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Fountain City Guitarworks is a stringed-instrument repair shop run by twin brothers Mark and Shaun Penechar out of a house on a quiet residential street in Squier Park. It is the repair half of a two-business operation — the brothers also own Seüf Guitars, the custom builder they took over in 2016 when its founder retired — and it runs a PLEK machine, which measures a neck under full string tension and cuts frets to a thousandth of a millimeter. Refrets, stainless fretwork, nut fabrication, pickup rewinding, binding repair, lacquer touchup. The customer list runs from touring musicians to local blues players.

Description

Fountain City Guitarworks is an independent stringed-instrument repair shop in the Squier Park neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri, owned and run by twin brothers Mark and Shaun Penechar.12 It operates from a house on a residential street between Troost Avenue and 71 Highway — not a storefront, which is worth knowing before turning up with a guitar.2

The shop’s centerpiece is a PLEK machine. In its own description, the PLEK “measures your neck under full string tension, then cuts frets to exact tolerances — down to a thousandth of a millimeter.”1 That is a substantial capital commitment for a small shop and it is the reason work arrives here from outside the metro; PLEK machines are not common, and a guitar tech who has one becomes a regional resource rather than a neighborhood one.

Beyond fretwork the bench covers the full repair range: refrets including stainless-steel installations, nut replacement and fabrication, fretboard restoration and binding repair, electronics work and component replacement, pickup rewinding, bridge and tremolo setup, lacquer touchup, relic aging, and acoustic pickup-system installation.1 The shop also makes its own pickups — the STAPLEMASTER, a P-90-style design for Jazzmaster-style guitars, wound with Formvar wire at the bridge and plain enamel at the neck.1

Fountain City is one half of a paired operation. The brothers also own Seüf Guitars, the custom builder they took over in 2016; Seüf does the building, Fountain City does the repairs, and the two run side by side.2 The clientele reported in press coverage spans touring musicians — Kevin Morby and Phoebe Bridgers’ bassist are named — through local blues players and hobbyists.2

Goods and services

  • PLEK precision fretwork — fret leveling, nut cutting, measurement under full string tension1
  • Refrets, including stainless-steel fret installation1
  • Nut replacement and fabrication1
  • Fretboard restoration and binding repair1
  • Electronics work — component replacement, wiring1
  • Pickup rewinding1
  • Bridge and tremolo setup1
  • Lacquer touchup and relic aging1
  • Acoustic electronics system installation1
  • STAPLEMASTER pickups — in-house P-90-style design for Jazzmaster-style guitars1
  • Custom builds — via the owners’ sister business Seüf Guitars2

History

The business dates to 2018, but its lineage runs back further through the shop it grew out of.2 Mark Penechar started at Seüf Guitars in 2011 doing finish sanding, with no prior woodworking experience — by his own account in press coverage he had never used a drill — and worked his way up to running the shop. Shaun Penechar joined in 2014 on a similar path.2

When Seüf’s founder Dave Seüferling retired in 2016, the brothers took the business over.2 Two years later, in 2018, they started Fountain City Guitarworks as a separate repair business, originally with a third partner who is no longer with the company.2 The two businesses have run alongside each other since, with the build work and the repair work kept on separate books. As of the 2023 press account the operation employed two full-time and one part-time worker beyond the brothers.2

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Fountain City Guitarworks — official site — asserts: the shop specializes in high-end fretwork, vintage guitar restoration and custom modifications; services include refrets (including stainless steel), nut replacement and fabrication, fretboard restoration and binding repair, electronics work and component replacement, pickup rewinding, bridge and tremolo setup, lacquer touchup, relic aging, and acoustic electronics system installation; of the PLEK, that it “measures your neck under full string tension, then cuts frets to exact tolerances—down to a thousandth of a millimeter”; the shop produces STAPLEMASTER pickups, a P-90 style design for Jazzmaster-style guitars using Formvar wire at the bridge and plain enamel at the neck; hours vary and current turnaround times are posted to Instagram. Primary currently-operating proof. (Fetched 2026-08-14.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14

  2. The Pitch — Nick Spacek, “Toggle Switch: How the Penechar brothers became the wizards behind Fountain City Guitarworks and Seüf Guitars”, published 4 September 2023 — asserts: Fountain City Guitarworks and Seüf Guitars are owned by twin brothers Mark and Shaun Penechar; Seüf Guitars was taken over by the Penechars in 2016 when founder Dave Seüferling retired; Fountain City Guitarworks was established in 2018 as a separate repair business, initially with a third partner no longer with the company; Mark began at Seüf in 2011 doing finish sanding with no prior woodworking experience and worked up to running the shop, Shaun joining in 2014 on a similar path; the operation is in the Squier Park neighborhood of Kansas City on a quiet residential street between Troost and 71 Highway, operating from a house; Seüf handles custom builds and Fountain City handles repairs; the businesses employ two full-time and one part-time worker; clientele ranges from touring musicians (Kevin Morby, Phoebe Bridgers’ bassist named) to local players and hobbyists. Note: this article does not mention the PLEK machine — that comes from the shop’s own site. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

Categories

On the record — ks.city/registry/fountain-city-guitarworks · record updated 2026-08-14