Mandolin Brothers - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Mandolin Brothers has been described as a New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

institution; it is a famous shop where vintage and high quality musical instruments are sold. Claire Wilson writing in the NY Times in 2001 described it as "a bustling little shop-cum-museum."

Mandolin Brothers is located in Staten Island

Staten Island

Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. They are known for the unique blend of vintage

Vintage

Vintage, in wine-making, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product . A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine, where Port houses make and...

and one of a kind instruments along with a vast selection of mandolin

Mandolin

A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...

s, banjo

Banjo

In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...

, guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

s, dobro

Dobro

Dobro is a registered trademark, now owned by Gibson Guitar Corporation and used for a particular design of resonator guitar.The name has a long and involved history, interwoven with that of the resonator guitar...

, ukulele

Ukulele

The ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....

s to mandola

Mandola

The mandola or tenor mandola is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola , a fifth lower than a mandolin...

and tenor guitar

Tenor guitar

1932 Martin 0-18 T Sunburst Tenor Guitar|thumb|rightThe tenor guitar or four-string guitar is a slightly smaller, four-string relative of the steel-string acoustic guitar or electric guitar. The instrument was developed so that players of the four-string tenor banjo could double on the guitar...

s. Many professional musicians frequent the shop and many musicians consider it "Mecca

Mecca

Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...

" or a "shrine

Shrine

A shrine is a holy or sacred place, which is dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon or similar figure of awe and respect, at which they are venerated or worshipped. Shrines often contain idols, relics, or other such objects associated with the figure being venerated....

." They are well known for selling Bela Fleck

Béla Fleck

Béla Anton Leoš Fleck is an American banjo player. Widely acknowledged as one of the world's most innovative and technically proficient banjo players, he is best known for his work with the bands New Grass Revival and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.-Early life and career details:Fleck was born in...

his banjo and George Harrison

George Harrison

George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...

a couple of his ukulele

Ukulele

The ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....

s. Other clients have included Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

, Paul Simon

Paul Simon

Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...

and Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney

Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...

's bass guitar which was repaired by their repair staff.

The internationally known company is referred to owners seeking advice, appraisal

Appraisal

Economic appraisal is a type of decision method applied to a project, programme or policy that takes into account a wide range of costs and benefits, denominated in monetary terms or for which a monetary equivalent can be estimated. Economic Appraisal is a key tool for achieving value for money and...

, repair or marketing by virtually all the major manufacturers, by libraries, museums, and music stores across America. Mandolin Brothers is listed on The New York Music Trail—a map of the famous "Sites of Sound" established by the City of New York and The Host Committee for the Grammy Awards, as a destination for visitors. Included on the list with Mandolin Brothers are such institutions as Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

, Lincoln Center , the Apollo Theatre

Apollo Theatre

The Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed West End theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. Designed by architect Lewin Sharp for owner Henry Lowenfield, and the fourth legitimate theatre to be constructed on the street, its doors opened on 21 February 1901 with the American...

and the John Lennon

John Lennon

John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...

Memorial in Central Park

Central Park

Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...

. Mandolin Brothers and Gruhn Guitars

Gruhn Guitars

Gruhn Guitars is a vintage instrument shop and place of interest located in Nashville, Tennessee. The business opened on January 2, 1970. It was originally called GTR, standing for George Gruhn, Tut Taylor and Randy Wood; a story has circulated that country music star Hank Williams, Jr....

in Nashville, TN have been compared to one another as institutions that are unique locations for information on vintage instruments; both establishments are like museums. Both Stan Jay and George Gruhn have appeared on WNYC

WNYC

WNYC is a set of call letters shared by a pair of co-owned, non-profit, public radio stations located in New York City.WNYC broadcasts on the AM band at 820 kHz, and WNYC-FM is at 93.9 MHz. Both stations are members of National Public Radio and carry distinct, but similar news/talk programs...

Soundcheck in discussions on instruments.

Mandolin Brothers was established in 1971 by Stan Jay and Harold "Hap" Kuffner. Harold left Mandolin Brothers in 1982. The name was chosen by Stan Jay and Harold Kuffner when they decided that the mandolin wasn't getting its recognition in the fretted community and because they were brothers in spirit, the name seemed perfect. (From Musical Merchandise Review April 1996 article Blending Old & New - Mandolin Brothers at 25).

They publish a monthly publication titled Vintage News.

Media references

( Cf. especially "Credentials and References" )

Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...

's song, "Song for Sharon" talks about her trip to Mandolin Brothers and Staten Island: "I went to Staten Island, Sharon, to buy myself a mandolin . . "Song for Sharon”" on both the 1976 Hejira
Hejira (album)
Hejira is a 1976 folk/rock/jazz album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. The album title is a transliteration of the Arabic word hijra, which means "journey", referring specifically to the prophet Muhammad's and his followers' escape from Mecca to Medina in 622...

album and 2005 Songs of a Prairie Girl

Songs of a Prairie Girl

Songs of a Prairie Girl is the third in Joni Mitchell's series of compilations. Mitchell writes in the liner notes to the CD that the compilation is her contribution to Saskatchewan's Centennial Celebration and that the songs of the album reference Saskatchewan...

album. Discussion of Sharon's Song by Joni Mitchell

In The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

Magazine section on Sunday November 12, 2006 section 6 page 65 an article on actor Christopher Guest

Christopher Guest

Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest , better known as Christopher Guest, is an American screenwriter, composer, musician, director, actor and comedian. He is most widely known in Hollywood for having written, directed and starred in several improvisational "mockumentary" films that...

titled "The Shape-Shifter" Interview of Christopher Guest at Mandolin Brothers discussed Mr. Guest love of vintage instruments. "Chris Guest sat on a couch at Mandolin Brothers, the venerable guitar store on Staten Island

Staten Island

and the kind of mecca

Mecca

Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...

for him that Harry Winston

Harry Winston

Harry Winston was an American jeweler. He donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958 after owning it for a decade, and traded the Portuguese Diamond to the Smithsonian in 1963.-History:...

is for Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...

. . . . They sat in what Guest called “the grown up room,” for serious connoisseurs. Stan Jay brought out a succession of vintage guitars and mandolins and as the two men Chris and David Nichtern played as customers peeked inside. Guest pretended not to notice."

"The best guitar store in New York ." -- New York Magazine.

"One of the best guitar shops in the world." - The Boston Globe

The Boston Globe

The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...

.

"I've never seen anything like this anywhere. This is the sort of place in which you can very easily lose your mind." -- Peter Watrous, music critic for The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, speaking on National Public Radio's Marketplace.

"Mandolin Brothers music shop in Staten Island

Staten Island

, NY is a Mecca

Mecca

Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...

for acoustic guitar customers." - Forbes

Forbes

Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...

, July 26, 1999.

"Your shop is the best I've ever seen, and I've been hanging around guitar shops for thirty-five years."-- Christopher Guest

Christopher Guest

"Best Acoustic Guitar Shop & Repair" - The New York Press Best-Of Issue, September '98.

"One of the world's foremost dealers in new and vintage guitars and other fretted instruments" -- http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E01E4DC153EF934A2575BC0A9679C8B63&sec=travel&spon=&pagewanted=2 "On an Island That's Worth Remembering" by Claire Wilson The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, 17 August 2001 ].

Best Acoustic Instrument Shop in the "Best of New York" issue - October 17, 2001 - The Village Voice

The Village Voice

The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...

.

The Summer 2002 issue of ForbesFYI Magazine says Mandolin Brothers "is many musicians' first and last resort for new, used or vintage banjos, mandolins, ukuleles, guitars and basses. [It's] an enchanted cavern of stringed instruments that you can play all day long."

In the Sunday October 13, 2002 New York Times eight paragraphs in an article titled "Collectors Shake, Rattle & Watch Those Bankrolls," were about Mandolin Brothers, Ltd. That article discusses American fretted instruments as investments and collectibles.

Stan Jay of Mandolin Brothers was quoted in The New York Times on May 9, 2004 in the article “A Mandolin Wind Blows in Bloomfield ” (by Brian Wise) in a discussion of mandolin orchestras. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9902EEDC163CF93AA35756C0A9629C8B63

Also, a mention in Departures, May/June '04, the American Express Card magazine, the article is on Kim Walker Guitars.
[New York Times] article on 24 September 2004: "Baby Boomers are Digging Guitars as Pricey Collectibles" - in the Arts and Leisure Section.

October 12, 2004: The Village Voice

The Village Voice

"Best Of" issue named us " Best Place to Indulge in Your Passion for All Things Ukulele

Ukulele

The ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....

."

April 2005: Tim Brookes, a writer and commentator on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition, in his just-published book, Guitar: An American Life says "Mandolin Brothers of Staten Island, the best guitar shop in New York and probably the universe."

In The Staten Island Advance article “Success, with Strings Attached” (25 August 2006) reporter Ben Johnson says: “The shop’s interior opens up into a veritable maze of rooms in which every wall is covered, floor-to-ceiling, in beautiful workmanship. Mandolin

Mandolin

s, lap steels, banjo

Banjo

s, ukulele

Ukulele

The ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....

s, acoustic and electric guitar

Guitar

s of all families and ages adorn the walls so heavily that any self-respecting musician might pass out from sheer rapture.”

External links

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