Mandolin Brothers has been described as a New York City institution; it is a famous shop where vintage and high quality musical instruments are sold. Claire Wilson writing in the NY Times in 2001 described it as "a bustling little shop-cum-museum."[1]
Mandolin Brothers is located in Staten Island New York. They are known for the unique blend of vintage and one of a kind instruments along with a vast selection of mandolins, banjo, guitars, dobro, ukuleles to mandola and tenor guitars. Many professional musicians frequent the shop and many musicians consider it "Mecca" or a "shrine." They are well known for selling Bela Fleck his banjo and George Harrison a couple of his ukuleles. Other clients have included Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and Paul McCartney's bass guitar which was repaired by their repair staff.
The internationally known company is referred to owners seeking advice, appraisal, repair or marketing by virtually all the major manufacturers, by libraries, museums, and music stores across America. Mandolin Brothers is listed on The New York Music Trail—a map of the famous "Sites of Sound" established by the City of New York and The Host Committee for the Grammy Awards, as a destination for visitors. Included on the list with Mandolin Brothers are such institutions as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center , the Apollo Theatre and the John Lennon Memorial in Central Park. Mandolin Brothers and Gruhn Guitars in Nashville, TN have been compared to one another as institutions that are unique locations for information on vintage instruments; both establishments are like museums. Both Stan Jay and George Gruhn have appeared on WNYC Soundcheck in discussions on instruments.
Mandolin Brothers was established in 1971 by Stan Jay and Harold "Hap" Kuffner. Harold left Mandolin Brothers in 1982. The name was chosen by Stan Jay and Harold Kuffner when they decided that the mandolin wasn't getting its recognition in the fretted community and because they were brothers in spirit, the name seemed perfect. (From Musical Merchandise Review April 1996 article Blending Old & New - Mandolin Brothers at 25).
They publish a monthly publication titled Vintage News.
( Cf. especially "Credentials and References" [2] )
Joni Mitchell's song, "Song for Sharon" talks about her trip to Mandolin Brothers and Staten Island: "I went to Staten Island, Sharon, to buy myself a mandolin . . "Song for Sharon”" on both the 1976 Hejira album and 2005 Songs of a Prairie Girl album. Discussion of Sharon's Song by Joni Mitchell
In The New York Times Magazine section on Sunday November 12, 2006 section 6 page 65 an article on actor Christopher Guest titled "The Shape-Shifter" Interview of Christopher Guest at Mandolin Brothers [1] discussed Mr. Guest love of vintage instruments. "Chris Guest sat on a couch at Mandolin Brothers, the venerable guitar store on Staten Island and the kind of mecca for him that Harry Winston is for Elizabeth Taylor. . . . They sat in what Guest called “the grown up room,” for serious connoisseurs. Stan Jay brought out a succession of vintage guitars and mandolins and as the two men Chris and David Nichtern played as customers peeked inside. Guest pretended not to notice."
"The best guitar store in New York ." -- New York Magazine.
"One of the best guitar shops in the world." - The Boston Globe.
"I've never seen anything like this anywhere. This is the sort of place in which you can very easily lose your mind." -- Peter Watrous, music critic for The New York Times, speaking on National Public Radio's Marketplace.
"Mandolin Brothers music shop in Staten Island , NY is a Mecca for acoustic guitar customers." - Forbes, July 26, 1999.
"Your shop is the best I've ever seen, and I've been hanging around guitar shops for thirty-five years."-- Christopher Guest
"Best Acoustic Guitar Shop & Repair" - The New York Press Best-Of Issue, September '98.
"One of the world's foremost dealers in new and vintage guitars and other fretted instruments" -- "On an Island That's Worth Remembering" by Claire Wilson The New York Times, 17 August 2001 .
Best Acoustic Instrument Shop in the "Best of New York" issue - October 17, 2001 - The Village Voice.
The Summer 2002 issue of ForbesFYI Magazine says Mandolin Brothers "is many musicians' first and last resort for new, used or vintage banjos, mandolins, ukuleles, guitars and basses. [It's] an enchanted cavern of stringed instruments that you can play all day long."
In the Sunday October 13, 2002 New York Times eight paragraphs in an article titled "Collectors Shake, Rattle & Watch Those Bankrolls," were about Mandolin Brothers, Ltd. That article discusses American fretted instruments as investments and collectibles.
Stan Jay of Mandolin Brothers was quoted in The New York Times on May 9, 2004 in the article “A Mandolin Wind Blows in Bloomfield ” (by Brian Wise) in a discussion of mandolin orchestras. [2]
Also, a mention in Departures, May/June '04, the American Express Card magazine, the article is on Kim Walker Guitars. [New York Times] article on 24 September 2004: "Baby Boomers are Digging Guitars as Pricey Collectibles" - in the Arts and Leisure Section.
October 12, 2004: The Village Voice "Best Of" issue named us " Best Place to Indulge in Your Passion for All Things Ukulele."
April 2005: Tim Brookes, a writer and commentator on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition, in his just-published book, Guitar: An American Life says "Mandolin Brothers of Staten Island, the best guitar shop in New York and probably the universe."
In The Staten Island Advance article “Success, with Strings Attached” (25 August 2006) reporter Ben Johnson says: “The shop’s interior opens up into a veritable maze of rooms in which every wall is covered, floor-to-ceiling, in beautiful workmanship. Mandolins, lap steels, banjos, ukuleles, acoustic and electric guitars of all families and ages adorn the walls so heavily that any self-respecting musician might pass out from sheer rapture.”