Gibsons in Houston

[GRW3]

Anybody have a handle on the supply of new Gibson Mandolins at Fuller's in Houston? Since Gibson won't let them post their inventory on their website you can't just look it up. Why not call? Last time I did they said "we have a full line" and all they had was two Jam Masters and a couple of used instruments. They are primarily a guitar shop so I have no doubt their answer was reasonable in that light.

I'm likely to travel to Houston on business in the next couple of months and I just want to know if I should venture to their shop. I'm assuming one or more of the Cafe gearheads will have the skinny. I'm not particularly looking for a new mando but people locally know me as a gearhead and I like to keep up to date on what's available. Also, there has been a lot of praise about the new Gibson production and I would like to sample it.

[DPrager]

Careful George! This kind of behavior leads to unplanned purchases.

David

[greg_tsam]

I live 2 miles from Fuller's and can go there for you if you'd like. They're primarily a guitar store and very few mandolins. I'll check them out tomorrow for you and take a pic maybe.

[GRW3]

Thanks, they're definitely primarily a guitar store however they've been a Gibson OAI store for years. They have so many guitars that if they were only 1% mandolins and banjos it would more than most stores.

They've always had a good selection until after the flood. I'm just wanting to know if they are back to full strength.

[Phil Jolly]

Greg,

Let me know if you're heading over there and I'll meet you there. I was there a couple weeks ago and all I saw was a Jam Master.

[greg_tsam]

George, they got rid of most of their mandos except Gibson and those are about 3-5 last time I went there but it's been over a year. I talked to Mike Fuller one time and he said, I'm paraphrased here, Gibson's sold better. They have 300 guitars and 3 mando's.

Phil, I'll give you a call tomorrow and see if you can make it around 11:00-ish or so. We missed you last Wed. night jam but still had FIVE mandolins out of 12 people. haha.. I've never been in any circle anywhere that had so many mando players. We're taking over!

[greg_tsam]

Me and Phil met at Fuller's today and there is a reason it's called "Fuller's Guitar". We saw THREE lonely mandolins (Fender, Gibson, Thompson) on one side and FOUR Epiphone mandos on the other side and about a 500+ guitars and maybe 6 upright basses and at least 40 ukes. The ever present worker came over and looked down his nose at me. I've been going to that store for 8 years and he always treats me like I just got off the boat. It used to bug me but now it's almost endearing. (Think of the comic book store guy from the Simpson's - Best mandolin EVER!)

When I asked if that was all the mandos he pointed out another in the glass case and let me look at it. A 1942 Gibson that they wanted $30,000 for. There were two Saga Kentuckys, KM-1000 and KM-1500, but they were display only and not for sale. They belonged to a mando picker who had passed (RIP), Henry Edward "Bootsie" Moore.

Here's some pictures. That's my son tuning up the Texas flag Uke.

[liestman]

Now that is sad! I have not been there for about a year but at that time they had a couple oval hole Gibsons from the teens / 20s and maybe 4 F hole Gibsons of various ages. I wonder if it is just unplanned fluctuation or a planned de-mandolinization?

[greg_tsam]

The counter guy said they get only one request per month for mandolins and guitars and ukes sell much better. A city as big as Houston and I've been forced to buy my mandolins online. I want to open a mandolin store here. Heck, I'd even sell a few guitars and banjers.

[Pearlgirl]

I am in the Houston area too and made a couple of trips to Fuller's to see what mandolins they had. I saw some of the same ones you mentioned. The staff was always very nice and helpful and let me play anything I asked to play. When I became interested in purchasing a mandolin about a year ago I was surprised to find out that no one in Houston carries a decent selection of mandolins. I ended up traveling out of state to play some mandolins and did recently purchase one. So please open your mandolin store as I will probably get the bug to buy another one at some point .

[GRW3]

Greg, you said "The ever present worker came over and looked down his nose at me. I've been going to that store for 8 years and he always treats me like I just got off the boat." and I started laughing. I think I know exactly who you are talking about, chubby Spock (for the hairdo) right?. He's been around since it was a smaller store. I'm thinking he must be a relative or something. I remember one day he was going on about how he heard Mike was thinking about adding Taylor guitars and how he didn't think they belonged in a Gibson store. One of the other guys (probably irritated this guy was going off in front of customers) told him Fuller's is in the selling business and not the appreciation business and they'll get what people want to buy. Next time in there was a wall full of Taylors and Martins.

I was afraid it was going to go that way. I think the online business drove a lot of their Gibson sales. Heck I know I when I was looking I checked out their sites and even made a side trip to try out a Goldrush they had. I am kind of surprised that with two active bluegrass clubs in the Houston area (including the upcoming mandolin championship) there isn't another shop that sell Collings or Weber (or even Eastman or Loar).

Thanks for the reporting anyway. If you guys get a hankering for trying out mandolins, head your vehicles out I-10 and make the Austin - San Antonio mandolin circuit. See Guitar Tex in San Antonio for Webers and Fiddler's Green in Austin for Collings, Webers, Altmans, Ellis. Tex will usually have more Webers than FG so it's worth seeing them both. Take a long weekend and catch the Friday shop tour at Collings. Check out the Central Texas Bluegrass Association Website for area happenings.

Oh, and if anybody is interested in ordering a Weber Mandola I'd be happy to bring mine up to Tex for you to try out on a Saturday. Fiddler's usually has a Collings mandola around. Both of these shops are acoustic friendly and both are run by people who play out professionally too.

[greg_tsam]

Greg, you said "The ever present worker came over and looked down his nose at me. I've been going to that store for 8 years and he always treats me like I just got off the boat." and I started laughing. I think I know exactly who you are talking about, chubby Spock (for the hairdo) right?.

You read my mind. haha..Too funny.