RIP: Stanley Jay of Mandolin Bros.

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kennyhowes
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RIP: Stanley Jay of Mandolin Bros.

Post by kennyhowes »

I met with Stanley many times during my tenure at RIC, and he was a nice fellow.

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sloop_john_b
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Re: RIP: Stanley Jay of Mandolin Bros.

Post by sloop_john_b »

Posted this at another forum, but what the hell. Let me preface by saying that I grew up on Staten Island and have been going to Mandolin Bros. since I was 15 or 16. I spent a considerable amount of time there, knew basically everybody from the sales floor to the repair department, and bought a whole lot of instruments there (as for Ricks, I can recall getting a 5002v58 and a 330DCM there). I knew it inside and out.

I was there within the last three weeks, before I had any inkling that anything was wrong. I went in to get some more of my favorite Golden Gate extra-large "clown-vomit" thumb picks, but Allison (Stan's daughter) told me they didn't have any in stock. When I asked if they were going to order more, she told me they "weren't ordering anything right now", then told me that her Dad was ill.

I had a look around the store a bit after that, and it was completely gutting to see how empty it was. One full room - once filled with Rickenbacker, Gibson, and Gretsch electrics - was now the "clearance" room, with $1 leather straps, t-shirts, and gobs of cheap strings for mandolins, banjos, and odd gauges for guitars - y'know, the stuff that was waiting for that special breed that Mandolin Bros catered to.

Despite a still-thriving repair department, I'm quite certain that they are going to go out of business. Though Stan's children Allison and Eric are probably willing and able to keep the store going, what is the point without Stan? He simply *was* Mandolin Bros. I watched him play guitars over the phone for prospective buyers countless times over the years. He put a $36,000 D'Angelico New Yorker in my hands WHEN I WAS 18. He was a walking encyclopedia of Martin history.

I am deeply saddened to see it - him - go. RIP.
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