By Matthew Shechmeister

AS FOUNDER AND owner of Guitar Solo (230 Townsend, S.F. 415-896-1922, www.gspguitar.com), a recording studio, sheet music publishing house, and oversize-stringed-instrument supply shop serving the classical guitar world, Dean Kamei is one of the most important figures in contemporary acoustic guitar music. He's run the store and mail-order company since 1974, expanding Guitar Solo into an international presence in classical guitar recording and music publication.

In his early 20s, the Hawaiian-born surf guitar veteran became interested in classical guitar. He moved to the mainland in the early '70s to continue his formal musical training at De Anza College in Cupertino. He describes the process of starting Guitar Solo in a voice still dimpled with island intonations. "I decided that I should have some books and some strings and some things like that. One bin, another bin, another bin, and at some point, it turned into thousands and thousands of titles. Eventually it just developed into this store."

Guitar Solo is one of the best-stocked sources for classical guitar sheet music, housing a basement packed with thousands of titles in walls of filing cabinets. People travel from around the country to dig through the store's library, and its global mail-order business is managed by a full-time staff of five. It also stocks a selection of handmade acoustic guitars, mandolins, and ukuleles from around the world, with instruments that appeal to beginners and professionals.

For almost 20 years, Guitar Solo has been self-publishing about 200 sheet music titles, most available only from the company. The catalog includes pieces by San Francisco-based composer and guitarist Dusan Bogdanovic, considered by many to be one of the most important composers currently writing for the guitar, as well as other local and international artists.

Guitar Solo is also a recording studio and label, releasing works by 30 local artists and some of classical guitar's most significant international artists, including Brazilian guitarist and music scholar Paulo Bellinati. And it shelves an impressive collection of classical music CDs. "I went to Brazil in the late '80s. I started pulling the music out of the vaults down there and making it available," Kamei says. Aliéksey Vianna, a young Brazilian virtuoso and Guitar Solo recording artist, speaks of the label as a major influence on the Brazilian guitar scene. "Dean is really trying to push the envelope, and I really admire him for that."

The music Kamei publishes and records provides exposure for classical guitarists unavailable elsewhere. "We have our fingers on the pulse of classical guitar because we have so much communication with the guitar world. I know [what people want] from what they ask for and talk about," he says.