Elderly Instruments

admin · Post by **admin** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:25 am

Yes, we are talking about any instrument played by myself. Time marches on.

Just in passing, has anyone been to Elderly Instruments storefront in MI. I would be interested in your impression of their service.

They have some great deals but on some used items they do not ship and I am wondering why.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 6:20 am

I have bought a number of items from them and my experience is that they are 100% professional.

They won't ship amplifiers because of issues of damage by UPS and Fed Ex.

admin · Post by **admin** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 6:28 am

Thanks Paul. I have had good luck with small purchases and concur regarding their customer service. It looks to me that they will ship new but not used amplifiers.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 6:48 am

New amps are covered by manufacturer's warranty and come in manufacturer packaging. Used amps are difficult to ship, as we know!

admin · Post by **admin** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 6:55 am

Yes, if I wanted to ship my Fender Twin Reverb to you, what do you think the chances of it arriving in one piece would be? Oh yeah, I would be sure to put a Fragile sticker on it. Ha Ha. Just call it Fragile Rock!

325_fan · Post by **325_fan** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:21 am

I bought a Warwick Thumb Neck Thru bass and an Adamas 12-string through them. No problems!

admin · Post by **admin** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:28 am

As an aside, when the Elderly Instruments catalog arrived at the door, my wife couldn't stop laughing. She couldn't resist the comment about me playing in a "middle-age crisis band."

milo · Post by **milo** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:31 pm

I live about 1 1/2 hours away and try to get out there every couple of months to window shop. I've never had any problems with their service or any items that I've bought from them. It really is a great place to visit if you're ever in the area.

The acoustic room is like nothing I've ever been to. They have another room with mandolins, banjos, and folk instruments, and a small sound proof room with violins and ukes.

The amp room on the weekends tends to get some "shredder" kids playing at crazy volumes but the staff usually keeps a watch and if they know that a customer wants to seriously try out some gear they'll politely put a stop to the jam sessions long enough for others to try their gear out.

In general, it's a fun place for any stringed instrument player to go and hang out, and for the most part their vintage stuff is priced fairly so that it will sell and not at some of those astronomical prices like some places where they hope a clueless buyer will walk in off the street and just "have to have" some "rare" beat to **** vintage instrument.

teb · Post by **teb** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:15 pm

I bought my Pedulla Buzz from them and like the fact that they had a whole slew of really good photos on the website to inspect before buying. My brother called them up out of the blue last fall and asked if they would ever be getting any Rickenbacker mandolins. The guy said "Well, we have a brand new Jetglo one in stock - silver case, toaster pickup, gold guards, etc....want it?" About 1/2 second later he was a Ric owner. He's pretty decent, but decided to take some lessons. When he first met his mandolin teacher, he mentioned owning a tempermental Gibson Mandobird that he wasn't real happy with to the teacher and they got to talking about various brands and models of electrics. At one point, the teacher said "The one you really should see if you ever get the chance is the Rickenbacker." His reply was "Yeah, I've got one in my basement..."

He brought it up and I tried to play it, but I'm hopeless on mandolin. Every time I switch strings I'm two frets off. If you've never seen one, that little gold TRC is one of the coolest things on the planet. Makes you want to buy two of them and go get your ears pierced. Next trip up, we'll plug it into the JangleBox and see what happens.

ken_j · Post by **ken_j** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 3:45 am

It is about an hour away from me. I have bought and sold a few instruments there. It really is a "must do" if you get anywhere near this area. I usually go there a couple of times a year. If you are that certain somebody you get a trip to their vault which has a number of vintage items not kept on the floor. I have never been that fortunate. They are the largest Martin dealer in the world plus have a number of other high end boutique instruments there. If you decide you want to make the drive Peter I would love to meet up with you. Last year I was there and most of Blues Traveler was in the store. I also met Paul Reed Smith on another occasion.

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 4:11 am

Sounds like an East Lansing confluence is in order!

jnbass · Post by **jnbass** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 7:06 am

I've had 2 experiences with them. One involves a V63 that was listed in excellent+ condition, but had damage to the neck, bent tuning key and scratches.

Then there was a pic of this;

but I was sent this;

Someone forgot to update the pics-they refunded the moolah and were extremely professional about it.

sloop_john_b · Post by **sloop_john_b** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 7:44 am

Bummer about the Cii! Did you keep the v63 or return that as well?

loverickbass · Post by **loverickbass** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 8:15 am

I got a deal at Elderly once. I got a mint condition Steinberger XL2A for $800.00! Turned around and sold it for $1,600.00!

Cole

jnbass · Post by **jnbass** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 6:44 pm

Elderly would not pay the return shipping on their over-generous grading error.

I was charged $120 for FedEx outbound, but the FedEx office said that the shipping was actually $90. "Someone" pocketed the difference.

I kept the V63.

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