Florida mando stores

[Jesse Harmon]

I will be in the Largo/Tampa area and also the Daytona area for a couple of weeks. Any music shops or luthiers that I might look up that have mandolins?

[jman72]

In the Daytona area, there are no shops that I know of that carry any mandolins to speak of. When I was looking to upgrade a year ago, I visited Bailey Acoustic Music in Plant City outside of Tampa. Ken Bailey (a luthier) had a nice selection of Weber mandolins (and some great acoustic guitars that he built).

[lenf12]

jman72 is pretty much spot on re: music stores with mandolins in the Clearwater,/Largo area. When you get here, check out the usual suspects GC and Sam Ash as you may get lucky. Also check out Stevie B's Guitars going towards Palm Harbor (just north of Clearwater and also try out Belloise Brothers on S. Missouri just south of downtown Clearwater. Otherwise, do take a trip to visit Ken Bailey in Plant City (just east of Tampa). He usually has a decent selection and is also a builder of wonderful acoustic guitars. Another possibility is Arrowhead Music in Safety Harbor. The owner is a luthier/repair guy working out of his house. Last time I was there, he had a lot of his instrument collection hanging on walls and around various rooms. His name is Charlie and he's a good guy. BTW - the weather's fine!!!

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

[Willie Poole]

I tried to call Bailey`s last year and was told that he don`t spend too much time in his shop and didn`t give me any idea of when he would be there...SO I just never called back....I am not interested in any Webers anyway...

Willie

[jman72]

I think Mr. Bailey's main focus is building guitars, so he spends most of his time in his workshop rather than his store. I emailed him beforehand and he was very willing to set up a time to meet me at his store so I could see his selection of instruments. He was incredibly nice and patient and even invited me afterwards to sit in on a guitar building class that he teaches in his workshop. Plant City is a bit out of the way, so I'm sure he doesn't get much foot traffic into his store, so opening by appointment makes the most sense. By the way, his custom built acoustic guitars are some of the nicest I've ever played- next time I'm looking to upgrade I'm definitely going to give him a call.