I found a mandolin shop in Tokyo

[Sevelos]

I am posting this to help people living/visiting Tokyo find a good mandolin shop. I was not able to find a mandolin shop on the web, only several mandolin-builders.

KUROSAWA MUSIC OCHANOMIZU-EKIMAE
株式会社黒澤楽器店　お茶の水駅前店
Address:
101-0062
2-2, Kanda-Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
東京都千代田区神田駿河台2-2

There are no mandolin shops in Israel (where I'm from). The maximum I could find from time to time is a single cheapo mandolin in a guitar shop. I visited Europe many times and wasn't very lucky there either, except in Greece where I found several very special mandolins built by Bouzouki luthiers.
Finally today, I had an opportunity to try for the first time some decent American mandolins. I am now visiting Tokyo (Japan), and after walking into many electric-guitar shops (excellent, by the way), I have found what I was looking for (address posted above).
I played a Gibson A model from 1919, a Gibson Snakehead (20's ?), a new Gibson F9 and a new Weber River-F. After playing these I forced myself to stop, as I didn't want to bug the salesperson too much, knowing that I'm (probably) not about to buy anything.

PS. My first impressions? After playing a cheap Romanian mandolin for 28 years, I really expected more from such expensive instruments that I saw mentioned many times in the Cafe. Don't get me wrong - yhey were very nice, but I wasn't "knocked out of my socks". I liked the high volume of the Snakehead and the overall quality of the Weber. The Gibson F9 felt nice but was way too quiet (looked beautiful though) and the Gibson A from 1919 wasn't very much anything. I suspect the old instruments didn't sound as good as they could as they were not in perfect condition - the A from 1919 had a crack and the Snakehead's back wasn't glued perfectly to the body.

PS2. The salespersons in several musical-instrument shops asked me whether I am looking for "flat-tops", meaning both arch-tops and flat-tops in contrast to bowl-backs.

Some photos from the shop:
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[MikeEdgerton]

The A style in image 3 doesn't have the original tailpiece. The Lafferty (a Mandolin Store house brand seems somehow out of place). That is an amazing find though.

[journeybear]

Very nice to see this. People have been complaining here about finding stores in a major American city like Boston, and then there's this. I wonder about the prices, though. Plugging in the exchange rate, the asking price for that EM-150 is US $1147.52. Is that about right?

Wait - after a quick check of eBay, that's better than both currently up for auction. Hmmm ... NFI, BTW -already got one.

[Jack Roberts]

Nice find. I walked by there on New Year's eve last year, but they were closed. As long as you are in Tokyo, you should drop in on Ikegaku in Ikebukuro. They are a bowl back specialist, but are a great shop. Japanese are more into bowl backs as they were part of the Western (European, not Roy Rogers) music boom in the Taisho era, but there are some serious bluegrass players there as well.

My guess is that old mandolins don't age gracefully in the Japanese climate. It is hot and humid all Summer, cold and dry in the Winter, then Spring comes with Tsuyu: the rainy season. Until the 80's, air conditioning in homes was not that common, so the older stringed instruments just don't survive well.

[Denman John]

Check out Blue G music shop, also in OCHANOMIZU (5th or 6th floor). All acoustic and the best guitar shop I have ever been in ~ period. They usually have some nice mandolins hanging around as well. Blue G will amaze you with all the quality found under one roof. Lots of desirable instruments there!!!

http://www.blue-g.com/english.html

[journeybear]

It makes sense for there to be some good shops in Tokyo. High population, strong economy, considerable interest in bluegrass - it all works. We have some members in Japan. It would be nice to hear from them.

[Sevelos]

Yes journeybear, this seems to be the price.
Thanks Jack Roberts, I'll try to visit Ikegaku. Thanks Denman.

[JeffD]

PS2. The salespersons in several musical-instrument shops asked me whether I am looking for "flat-tops", meaning both arch-tops and flat-tops in contrast to bowl-backs.

You mean that in their world everything that wasn't a bowl-back was a flat-top. Ahhh well.

Was there a decent selection of bowl-backs? The Japanese are big into bowl-backs.

[DavidKOS]

Was there a decent selection of bowl-backs? The Japanese are big into bowl-backs.

Of the ones that survived the climate.

I wonder if that explains some of the overbuilt overvarnished lower-end Japanese bowlbacks?

[Bob A]

Here's an interesting link with information about Japanese luthiers.

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/ar...p/t-27549.html

Scroll down to the 2010 posts, and you'll find the name of the luthier who inherited the Embergher/Pecoraro tools. His instruments would be worth tracking down, if you have the time and inclination.

[darylcrisp]

looks like a Weber BitterRoot hanging to the side and slightly above the Gibson F9. Did you try that Weber also?

d

[Sevelos]

JeffD - in the mandolin shop I visited there was only a single bowl-back. No bowl-backs in the guitar shops. I bet there are other shops oriented towards classical musicians, with bowl-back mandolins. According to youtube, the Japanese indeed seem to be very much into them.

I couldn't resist, here's someone I find amazing: (I wonder what mandolin brand he is playing - quite incredible)



No darylcrisp, I didn't try that Weber. Do you especially recommend it?

[Jack Roberts]

JeffD - in the mandolin shop I visited there was only a single bowl-back. No bowl-backs in the guitar shops. I bet there are other shops oriented towards classical musicians, with bowl-back mandolins. According to youtube, the Japanese indeed seem to be very much into them.....

That's why you need to visit Ikegaku. They specialize in bowl backs and classical guitars. The picture of me in my avatar was taken in their shop.

[Sevelos]

Went back to the shop for more impressions.
darylcrisp - thanks for the recommendation. I tried Weber Bitterroot and it's awesome. Beautiful (curly maple, wood color (satin?)) with high volume and punch, although somewht hard to play. Perhaps lowering the action or putting lighter strings may make it easier. Don't have that money at the moment though...

For journeybear and others interested in the prices, I took several more inventory pictures:











Perhaps someone wants to buy something?

[journeybear]

So many mandolins! And some very nice ones, at that. I haven't been to a store that has anything like this in so long, my eyes are tearing up. (OK, I have a condition, but that's coincidental. ) This store seems quite devoted to Western music culture. I'm not sure what those bottles of tequila have to do with anything, but then, I've never been sure about that anyway ...

[delsbrother]

Ahhhh! PRS mando sighting!!

[Denman John]

The bowl back with no price on it caught my eye.

[journeybear]

I like that white face A-3. Too bad it's "used"

[MiG-19]

Ochanomizu is a must-visit when in Tokyo. My wife has been wonderfully supportive and always expects me to come back with something whenever I visit Tokyo.

[mcgroup53]

There is a large concentration of music shops and guitar stores in the Ochonomizo Station area in Tokyo =, many of which carry mandolins.