DeKalb – a town that contains a variety of thriving businesses – is home to three of the most unique retailers and repair shops for musical instruments in the area.

However unaware many might be of these spots, each location – Ax-In-Hand, Elliott’s Music Center and Roger’s Music – have intertwining pasts and specialize in a certain area to help consumers purchase and maintain nearly every kind of musical instrument.

Ax-In-Hand, 817 W. Lincoln Highway, was founded in 1964 by Larry Henrikson and is maintained by his three children, Damon, Erin and Leaf Henrikson.

“Our father started it above Elliott’s,” Leaf Henrikson said.

The unique guitar location is most known for its large selection and quantity of various guitars and offers different brand-named guitars including Fender, Heritage, Guild, Line 6 and Washburn.

Guitar retail is not all Ax-In-Hand offers. It also maintains a custom guitar shop in which guitars can be customized with inlay, pickups or mods. The store also offers an option for consumers to completely design their own guitar model.

Elliott’s, which recently moved from 312 E. Lincoln Highway to 223 E. Lincoln Highway, also offers a variety of guitars for sale. However, it does not stick strictly to guitars. It also offers drum supplies, violins, cellos and other popular string instruments.

Originally owned by Mel Elliott in the late 1980s and eventually passed on to his son Dan, Elliott’s started out of a garage. Now, under new owner Ross Miraglia, the store has expanded to a new location to cater to the growing business.

“The improvement of the store is looking pretty good,” Miraglia said. “It’s a new look, and I have a passion for making things right.”

With his new business, Miraglia, a guitar player and songwriter, plans to build the store’s selection of cellos and strings and eventually offer instrument lessons as early as next year, while also personally maintaining repairs on most instruments.

Ax-In-Hand and Elliott’s both offer retail products and do repairs, but Roger’s Music, 618 Spring Ave., specializes in the repairing of instruments such as trumpets, flutes, saxophones and clarinets.

“People come to me from all over the state,” owner Roger Morgan said.

Morgan, who started his business in April 1988, originally worked for Elliott’s, but chose to open his own full-time repair business right out of his own home.