Shifting Gear: Alto Music Founder Jon Haber Pursues His Rock and Roll Dream with DEC3
 Just off Route 211 in Middletown, NY, a small city nestled in the Hudson Valley about 70 miles northwest of Manhattan, is the flagship store of a mini-chain called Alto Music. If you play an instrument of any sort and have never visited this store, here's some advice you'll want to follow when you first step through its doors: Remain calm. Exercise restraint. Resist the temptation to run around the place whooping with delight. And pace yourself, because you may not want to leave anytime soon. Alto bills itself as "The Most Complete Music Store in the World," and though that's a hard claim to verify, the place is packed from floor to ceiling with drool-worthy gear: sparkly drum kits, shiny brass, sumptuous keyboards, slick DJ equipment, and, of course, lots of guitars.
On the crisp, sunny December day that Guitar Aficionado comes to visit, we're greeted in the entryway by Jon Haber, the man who's owned Alto for 25 years and turned it into one of the 10 largest music retailers in the United States, respected throughout the industry for its quality and customer service. Shaven headed and down to earth, Haber is an enthusiastic conversationalist, his face rarely without the hint of a grin, as if he knows the funniest joke in the world and is just waiting for the right moment to spring it on you.
"Let me give you the grand tour," he says, and we're off, taking extra time to survey the electric guitar room (a clubhouse within a clubhouse, complete with comfy couches), the acoustic guitar room (a quiet, relaxing inner sanctum), and the effect-pedal counter (the player's equivalent of a well-stocked candy store).
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