Buzz Magazine October

“Come Cook In Our Kitchen”
More Than A Music Shop
Daniel Childs
“The Entertainer”
A lifetime of genuine expertise has led St. Petersburg’s David Hosler to open
Seven C Music. Opening in October, Seven C Music is located in beautiful
Pinellas County, Florida. This shop, however, is much more than a repair
shop for broken guitars or a place to shop for instruments or strings. Seven C
is a “specialty guitar shop”.
A Florida native, Hosler’s life-journey has made him an expert when it comes
to guitars. With more than 40 years of experience in guitar design and repair,
it is a combination of professional Luthery experience and professional music
experience that has paved the way for David’s work. Hosler began building
and working on guitars here in Florida in the 1970’s, and opened his first shop in the 1980’s in South
Carolina. However, he also spent many years throughout those decades touring as a lead guitarist for many
bands. Gaining a reputation for his skills and devotion to the workings of guitars, David was offered a job
with Taylor Guitars in 1996 and moved his family across the country to Southern California to work for
the well-known company.
During his nearly twenty years with Taylor Guitars, Hosler invented the well-known “Taylor Expression
System” (or EST), which won the TEC award from the Mix Foundation, among various other awards.
This technological development paved the way for David to later create Taylor’s “Expression System 2” (or
ES2), which is the pickup system that Taylor’s current acoustic/electric guitars are equipped with. This
highly-acclaimed electronic expression system has changed the game of
plugged-in sounds for acoustic guitarists everywhere.
Retiring from Taylor in June of last year, Hosler came back to his home
state of Florida to open Seven C Music with his son, Joel Hosler, who is
an extremely talented Luthier and guitarist in his own right.
In addition to the EST and ES2, David also developed Taylor’s T5, T3
and solid body guitars during his time at Taylor. So for me, as a pro
guitarist and “gearhead”, it is humbling to stand in the same room as this man. However, I’ve found that
it is actually David who is humble and has an authentic passion to help people learn the workings of guitars.
When the shop opens this month, Seven C Music will sell professionally-selected guitars and amps, as well
as strings and other important accessories of the trade. However, something that sets this shop apart is the
14 / BAYBUZZ.ORG / OCTOBER 2016