Mandolin Brothers on Staten Island Angles for Graceful Exit
 
Sorry for the misleading title...
 
Hmm. Somehow my browser pick up a cached topic title. Mods - I intended to title this Mandolin Brothers on Staten Island Angles for Graceful Exit - Any chance you can change the title? I can't edit it from my end.
 
(Message edited by TomHug on November 24, 2015)

Thanks for sharing this article Tom.  Here is another article with a lot of pictures.  This article states that the store is one of the few that specializes in vintage instruments.

Thanks for fixing my post, Dave, and for the other article.  
 
I did not connect the dots that Mandolin Brothers were the folks who repaired Sir Paul's Hofner so he could resume playing it. Wow, what a legacy.  
 
I hope that someone equally passionate can buy the business and keep it going.

Hate to see them go... they *always* had some cool vintage stuff.

I can't take credit for fixing the title; one of the other moderators did that.
 
But it would be nice to see the store survive; the story does seem to be getting some coverage.

We made a pilgrimage to Mandolin Bros. in 1997 while visiting New York. There were only four or five glass cases with one or two instruments in them. Otherwise anyone could pick up any instrument and wail away. And I'm talking about $65,000 DeAngelico New Yorkers, Stromberg archtops, 1920s Gibson Lloyd Loar masterpieces of every type, even original Orville Gibson instruments. Just a staggering array of the finest instruments, on stands. Not hanging on the wall, but right in front of you. No do not touch signs anywhere.
 
That's my main recollection of the store, the fact that there was only one counter, and otherwise there was nothing between you and the instruments. They trusted you. I've been working in music stores for decades, and I've never felt so at home anywhere but Mandolin Brothers (and the Folk Music Center in Claremont, CA., another store that allows customers to play freely.)
 
It's one thing to peer at a pre-war Martin D-45 from ten feet away, quite another to pick it up and play it to your heart's content. It was the relaxed, friendly attitude, especially Stan's. Sure! Play anything you want! D'you know any bluegrass?
 
He really was the nicest man. We had a great conversation about the Dopera brothers (inventors of resophonic instruments), who were friends of my family. If you could play at all, he pointed you to different instruments to try. (When he heard me playing the third movement of Joplin's The Entertainer Chet-style, he got excited and insisted I play the whole thing - again - on Doc Watson's own Gallagher guitar. My knees nearly buckled. It was one of the highlights of my life. My god, what a guitar! (Doc ate a lot of barbecue, that's for sure.)
 
I didn't know he had passed away until I read the article. I honestly cried, because he really was the nicest guy you could ever hope to meet, and a walking encyclopedia (thanks, Jiminy Cricket, for teaching me to spell that word) of musical instruments.

I have enjoyed Stan's instrument descriptions on thee website for years - he was true artist at it - and exchanged a few e-mails with him.  I, too, was deeply saddened by his passing, and likewise by the passing of his store.  I deeply regret never getting to flake there or meet a man who seemed in our brief contact to be a true gentleman.
 
Peter

Thanks for adding that first hand remembrance Ed.