"The Regent Guitars Team" With so many developments over recent years, the summer of 2003 proved to be a highly symbolic period. Despite 8 years providing first class service, the summer of 2003 saw more exciting new changes - including new management to help me and my wife Teresa (Co-Director). This period symbolised an important milestone in Regent Guitars history and continues to illustrate my dedication to my customers. Want independent advice? 18 months ago, I introduced the GuitarChat forum which has now become the UKs premier meeting place for guitarists of all ages & experience. This forum enables you to "ask the audience" if you feel that a totally unbiased viewpoint is required. However, if specialist advice is what you are after, I promise that you will not regret talking to the team that make RG what it is today - one of the UKs premier guitar and bass specialists "Offering the service you wish you could find locally".. and here is the team...

Richard Cholerton (Owner/Director)
	I spent 3 months at the guitar institute and spent a further 18 months having private tuition with the likes of Saun Baxter and Iain Scott (principle tutors at G.I). I taught for a number of years which I slowly had less time for - these days I really think it is me that needs the tuition!! I am fascinated by guitars and spend many hours a week in meetings with suppliers, testing products and informing those on my mailing list of my findings! After many years of providing first class service, my business is now used as a "standard" to which others attempt to emulate. However, not many retailers are prepared to dedicate their lives to their work in the way I have for the past 8 years - a large factor in our success. There is little I won't do to ensure my customers are totally satisfied in every way with their guitar purchase - I regularly quote that I would be far unhappier than the customer if they were to receive an instrument that did not meet their high expectations when buying from Regent Guitars. In an industry that moves ever closer to the "box shifting" mentality of the superstores, I believe that Regent Guitars epitomises all that is good in dealing with the specialist independent retailer. The great thing about this feature is that you may find me available to talk to at any time of the day or night!

Teresa Cholerton (Finance Director)

Teresa is my partner in every sense of the word. I met Teresa when I was 17 and we have been together ever since - My wife and right hand "man", it is hard to do justice to Teresas value in the business (anyone who visits the store and sees her firing out commands will certainly get a good taste). Her ability to perform 20 duties at any one moment in time certainly helps ensure all runs smoothly throughout the day. As well as coordinating the team, Teresa is responsible for all financial issues such as accounting, cashflow, PAYE etc.

Woz (Warren Szpalek) - Group Manager & Bass Specialist
	Woz has been playing and performing bass for 20 years. For the past 10 he has built himself a reputation in the trade as "THE authority on bass". With awards from the likes of leading bass brands such as Yamaha (Yamaha bass salesman of the year) and Warwick (Warwick Bass salesman of the year), he has also managed the bass department at Musical Exchanges (was The UKs largest music store) and his last post was manager of bass sales at The Bass Centre in Birmingham. Woz has shown total dedication to managing Regent Guitars and ensuring that our in store presence is equally as professional as the service we provide online. Anyone who has visited our store since January 2003 will have seen significant improvements to the store environment, improvements largely implemented by Woz. Woz has proven over the past 12 months that he would rather walk the walk than talk the talk. A lesson other "managers" I know of could learn a lot from.

Dan Rabot (Despatch Manager)

Dan Rabot is responsible for coordinating all incoming and outgoing goods. His many duties include booking in of new stocks, coordinating our guitar technicians with their "workload", packing of deliveries and logging/filing customer orders and consignment details. If you have received anything lately - it was probably Dan that ensured it arrived to you safely and on time. Dan plays a vital role that ensures Regent Guitars continues to provide a first class service online and off. Needless to say, Dan is also passionate about guitars - as we all are at RG! .

Chris Huxley ("Pre Sale" guitar technician)
	Chris was trained by our head technician Peter Allen on how to set up guitars to his high standard. Chris's introduction to the Regent Guitars team was a direct result of our reputation spreading across the UK and Europe. It was (as still is) so important that we did not lose track of what it was about our business that earned us the reputation we have today. Peter Allen built Chris a workshop of his own, mirroring that of the workshop Peter has been using for the past 10 years and Peter now oversees all Chris's work to ensure his high standards are met. Believe it or not, by late 2002, early 2003 we may be introducing a third technician for Peter to train who will ensure that we continue to provide instruments that play beautifully - every time..

Peter Allen (Head Technician)

And here is the man that I owe so much... If there is a "family" atmosphere then this is definitely "Dad"! Although Peter runs his own business, we are both firmly joined at the hip and Peter goes well beyond what we would expect of him to ensure that the shop runs smoothly. Peter sets up or oversees the quality control on every guitar we sell and his perfectionist qualities has driven many a supplier up the wall. Earlier this year a supplier accused us of being too meticulous when it came to their jack sockets - Peter had rejected nearly all of their guitars because of the problem he had found. It turned out that Peter had highlighted a National problem which had to be rectified at the manufacturer in Korea - No other shop had even noticed the problem!! On a personal note, Peters dedication does not stop at his work and he shows the up most loyalty to his friends and family. We may not really be family but I do hope Peter looks to all of us as true friends.

John Ridgard (Customer Liasons Manager)
	John has only been with us for 6 months or so (as of December 2003) - John has a hard time at Regent Guitars - why? Because he has to work next to me most of the time!! Every call he receives I give him a little advice on how I want our customers to be treated, how to deal with problems and how to be curteous at all times. Anyone who has dealt with John will know that he hardly needs educating in this area but I just like to ensure my ethic is mirrored throughout the team.......but don't feel too sorry for him - he does have a far more comfortable chair than me!! John is not new to dealing with the public after spending several years in customer service fields. He is also a dedicated musician and has built up a considerable fan base through his live performances with his band..

David Cholerton (Returns & Store Manager)
	....Okay - so he's my Dad!! Dad has been playing the guitar all his life and it was him that inspired me to play guitar all those years ago.. Dad tried to retire a couple of years ago but I soon put a dampener on his lazy days!! Due to the volume of guitars we sell every week added to the fact that we have a higher quality control than of any other guitar shop I know, we have approximately 8-10 guitars rejected in any normal trading week. These guitars are returned to the suppliers. This process places considerable drains on our cashflow (I have to pay the technicians to reject the guitar, Dad to repack and return the instrument and wait several weeks for credit notes to be received!) and has to be monitored extremely closely... Dad ensures that I do not have to worry about this area of the business. Working a minimum of 3 days per week he returns all the rejected guitars back to the suppliers and tracks the credit notes as they filter through in the post. His other roles include store management, retrieving stock from our out of store warehouse and generally keeping an eye on the smooth running of the shop for me. The one thing about having Dad around is that he won't let the shop get sloppy when I am not around!.

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