View Full Version : Good mando shops in houston
I was watching Rober Altman's "Brewster McCloud" one night and realized that Houston is much closer to the Houston of my memory than the current city. We left 26 years ago for San Antonio. I still have a general picture of the place and can get around but frankly the only music store I know enought to want to visit is Fuller's Vintage Guitar.
So, my buddy and I are headed through Houston Saturday to go watch the Texas mandolin championships down in League City. Any good acoustic, bluegrass, mandolin, etc shops we should check out?
Daniel Wheeler
Aug-12-2008, 8:57am
Rockin robin carries collings guitars and had 2 mandos in stock from them last time I was there. They also had a few eastmans and some old a model gibsons.
Danny ds is about 1 minute from where the contest is at and carries McPherson guitars along with Santa cruz lowden and a host of others. They had 2 octave mandos and a bouzouki last time I was there along with plenty of beginner to mid level mandolins.
Then there's a bunch of your friendly neighborhood guitar satans cough I mean centers. Guitar Stringer in Pasadena had 4 or 5 gibsons at last visit.
But that's about the extent of Mando stores in and around houston.
Capt. E
Aug-12-2008, 9:02am
Austin is much better than Houston now that we have Fiddlers Green. Don't know about San Antonio.
Daniel Wheeler
Aug-12-2008, 9:34am
Austin isn't on the way to houston tho. Its a pretty good detour. Speaking of which. I'll be visiting fiddlers green 2 Saturdays from now when I'm there in town. Maybe I'll run into some cafe folks.
Daniel Wheeler
Aug-12-2008, 9:35am
Austin isn't on the way to houston tho. Its a pretty good detour. Speaking of which. I'll be visiting fiddlers green 2 Saturdays from now when I'm there in town. Maybe I'll run into some cafe folks.
jimbob
Aug-12-2008, 12:56pm
Nothing in Houston compares with Fullers for BG, acoustic, mandolins, B@#*^'s, etc. Rockin Robin has some very nice guitars and amps, etc...but I think Fullers has about the best selection of mandos, banjos, basses, that I've seen
Daniel Wheeler
Aug-12-2008, 1:46pm
They have about 5 or 6 gibsons consistently at fullers. Rockin robin usually has 1 or 2 collings and some vintage A's Danny ds has some Michael kellys and other equivalent with a couple of octave mandos. There really Isn't a ton of mando related stuff in h town. You'll see a much better variety in the contest. An Ellis a couple collings a dearstone (I think) and then your resident Gibson folks. i'll have a collings that I'm gonna borrow if I decide to enter. I'm not to fond of improv in a contest but what the heck.
jimbob
Aug-12-2008, 2:33pm
Is Danny D's still open ? Last time I was in Webster I was going to go by there, but the store wasn't at the old location. He used to have some neat stuff.
MikeEdgerton
Aug-12-2008, 3:27pm
With as many pawn shops as there are in Houston, and they look like they're on every corner, you'd think there'd be some mandolins.
Daniel Wheeler
Aug-12-2008, 3:37pm
Ya its on highway 3 and 518 in league city Webster area about a half mile from the monthly bluegrass thing. He's got some real nice stuff in there and his people are More...congenial than some I've run into.
Daniel Wheeler
Aug-12-2008, 3:41pm
Its a long shot on pawn shops you might get lucky on 1 out 20 carrying a mandolin. On one afternoon I called a hundred or so looking for mandos and on the off chance I found one it was nothing desirable to me.
Daniel Wheeler
Aug-12-2008, 3:42pm
Its a long shot on pawn shops you might get lucky on 1 out 20 carrying a mandolin. On one afternoon I called a hundred or so out of the phonebook looking for mandos and on the off chance I found one it was nothing desirable to me.
greg_tsam
Aug-14-2008, 12:51am
Finding a good mando selection in Houston is tough. Fuller's has Gibson only and is clearing everything else. Rocking Robin has some select pieces on occasion. I was so disappointed that I considered moving cities. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif I ordered a Breedlove Quartz FF from AZ after hearing it over the telephone from the Mandolin Store.
Capt. E
Aug-14-2008, 9:10am
Ben at Fiddlers is a regular Cafe member. They should have the Jade mandolins in by the time you visit.
HarveyB
Aug-17-2008, 4:42pm
Just got back from Austin and a visit at Fiddler's. #They have a really nice selection of mandos. I was interested in an Eastman 505 but they didn't have any in stock. #My wife was really interested in one of the F-model Breedlove's they had. #I can't remember the exact model. #It was nice talking to Ben and and just hanging out for a while. #The shop had a really good feel to it. I highly recommend paying a visit if you ever get the chance.
Cheers,
Harvey
We stopped at Fuller's and as ususal the high end room was overwhelming. So many great guitars Gibson, Martin, Taylor, Santa Cruz, Gallagher. A wall of resonators, Dobro (Gibson) and National. Mandolins? Just Gibson. Outside the high end room there were a handful of other mandolins - Alvarez Fs, Kentucky A, Tacoma and electric.
Because of traffic delays we only had a little time to spend there so I only played the two, F5G and Goldrush, that were within sight of potential acquisition. I was shocked at the difference in sound quality. I asked if they were intended to be voiced so radically different. I didn't find the comment that they were "real wood made by real people" to be helpful.
The Goldrush was a nice mandolin. It had good starting voice and a decent chop. I couldn't help but compare it to the Yellowstone F at Guitar Tex in San Antonio and the Altman two point at Fiddler's Green in Austin. The Yellowstone is a similar honey color though it appears some effort was made to shade the stain to bring out the subtle body shapes compared to the more monotone staining of the Goldrush. The Yellowstone also had tortoise binding instead of black binding (both plastic to be sure but tortoise plastic is an upgrade to me). The Yellowstone is at least the equal of the Goldrush in sound at a significantly lower cost. The only thing that the Gibson had the edge on was the 'flowerpot' headstock inlay.
The Altman two point is only little more than the Goldrush but the sound just grabs you. At that price level there would be no contest.
So in the face of rigorous competition among top level guitars in the same room, why no alternative to Gibson Mandolins? No market for mandolins in Houston? Nobody want's anything but Gibson? You fill in the blank...
If your guitar has to say 'Martin' and your mandolin has to say 'Gibson' then the Goldrush might be for you. To me this just reinforces why instruments need to be played before purchase.
Daniel Wheeler
Aug-18-2008, 12:02pm
See above posts http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif told you there was nothing but Gibson there. The real wood real people comment sounds like a disguised idk. You get that a lot from the 2 or 3 guys that work in the high end section.
As far as the mandolin market. If you saw the contest there were more collings than anything.
jimbob
Aug-18-2008, 12:06pm
what about the F5G ?
what about the F5G ?
Frankly, I wouldn't have traded the Mid Missouri I used to own for it even. Maybe lights somebody else's fire but not mine.
Joe Dodson
Aug-19-2008, 11:04pm
Fuller's has Gibson only and is clearing everything else.
They usually carry a few Tacomas, Epiphones, and similar lower priced instruments. Are they dumping those?
The real wood real people comment sounds like a disguised idk. You get that a lot from the 2 or 3 guys that work in the high end section.
True that.
Blueridgeboy
Aug-22-2008, 9:52am
I live in Houston and it is really a shame that there are no more mandos available in a town this size than there are. #Fullers, unfortunatly has the largest selection in town.
I too have heard many snide comments by the guys in the 'high end' room, I just try to ignore them.
I've picked on probably a dozen Gibsons there and a couple sounded really good but most were just ok. #I don't know if it was their setup or dead strings or what, but most were unimpressive (at least to me).