Vancouver Island Music Stores

[Marcus CA]

My wife and I are going to be spending five days on Vancouver Island later this month. Can't wait! Are there any music stores (or quilting stores, for my wife) worth checking out?

[bobrem]

In Victoria, Larsen Music on Cook Street and Classic Guitars on Fort Street.

[ollaimh]

if rufus on vancouver island is still open he has stuff. was in duncan i think, he has a web page. sadly the folk lore store is gone. guitars on fort has nice stuff. and reasonable prices.

[Marcus CA]

Back in the USA.

In Victoria, Larsen Music was pretty disappointing. They only had a few mandolins, and nothing noteworthy. Also, there was a guy playing accordion, which pretty much filled the sonic space of the store. Classic Guitars on Fort St. was really interesting, and definitely had nice stuff. The owner just bought the place last spring, but I don't get the sense that he changed anything about the store. He had a couple of '20's Gibson A's and lots of interesting guitars (as the name would lead you to expect). He carries a few guitars made by VI builders. I played #002 by one of them (whose name I forget, unfortunately), which was tremendous. I also went to Long & McQuade, which is basically Canada's version of Guitar Center. If you go there to play mandolins, plan to put in some time tuning them.

In Duncan, I went to Duncan Music, but I don't know if that was Rufus's store. They carried a few mandos by a Pac Rim company named Alabama, which had chunky necks, but decent tone for $425 Canadian. I had never heard of them, but the guy working at the store said that they had been around for at least 20 years that he knew of.

On the other hand, my wife found lots of fantastic quilting stores on the Island, so I spent way more time waiting for her than she spent waiting for me. Food and scenery, though, triumphed all!

[Denman John]

That's why we use the mandolin cafe classifieds

[ollaimh]

i think rufus on the island is a web page and you have to phone to visit-- i think he does mostly repairs. he is proabably the most knowledgable guy on the island. and a really nice and talented guy