I am making a quick trip (long weekend) to Dublin, Ireland at the beginning of December. Any mandolin shops I should check out?? Thanks!
I am making a quick trip (long weekend) to Dublin, Ireland at the beginning of December. Any mandolin shops I should check out?? Thanks!
Sadly there is not a great selection of mandolin available in Dublin. You'll find the usual array a mass produced and branded mandolins such as Mcbrides, Barnes and Mullins, Fender etc.
Waltons in Blanchardstown retail park have a decent selection of these. To get there is a half hour bus trip from the city centre.
IMHO the best selection of mandolins would be Moloney music in Galway. He normally has a couple of Northfield mandolins, Eastman, the Loar mandolins in stock.
In my exhaustive research of the city (well 10 minutes wandering round near the castle before it started raining )I didn't find any "interesting" mandolins. However SomeNeck Guitars on Aungier Street have some lovely vintage guitars if you're interested.
Same experience here; although it was some years ago. The only shop I found had a rather unimpressive Furch and a totally unplayable (backwards neck bow) Epiphone Mandobird. Probably better just to enjoy Dublin!
P.S. Don’t expect the “Castle” mentioned in the last post to look anything like a castle.
Thanks all. SomeNeck sounds interesting and I'll try and divert the group there. Hope to catch some live music too, although from what I've heard, that should be pretty easy to do.
Kilmainham jail is worth a visit and reasonably close to the city centre - walkable if you’re so inclined. Funny things always seem to crop up in Dublin. The last time we flew there, we were waiting for a bus to the airport when a taxi pulled up and offered to take us there for the price of the bus fare. He said he was going anyway and thought he might as well take something for his fuel!
For what it's worth,i think that most Irish mandolin players buy their instruments from TAMCO in Brighton,due to what might be called the lack of 'decent' instruments on offer in Ireland. I certainly know of 3 players who did just that. Maybe you could make an extended visit & visit TAMCO - however,with the 'goodies' that Trevor has to offer,it could be a very extended visit !,
Ivan
TAMCO :- http://www.theacousticmusicco.co.uk/shop-contact-.html Scroll down for the piccies !.
Weber F-5 'Fern'.
Lebeda F-5 "Special".
Stelling Bellflower BANJO
Tokai - 'Tele-alike'.
Ellis DeLuxe "A" style.
Fortunately (unfortunately?), although its in a foreign country, its easier for some of us in the UK to get to Dublin than to TAMCO - and probably cheaper!
If you're in Dublin and want to hear some good music, you can't go wrong with either the Cobblestone in Smithfield, or Piper's Corner which is just off O'Connell Street. A short walk from each other, or a couple of stops on the Luas (Dublin tram). There's loads of other venues in Dublin for music, but these are two of the best ones in the city centre for hearing a really good session. I mean, just look at the Piper's Corner, how could it be anything other than a music pub!!
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