A Message From Stan Jay

 Hello, I'm Stan Jay, President of Mandolin Brothers, Ltd. Have  you ever asked yourself "what's it worth?" If you own or if you  have been offered a vintage American guitar, a banjo or mandolin  or electric bass and wish to know its approximate  or hypothetical market value, just call  and ask us for advice. [There are exceptions that cannot be evaluated by phone or email.]  Or better yet, drop us an email. In  case you're wondering, the guitar I'm holding in the photo is not a  guitar at all.  Actually, it's a gumball machine.   We don't sell  gumball machines (more's the pity) but we felt it was a welcome  change from my holding a guitar.   This picture was taken on The  Pier at Huntington Beach, CA on a day in January when all flights    in and out of New York were canceled due to a blizzard.   You  cannot imagine how happy I was to be in Southern California on  that day.  If you would like to experience a feeling not unlike the  feeling I had that day, watching the surfers and the seagulls, all you  have to do is pick up the phone and order a nice guitar, banjo or  mandolin from us.  It'll make you feel so much better.    

Widely known as one of the largest dealers in the world of vintage and new American fretted instruments, we are frequently recommended by Gibson Guitar Corp., Nashville, TN, when they receive inquiries about vintage and used instruments, and also by Martin, Fender, Guild, Gretsch, National, Taylor, Dobro, PRS and many other manufacturers. We have appraised the contents of the C F Martin museum for Martin five times, the estates of C F Martin III and Merle Travis, and the personal collection of George Fullerton. We are recommended by many local music stores around the country and by manufacturers, libraries, museums, magazines, search engines and newspaper columnists. In business since 1971, we service the needs of over 225,000 players and collectors of American fretted instruments all over the globe.

Visiting Mandolin Brothers' showroom is like no other retail store experience you have ever had. It's as comfortable as being home, if your home were stocked with many hundreds of exceedingly high quality, original condition fretted instruments. Your questions are answered accurately and completely -- our greatest goal is to educate our customers to the differences between brands, models, styles, woods and appointments, so that they can make up their own minds based on having the information required to do so.

When we handle the sale of an instrument for an owner we do not complacently wait for buyers to walk in. We market it by actively sending out emailed additional photos or, if we must, still photographs by regular mail and complete descriptions to those from our client base whom we know will be interested. We post your instrument on the internet, here at the Beloved Mandoweb Spider Farm for Artistically Agile Arachnids.

We treat every customer like a friend of the company. People tell us that our performance is exceedingly reliable, the quality of the merchandise is received even better than anticipated. We've been called "old fashioned" in the way we provide personal service, including offering free verbal evaluation of vintage fretted instruments to callers worldwide.    Some instruments cannot be evaluated by phone -such as  vintage electric guitars from the '50s and '60s.  Those types of instruments, and some others, require a full hands-on letterhead appraisal - but our fees for that service are modest and the result is incalculably valuable document.

Mandolin Brothers, Ltd. is widely known for its high level of professionalism. This, plus our outstanding reputation for reliability, are good reasons why you should consider placing your instrument with us for consignment sale, or shipping it for trade/purchase. In fact, we have been called a "toy store for guitar players" and it's easy to see why; the place is wall to wall acoustic, electric and archtop guitars, banjos and mandolins.

We've supplied instruments to such well-known players as William Ackerman, Eric Andersen, Kenny Ascher (co-author "Rainbow Connection"), actors Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, Christian musician Paul Baloche, Chef Mario Batali, George Benson, Chef David Bouley, Edie Brickell, banjoist and “Jersey Boys” producer Marshall Brickman, Jimmy Buffett, Tom Chapin, Marc Cohn, Judy Collins, actor/singer Harry Connick, Jr. record producer Don DeVito, Holly Dunn, Bob Dylan, Elliot Easton, weatherman Bill Evans, The Edge (U2), attorney Raoul Felder, Bela Fleck, Mary Flower, Fr. Stan Fortuna, Jay Geils, John Gorka, comedian/actor David Allen Grier, Flatpicking Award Winner David Grier, David Grisman, Hall & Oates, Colin Hay (Men at Work), George Harrison, actor David Helms, Janis Ian, Chris Isaak, The Indigo Girls, authors Faye and Jonathan Kellerman, actor David Patrick Kelly, Diana Krall, Lenny Kravitz, Cyndi Lauper, comedian Carl LaBove, actor James LeGros, producer/writer John Levanthal, Lyle Lovett, Russell Malone, Eddie Martinez, Pat Matheny, Paul McCartney, John McLaughlan, Sarah McLachlan, Don McLean and El McMeen, John Cougar Mellencamp, Miami Sound Machine (Gloria Estafan), Steve Miller, Joni Mitchell, Kevin Nealon (Saturday Night Live), Graham Parker (UK band: The Rumour), Christine Quinn (Speaker, New York City Council) and Kim Catrell, Robin Quivers of The Howard Stern Show, Rachael Ray, Vernon Reid, Steve Riggio – Vice-Chairman & CEO of Barnes & Noble, Robert Rubin (Former Secretary of the Treasury), Richie Sambora, Brian Setzer, Richard Shindell, Paul Siebel, record producer John Simon (The Band), Paul Simon, Michelle Shocked, G.E. Smith, Bruce Springsteen (his wife, Patty, bought him a mandolin as a Christmas present), Peter Stampfel (Holy Model Rounders), Leni Stern, Stephen Stills, Billy Squier, Jill Sobule, record producer Russ Titleman, Randy Travis, Tony Trischka, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, Suzanne Vega, Jimmy Vivino (Conan O'Brien show), Martha Wainwright, Peter Watrous (NY Times music correspondent), Eric Weissberg, Steve Winwood, Vinnie Zummo (Joe Jackson Band), and many other recording and non-recording customers.   

WFDU-FM radio, July 16, 2012.   You can hear it and read it by clicking:   http://wfuv.org/news/life-arts/120716/nyc-music-trail-mandolin-brothers

 Two mentions and a photo in an article in The Wall Street Journal, July 14, 2012:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303919504577523141342617630.html?KEYWORDS=West+Brighton

Here's a nice article about Mandolin Brothers that appeared recently in Acoustic Guitar Magazine.  http://www.acguitar.com/article/default.aspx?articleid=26804&printable=yes#.TpTxNNtBxh0.email

 Hate to pile these articles up on you but then there's the June 20, 2012 article based on an interview on an NPR - All Things Considered segment called "Niche Market" - Title - "Mandolins and their Brothers" - http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/wnyc-news-blog/2012/jun/20/niche-market-mandolins-and-their-brothers/

 If you would like more information on MANDOLIN BROTHERS' products and services, please write us at 629 Forest Ave., Staten Island, NY 10310,  phone 718 981-8585, fax 718 816-4416, or email mandolin@mandoweb.com.