Norman’s Rare Guitars Founder on the Store’s Netflix Documentary & Famous Movie Guitar He’s Trying to Track Down

During the filming of Norman’s Rare Guitars, the Netflix documentary about a Los Angeles strip-mall
institution where Tom Petty and Bob Dylan once rummaged through a box of Rickenbacker pickups, the
star became ill. Norman Harris, 76, who founded his namesake store in 1975, had a rare appendiceal cancer, suffered two heart attacks and endured extensive surgery. “I hope I’m still around to be doing this years from now,” the veteran used guitar salesman, who is simultaneously intense and
laid-back, said onscreen. “But if not, sayonara.”

Since the film arrived last December, Harris has resumed his workload: wheeling and dealing with celebrity customers from Slash to Melissa Etheridge, filming video for the store’s robust social media feeds, organizing 50th anniversary events such as an October concert hosted by actor Tim Allen and raising money for the Midnight Mission, a Los Angeles homeless support charity. Through this intensity, the store in the San Fernando Valley city of Tarzana retains its homey vibe for all people: “It’s like your favorite family restaurant where the owner’s always there,” the late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins said in an interview for the film.

The store itself has reduced its hours to three days a week, so “it’s a madhouse” when open, Harris says as he takes 45 minutes off for a phone interview from his home kitchen. Norman’s Rare Guitars is about guitars, of course, but it’s also about stability. In addition to running the store for 50 years, Harris has been married to his wife, Marlene, since 1969. “My intention,” he says in the doc, “was just to be able to provide a living for my family.”

The documentary emphasizes the demand for your services and the loyalty of your customers over many decades, but it doesn’t detail the supply. Where have you found all these guitars?

When I started, it was before the internet, so you had to come up with creative ways to get to the people that have the good instruments. At first, I would go to all the pawn shops and music stores. A lot of the music stores didn’t even want used instruments at the time; they just wanted to sell their new instruments. I was happy to buy the used guitars. I would give the store personnel that referred them to me commissions. I also went down to the musicians’ union. They have a handbook that lists the players and what instruments they play. We started calling the people in the book and said, “I’m a collector. Do you have anything that you’re thinking of selling?” My wife suggested we run an ad for “horses for sale.” We figured cowboys play guitar. It was kind of harebrained, but it actually worked.

Cowboy guitar players! Can you give an example?

We got calls from people going [talks in a confused voice], “There’s horses for sale … but you guys wanted to buy guitars?” These were older guys who had nice stuff. I always would say, “If you have buddies who have older guitars …” Sometimes by asking that question, you never know what could come up.

What are the most unusual circumstances you can recall when you have gone out to meet a potential seller?

I went to areas in town and I would have to bring some cash. I was glad to make my purchase and get out of there so I didn’t get held up. There were a couple of instances where I thought it would probably be best for me to leave. I would follow every lead to the very end.

Give me an example.

One time, I was in a music store in Miami, and there was a guy standing next to me. After the salesman walked away, the guy said, “You’re looking for old guitars? I have an old Les Paul.” I told him, “I’m staying in town and this is my hotel room. If you have that guitar and you want to bring it by, I’ll be happy to buy it.” I never really thought the guy was serious. I said, “Be there at 10 a.m.”

[There was a] knock on my door, and it was a sunburst Les Paul. I could see through the peephole what it was. The guy came through. I bought it for $2,500 and I think I sold it for $3,500. Those guitars these days can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. This was in maybe the late ’70s.

Do you still buy guitars that way?

With the internet, everybody has access to everybody else. Now people contact me because we’re more of the establishment. Back in the day, we were more renegades running around.

How did you create the atmosphere in the store, which the film emphasizes, where everyone feels so comfortable hanging out, from regular customers to Slash?

It’s all musicians that work in the store. We have something that we love in common. People that play guitar speak a language that’s all to their own — the models, the brands, who plays them.

Have there been moments over the years where you’ve been challenged? Are you concerned about tariffs, for instance?

Fortunately, we’re mostly immune to that because we’re dealing in American-made goods. It’s one of the few things we made here in America that we did right. You look at some of the cars in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s and most of those models don’t have much demand because a lot of them are these big boats. But there were a few models, like a Thunderbird or a Mustang or a Corvette, that there’s demand for. Sometimes you’ll see a model that’s not as popular by, say, Fender or Gibson. Then all of a sudden, because it’s more affordable, some big band will be playing that model and it drives business. For instance, Fender Jazzmasters. Elvis Costello started playing them. We have a guy, a fantastic player; he loves the Jazzmasters. He sees these people playing them, and other young groups start popping up, playing those models, and it creates its own demand. If you can jump on it at the right time, you can get a very good buy on those items.

You’re involved in the search for the original guitar from the 1985 film Back to the Future. What’s the backstory?

Steven Spielberg and his people came to us and said they were doing a movie set in 1955 and they wanted a guitar. The first guitar I suggested was an ES-5 Switchmaster, a Gibson model made in 1955. It was sort of futuristic at the time. I rented it to them for 10 weeks at $300 a week.

The day they were going to shoot the guitar, they opened the case and the art director said, “No, what we want is a red guitar with a whammy bar.” They saw another guitar I had, which was made around 1960. I said, “They didn’t make that guitar in 1955.” They said, “We’re going to take some artistic liberties. The look of this guitar will make sense.” They ended up keeping that guitar for a while, at
$300 a week.

At the end of the shoot, I ended up selling the guitar to a friend — not knowing the movie was ever going to be a big movie — for maybe $3,700. Since then, he passed away and his wife sold the guitar. Now Gibson is looking for that guitar to do a story on the finding of that instrument.

The Gibson ES-345 that they used in the movie, on the 12th fret, [it] had a solid block inlay, which was very unusual. We did some videos saying, “We’re looking for this guitar.” We found Back to the Future Part II’s guitar in Europe, but that’s not the one they’re looking for.

How did the Netflix documentary come about?

My daughter [Sarah Edwards], during the pandemic, wanted to do a little story on the store to show her kids what their granddad did. Her friend, a cinematographer and director and editor, Devin Dilmore, they went to school together. He was out of work during the pandemic, so they thought it would be a good time.

They came to me and I said, “I don’t mind, but please, do me a favor: Don’t start bothering my friends and customers.” My daughter, like good daughters do, said, “Dad, stay out of it. I’m handling it from now on” — and called my customers. Nobody refused us. Kiefer Sutherland has been a friend for about 40 years, so he came on as executive producer. The next thing to do was Slash and Post Malone and Machine Gun Kelly and Vince Gill and Richie Sambora and Joe Bonamassa and on and on. It developed into something much more than it was originally intended to be. It’s kind of a small-business story. It’s love story — I’ve been married for 55 years. It’s a story of my health. There’s a lot more to it than just the guitars.

Has the documentary led to more people coming into the store?

Yes. We thought maybe the wives wouldn’t get it. We’re getting a lot of women coming through, and they’re going, “I really love the story and I love the fact that you’ve been married this long.” It’s not just for the people who are the guitar aficionados.

How is your health?

I’m 76 and I do have some serious issues. I had a 14-hour cancer surgery and a couple of heart attacks. But I’m up, I’m working and I’m OK for a person my age. Being around young people, and being around music, has given me a purpose and makes me want to go to work and push myself. I’m always looking for guitars. I’ve got deals in the works. It gives me a reason to get up in the morning and do what I do.

This story appears in the Aug. 30, 2025, issue of Billboard.