Sylvester Bowen

Sylvester Bowen is a man of many talents and ideas. Along with his brother Dewey, Sylvester opened Freedom Guitars in downtown San Diego in 1972. In fact, the Bowen family has a long history of music stores, with other siblings also owning stores at one point in Los Angeles, CA and Oregon. Eventually the store relocated to the College area where it currently resides. In addition to running the store, Sylvester also does some instrument repair and developed the Bowen bar, an accessory for adding a tremolo bar to a Gibson bridge. One particular area of focus for Sylvester and Freedom Guitars is in the vintage guitar market where Sylvester’s collection and instrument knowledge is both unique and well versed.