June 10th, 2024

Good mornings folks,

    Our huge June sale continues until the end of the month and they are incredible deals on every instrument in the store. The response has been steady and we have sold quite a few very special instruments in the past week. Check our website for some great deals. 

    Over the course of the past 50 years, I have placed over 30 thousand guitars, banjos, mandolins and other stringed instruments into the hands of happy new owners. It always gives me a great deal of pleasure to find the exact right instrument for the right person. It is part of what I’ve taught my sales staff. You need to establish a relationship with a person in order to sell an instrument to them. You have to know how they think and how they feel and how they react. As I worked in the store the past week, since we have started the great June sale, I have sold several instruments to people by assessing their interests and needs in terms of a quality, performing instrument. As an example, on Saturday, a young man drove all the way up from State College in Pennsylvania, which is quite a hike. His plan was to try out a small body “Eastman” guitar and we were the closest dealer to have a complete selection. In the course of the conversation, he mentioned that he grew up right near Nazareth, Pennsylvania close to the Martin factory. He’d always wanted a Martin, but he never thought one would be within his price range. Now we had just taken in a very nice, small body, fairly recent Martin guitar. I told him that, even though it was outside of his current price range, buying used is the best way to protect your investment. He ended up leaving with that beautiful Martin guitar, which, while a bit over his price range was still an excellent bargain. 

     Shortly afterwards, a young woman came in looking for mandolins. We talked for quite a while and it turned outI knew her father quite well…. he and his brother and actually played in the store at one time when we used to have concerts. She was looking to upgrade her current mandolin and we spent some time together trying lots of instruments. She came in to look at early Gibson mandolins but left with a beautiful custom Breedlove which I told her to take home, show her dad and make sure it was the right one for her and then let me know if she still wanted to make the purchase. It’s the kind of thing we do. Seeing the happy look on the face of new owners of instruments that we have placed has always been the bonus of being in business. 

     Here is one recent experience that really touched my heart. About a month ago a teacher from the local school district sent out an email asking if anyone could help a woman acquire an old, used guitar. The teacher was instructing the woman’s daughter.  She had learned that the woman, a single mom with two young daughters, was very musical and her talents included singing and playing guitar which she had learned in her home country. Resources were limited but the teacher thought that finding a guitar would make the mom very happy.  Julie found a nice Cordoba classical and gave it to the teacher. 

On Saturday night, we were invited to the woman’s home for her two year old daughter’s birthday. We were treated to an amazing feast of Mexican food and a "Tres Leches" cake that could take your breath away…. all prepared by this grateful mother to celebrate and treat her friends and neighbors. After dinner she brought out the guitar and led us all as we sang "Cielito Lindo" and "Happy Birthday" accompanied on her new guitar. Now I’ve placed many guitars and had all kinds of reactions, but none that actually brought tears to my eyes. This woman’s happiness was worth every bit of what that guitar cost and as an added twist to the story it turns out that the teacher was my son Jay’s Spanish teacher in high school 40 years ago! It’s all about the connections 

With peace,

John Bernunzio