spent most of his time doing new stuff out-of-the-box. A graduate in the Arts stream, Aakash developed a love for music at a very young age. In school, along with some of his classmates, he formed a band, and filled in as a guitarist in various bands over the year. He enjoyed playing instruments from where his love for the guitar grew to the extent that he decided to set up

Goa ’ s first guitar refurbishing centre called “The Guitar Laundry Aakash relays that the idea of setting up ‘The

Guitar Laundry ’ came to him when he was just

17 years old.

“I was in the 11th grade and wanted to be independent in terms of having my own pocket money or having a side hustle as they call it today, ” he said, adding that by the age of 17 he was already well versed with the guitar. “I started playing musical instruments at the age of 6, although on and off, but I had always been curious to understand the instrument more as time went by.

His interest in these instruments kept growing and he started fixing them as and when the opportunity arose. “That is the effect the musical instrument had on me as a young, curious kid and later, a teenager, who was introduced to this life of music growing up as this was my one comfort zone as well as a challenging sphere as I would say, ” he added. The Idea The basic idea behind The Guitar Laundry was pretty simple: it was a workshop/startup solely for servicing, restoring and customizing and refurbishing guitars. “Many people had guitars lying around that needed a fresh touch in terms of services, cleaning and that is where my idea came in, ” said Aakash adding the initial response to this was good. “I had a few regular customers who wanted strings changing, paint jobs and other customization jobs done but as the years went by and I got into college and later on started working, it was just barely functioning basically. ” The Journey From an idea to actually starting the journey is no easy task and it demands blood and sweat. “In the year 2020, I got a job at a company that was manufacturing and producing guitars and other musical instruments, ” he narrated. Here Aakash was exposed to the retail musical instrument industry and started honing his skills in understanding the instrument industry even more. “But this job lasted only for a short stint as they were only dealing in sales of the and not the service side of the instrument, and this is when I decided to re-start my workshop full time and started taking up guitar jobs more than ever, ” he added. It was during 2020 when the pandemic struck and this made people stay indoors and many of them started pursuing their passion in their free time sitting at home.

“This is where a lot more people began taking up the guitar, either by starting to learn fresh or just realizing that they had an instrument lying around that needed a little fresh touch, ” said Aakash adding that this came to him as a new beginning. “I put my skills, understanding of the instrument that I had garnered over the years to use and my workshop for the instrument picked up and has been doing well in terms of building the customer base as well as an identity for itself. ” The Hurdles Every start-up business has to face hurdles and roadblocks sooner or later and for Aakash, it was not different. “The problem that I faced initially was the lack of business as the people were not willing to try out the service as they were keen to go to bigger stores and the music stores in Goa, ” he said adding “But that approach slowly changed and by word of mouth and reviews regarding my work were spreading around in the community and between the people “This helped me grow my workshop and my reach quite organically. I re-started my workshop in November 2020 and ever since then, I haven ’t looked back. This approach, if taken earlier would have helped but I guess things have a way of falling into place at their own time. ” According to Aakash, Goa does not have an adequate amount of service spots that are easily accessible or are functioning on an economical side. “It is tough for some people to get their instruments fixed and yet be happy or satisfied at the same time, and so this is something that I am actively working towards changing, ” he said adding that the purpose of starting the workshop was to change this scenario. “When people think of repairs for

musical instruments, they normally think about expensive repairing charges which result in them discarding their old instruments altogether or sending it to a neighbouring state for repairs which shouldn ’t be the case at all. This is something that I am trying to reduce but at the same time maintain customer satisfaction and happiness overall. ”The Future Plans Currently, Aakash is working towards building a culture of service stores in Goa. “When you look at the other states in India or even other countries, there are a ton of these musical instrument workshops and spots that people can visit and get their instruments checked up, get it serviced and repaired. With this in mind, The Guitar Laundry is already working towards this idea as we speak and it is in the pipeline to start another workshop pretty soon in South Goa. I am solely looking forward to working towards the service sector in the State of Goa and hopefully beyond in terms of building a more professional touch, creating more opportunities for people to receive costeffective alternatives and grow this culture of music in Goa, ” said Aakash. Aakash believes strongly that his idea has a big potential to grow beyond the boundaries of the state. “There is so much scope here in India and especially Goa where we can utilize the right minds, and together I feel that there is so much more potential to help make Goa know again for what it is already known, ‘The Land of Music ’ , ” he said.