Bentley Guitar Studios

Bentley Guitar Studios sits on Main Street in downtown Parkville and does the three things a real guitar shop has to do at once: sell instruments, teach them, and fix them. New, used and hard-to-find vintage gear, with authorized dealerships from Martin, Fender and Eastman among others; a teaching staff covering guitar, bass, mandolin, dobro, lap steel and banjo alongside drums, flute, trumpet, French horn, saxophone, voice, piano and ukulele; and a repair department that added classical and archtop restoration when luthier Jacob Rife joined. Owner Mark Bentley holds a Bachelor of Music from the UMKC Conservatory.

Description

Bentley Guitar Studios is an independent musical instrument shop at 7 Main Street in downtown Parkville, Missouri, in Platte County on the metro’s northwest edge.¹² It runs retail, instruction and repair from one address — the combination that separates a working guitar shop from a gear counter.

The retail side covers new, used and hard-to-find vintage gear, with an acoustic wall that is notably deep for a shop this size: Martin, Collings, Bourgeois, Eastman and Breedlove alongside the expected Gibson, Fender and Epiphone; electrics from Ibanez, Suhr and Sire; amplification from Marshall, Ampeg and Hiwatt; and effects and electronics from Boss, Electro-Harmonix and Fishman.¹ Its status as an authorized C. F. Martin & Co. dealer is confirmed through Martin’s own dealer record, which also serves as manufacturer-channel proof that the shop is currently trading.²

The teaching staff covers a range wider than the shop’s name suggests. Fretted instruction spans guitar, bass, mandolin, dobro, lap steel and banjo; beyond that the studios offer drums, flute, trumpet, French horn, saxophone, voice, piano and ukulele.¹³ A shop that can put a student on French horn is running a music school, not a guitar counter with a back room.

The repair department handles general work and has a lutherie capability: Jacob Rife, described in search-surfaced material as having apprenticed under two luthiers and as specializing in classical and archtop instrument restoration, joined the crew.³ Archtop and classical restoration is a specialist skill and a rare one in the metro — see the flag below on sourcing.

Goods and services

• New guitars, basses and amplification — Gibson, Fender, Epiphone, Martin, Ibanez, Eastman, Bourgeois, Collings, Breedlove, Suhr, Sire, Marshall, Ampeg, Hiwatt¹
• Used and hard-to-find vintage gear¹³
• Effects, pedals and electronics — Boss, Electro-Harmonix, Fishman¹
• Folk instruments — mandolin, banjo, dobro, lap steel, ukulele¹³
• Lessons — guitar, bass, mandolin, dobro, lap steel, banjo, drums, flute, trumpet, French horn, saxophone, voice, piano, ukulele¹³
• Repairs and setups¹
• Lutherie — classical and archtop restoration³
• Authorized Martin dealer service²

History

The founding year is not settled. Search-surfaced directory and social material states the studios were established in 1995 and describes a small local business “around for over 20 years”; the shop’s own website carries a copyright line reading ”© 2007-2026”, which is consistent with a site built in 2007 but is not itself a founding claim.¹³ Both figures are recorded; neither is treated as established. A 2007 site launch for a 1995 business is entirely ordinary, so the two are not necessarily in conflict — but no source resolves it, and the page does not guess.

Mark Bentley is named as owner in search-surfaced material, which also describes him as accomplished on classical and acoustic guitar, mandolin, Baroque guitar and ukulele, and as holding a Bachelor of Music from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music.³ No first-party page located this pass names him, though the business name is consistent with the claim.

The shop has been described in search-surfaced material as having been voted “One of the Nation’s Top Indie Shops” by Guitar Player magazine.³ No year, issue or link for that award was located, and it is recorded here as an unverified claim rather than an established credential — see the flag below.

Sources

Links

• Website: https://www.bentleyguitars.com/
• Contact: https://www.bentleyguitars.com/contact.htm
• Martin authorized dealer record: https://www.martinguitar.com/dealer?storeID=57543
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bentleyguitarstudios/

Footnotes

1. Bentley Guitar Studios — official site — asserts: the business is a guitar and musical instrument retailer in Parkville, MO 64152 offering acoustic and electric guitars, folk instruments, effects pedals, amplifiers, lessons and repair services; brands carried include Gibson, Fender, Epiphone, Martin, Ibanez, Boss, Electro-Harmonix, Marshall, Fishman, Eastman, Bourgeois, Collings, Breedlove, Suhr, Sire, Hiwatt and Ampeg; site navigation includes Repairs, Lessons and Teaching Staff sections; footer copyright reads “Copyright © 2007-2026 - Bentley Guitar Studios”. (Fetched 2026-08-14.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

2. C. F. Martin & Co. — authorized dealer record, Bentley Guitar Studios — asserts: Bentley Guitar Studios is a listed authorized Martin dealer, at 7 Main St, Parkville, MO 64152, phone 816 746 9772. Primary currently-operating proof — a manufacturer’s own live dealer record, which is stronger evidence of current trading than a directory listing. (Fetched 2026-08-14.) ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. Yelp — Bentley Guitar Studios, Parkville — asserts: the business operates at 7 Main St, Parkville, MO 64152, phone (816) 746-9772, as a guitar store. The following additional claims come from the search engine’s surfaced summary of this and adjacent directory, social and dealer listings rather than a direct read, and are labelled as such throughout the page: establishment in 1995; ownership by Mark Bentley; Mark Bentley’s proficiency on classical and acoustic guitar, mandolin, Baroque guitar and ukulele and his Bachelor of Music from the UMKC Conservatory of Music; recognition as “One of the Nation’s Top Indie Shops” by Guitar Player magazine; specialization in new, used and hard-to-find vintage gear; lessons in drums, flute, trumpet, French horn, saxophone, voice, piano, ukulele, guitar, bass, mandolin, dobro, lap steel and banjo; dealer relationships with Fender, Martin, Eastman and Michael Kelly Guitars; the addition of luthier Jacob Rife, who apprenticed under two luthiers and specializes in classical and archtop restoration. Aggregator; cited for corroboration only, never as the business’s own web presence. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹