WINCHESTER, Ky. — A local guitar shop in Winchester says it is going to cost around $150,000 to clean, repair and replace the shop and equipment after the flooding damage from last week. 

What You Need To Know

  • RS Guitarworks is closed due to the flood damage

  • The shop lost thousands of dollars worth of equipment and products

  • The owners estimate around $150,000 to repair, clean and replace equipment to reopen

  • RS Guitarworks has created a GoFundMe to help with the damages

 

Roy Bowen says shortly after celebrating RS Guitarworks 25th anniversary floodwaters destroyed the business. 

“You can see the waterline right here. So, that's better than two feet. I think at the deepest part, which is actually on the other end of the building, I think it was about 28 inches,” Bowen said.

Bowen, along with his partner Scott Leedy say the floors and walls will have to be completely removed. 

“All of our heavy machinery used to be in this room, and of course all the motors, and all the gears and everything are down on the bottom. So they all got destroyed, I've got machinery that we just paid for that we're making payments on because there's only a couple of months old, that is eight and $15,000,” Leedy said.

Bowen and Leedy have owned Guitarworks since 1996, and says everything they have worked for over the past 25 years has been taken away.

“To see all of that, washing down the drain literally was very emotional. We've all been very emotionally stricken by this. It's been lots of tears, lots of breaking down, lots of pain and hurt. I just, I can't even begin to express the magnitude of how devastated that we all are,” Leedy said.

Bowen says they estimate about $150,000 to clean, repair and replace their equipment. A GoFundMe page has raised nearly $12,000. 

“There's times where I sit, I look at those numbers and I look at the people, and I know some of those people don't have any more than we have right now, and they're donating money and nobody knows how much it means, you know it's it really takes. It's hard to, it's hard to handle. You know how to put in words just how, how much that means,” Bowen said.

Bowen and Leedy say they are taking one day at a time and hope that within a few months they can get the funds and repairs done needed to celebrate another year.

“People ask me if, if, you know, if it feels like we're starting over. You know if it feels like we're back 25 years ago and, and, and I've told him, You know, it's way worse because we started with nothing. Now we're starting with a mess. We're starting with a negative. So, we've been pushed back to farther than 25 years ago,” Bowen said. 

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