Elderly Instruments

[tree]

We are yanking the boys out of school and driving up to Ann Arbor, Michigan for Thanksgiving week.

Elderly Instruments is located in Lansing, I'm guessing about an hour and a half drive away from Ann Arbor. #They have a few mandos and guitars that I'd like to spend a few minutes getting to know.

For example:
http://www.elderly.com/vintage/items/90U-4253.htm

or this: #
http://www.elderly.com/vintage/items/10U-4048.htm

I'm not looking for another instrument, just trying to calibrate my ears and eyes so I can learn to understand "vintage" when I come across it.

Anybody ever been to their showroom? #Do they let you touch the goodies without hovering too badly? #I was swept away with my utopian experience at Mandolin Brothers this past May, but I know every place is different. #I promise to behave, move slowly and deliberately, and wear fleece from head to toe so I won't scratch up all the pretties.

[mandobob]

Clark,
GO! My one experience was outstanding. I'd go so far as say it was like going to Manodlin Brothers without getting sticker
shock. They are two totally different shops; Elderly won't have the sheer numbers of vintage instruments that MB has.
Wash the turkey gravy off your fingers and get there if you can.
PS
Save some time to browse the record and book department.
PSS
If you're tired of turkey, there is a greasy burger joint around the corner they sent me to; completely bad for you but in a good way.

[Michael H Geimer]

Ahhh ... it was almost exactly a year ago that I was in Battle Creek on business. I was waaaaaay too swamped with work that I never had time to get out to Elderly.

The only day off I had was a Sunday ... Elderly was closed. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

I stood by the window of my Hotel, gazed out at the X-mas light on the Kellogg's Buidl;ing and wrote a little fiddle tune.

I called it The Cereal Box Breakdown. :P

Had dinner in Ann Arbor that evening ... pretty town!

- Benig

[tree]

My wife grew up in Ann Arbor and I absolutely love going to visit. #It's like Chapel Hill, NC, only bigger (and UM is a football school where UNC is a basketball school).

Oddly, Mando Bros didn't have a lot of vintage instruments when I was there - the very ones I had targeted on their web site (a teens F-4, '46 J-45 and a 40-something 'bone) had gone out to Long Island for a 2-day guitar show, so I missed them. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif # Even so, MB was the coolest music store that I've visited on the planet, so far.

Elderly sounds like a good time, though - thanks for the responses.

[jjboone101]

Tree,

Yes, by all means go. It is a blast and well worth the drive.

And, having lived for 10 years in A2 and now living in Chapel Hill, I can agree 100% with your comparison. I call Chapel Hill "Ann Arbor with great weather"!

J

[rmcintos]

Go. go. go. go!

It's like Disneyland for musicians.

rob

[mrbook]

I'm looking at the new Elderly catalog that came in the mail today (no Gibson instruments or even Gibson strings, for those who are wondering) and I would like to be going there for Thanksgiving. I have bought many great instruments and everything else from them since 1977.

[Dave Cowles]

Go. Actually, it's only about an hour from Ann Arbor, and well worth the trip. Leave yourself plenty of time, and take along a drool rag and your wallet. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif
Dave

[Bob DeVellis]

I'll be curious to hear how willing they are to let folks try out the '29 Fern you mentioned. Lots of cash invested in that baby. I've been in San Diego for a few days and drove up to Buffalo Bros. and the Museum of Making Music, both in Carlsbad. Those little musical side-trips can do a lot to make a business journey more interesting. Buffalo Bros. is guitar-heavy but enough mandolins, easily, to make the trip worth the trouble. Nothing that absolutely floored me, but certainly plenty of nice stuff. Actually the National reso-uke was pretty cool but way too much money for me to consider given my meager involvement with ukes.

I'd love to get to Elderly sometime. Surprisingly for a Chapel Hill resident, I've never been to Ann Arbor (despite lots of connections and traffic between the two places). If I get there, I'll sure try to make it to Lansing.

[Jim Gallaher]

I've been there twice from my home in Virginia. A great experience each time. No sales pressure -- just pick 'em up and play 'em. Some quality mando's, for sure.

If you pick a Saturday, you can usually pick with somebody trying out an acoustic guitar.

[pathfinder]

Go. #I guarantee you'll never regret (or forget) it.

[PhilGE]

Go - been there many times over the last few years. Most experiences there have been very positive.

-Phil

[J. Mark Lane]

Ann Arbor like Chapel Hill? Naaahh. Ann Arbor's way too big and way too close to Detroit. (And everybody knows, Detroit is no kind of place, at least when compared with, say, Sacramento. <g>). Anyhow, it's too cold up there.

Hey, Time Out! Maybe we could convince all those people over at D*ke that Ann Arbor is a nice place, and maybe they'd all move there. Those people never were very bright anyway....

[grsnovi]

I used to live in Novi and would drive over to Elderly about once every two months or so, just to look. Of course over the years I'd purchased a couple of guitars, a 'zouk and a gurdy from them.

They usually have a wall full of mandos.

If they have some instruments you'd like to hear/see in person, by all means make the trip over - its a great shop.

They also have a pretty good collection of harder to find CD's.

[Bruce Evans]

Last Saturday morning my wife said, "Let's go down to Elderly." It's a little over an hour from home. She didn't have to say it twice. She was interested in learning more about Hawaiian steel guitar playing.

I was sitting nearby while a store employee was demonstrating the Gold Tone lap steel. I noticed a Gibson mandolin hanging in front of me and picked it up to noodle on. When she was satified and the employee went back to the counter I asked her

"How do you like this one?"

"Oh, that's nice. How much is it?"

(Glance at the hang tag.)

"Twenty-three thousand, two hundred and fifty dollars."

(Pause) "Really?"

"Really."

"Hang it back up."

Gibson distressed F model. It was hanging there for me to noodle on. That's the kind of place the showroom is.

She didn't buy the lap steel, but when we got back she did decide that she wanted a new ukulele for Christmas. They are hanging there for noodling too. I called Monday afternoon and had a friend who works there go pick up the Lanikai 6 string tenor that she liked and make the sale for me. It was sitting in a box at the front door when I got home tonight, fortunately before she did.

Go. If there is any way you can work it, go.

[cumin]

I lived in Lansing for a year, in fact I took a position there in large part specifically to be near Elderly. The store is great, lots of great CD's for a great price, as well as the instruments. They are what a retail music store should be. I've never seen anything like it since. I live in Maryland, near DC, and would like to know what the nearest equivalent is around here.

[jim simpson]

"Last Saturday morning my wife said, "Let's go down to Elderly."

Wow, does she have a sister? (wait a minute, I'm already married) My wife enjoys going into a music store about as much as she likes going to a hardware store (not much). I don't think I would know how to react if she said that to me!

[Bruce Evans]

Wow, does she have a sister?
Yeah, she does. And Gina is an unmarried, stone-cold BABE.


I'm not just saying this to make you crazy. I would, but I'm not.

[tree]

Just got home tonight from our Michigan trip and wanted to make a quick report on Elderly Instruments. I did manage to make the drive to Lansing from Ann Arbor and was royally rewarded for my effort. I played everything that looked tasty to me and just had a ball. They have a fine selection of acoustic and electric instruments, their staff doesn't "hover", and the building is big and spacious, with lots of space to sit (or stand) and pick. I had a fabulous time, like a kid in a candy store. Picked a marvelous Collings F-5 that vied for my favorite of all the "stock" instruments that hung on the walls. Also a Gibson Master Model and a Distressed MM that were a joy to A/B with each other. I don't know whether I could have decided on a single favorite or not - they all felt solid and intonated perfectly. There were slight differences in setup, I guess, and of course some differences in tone, which was fun to experience. Oh, and the blackface F-4 was AWESOME. Short neck (my first chance to pick an F-4), with a remarkably loud, sweet tone. I could see myself with one of those, it felt and sounded great, regardless of the type of music I tried to play.

I split my time between the guitars and the mandos, and was really pleased NOT to find a guitar I liked better than my Huss & Dalton custom DS (but I must admit, I didn't ask to play the prewar 'bone). I did ask about, and they let me play the '29 Fern - it was way cool, but not at all in my price range.

From my experience, Elderly Instruments and Mandolin Brothers are the top 2 acoustic instrument establishments that I have ever visited. Still need to go to Nashville someday and visit Cotten Music and Gruen's Guitars. And others I'm sure I don't know about in other places - like Acoustic Music Works in Pittsburg, and Gryphon Music in California. Anyway - thanks to all for the encouragement, I really enjoyed the experience and will go back the very next opportunity that presents itself! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif