Dusty Strings

[banjoboy]

I know most of you don't know about Dusty Strings. It's pretty much THE acoustic music shop in the Northwest. I stopped by the store the other day for the first time in two years. I hadn't been there for a while due to COVID. I played two Northfield mandos. One was a 4th Gen and the other was a Big Mon. I thought the 4th Gen was a little on the stiff side. The Big Mon had great low end. What really surprised me about the store was that I didn't see any Collings guitars. There used to be a whole wall of them. Now the store had Martins, Taylors, and Eastman. Not sure what happened to all the Collings. All sold? Store no longer carrying them? Anybody in Seattle area know what's up?

[Mandobar]

Collings production, along with other companies is down. They are down from 150 employees to 50. There are a slew of threads on this subject here and on other forums. Collings is booked into 2024 on build slots.

[Mandobart]

They had several Collings guitars in there last time I dropped by which I think was in the past 18 months.....

[Glassweb]

I know most of you don't know about Dusty Strings. It's pretty much THE acoustic music shop in the Northwest. I stopped by the store the other day for the first time in two years. I hadn't been there for a while due to COVID. I played two Northfield mandos. One was a 4th Gen and the other was a Big Mon. I thought the 4th Gen was a little on the stiff side. The Big Mon had great low end. What really surprised me about the store was that I didn't see any Collings guitars. There used to be a whole wall of them. Now the store had Martins, Taylors, and Eastman. Not sure what happened to all the Collings. All sold? Store no longer carrying them? Anybody in Seattle area know what's up?

Big Collings dealer... all sold as of last week. As mentioned above they are WAY backlogged. Alas... and a lack!

[JeffD]

I travel to Seattle for work once or twice a year, and have been to Dusty Strings more than a few times. And have spent some money there, on a mandolin, and on a tenor guitar.

And I almost purchased a beautiful parlor guitar, but didn't. It wasn't a sudden burst of discipline, it was a discovered deficit of ready funds.

I love that place.

[milli857]

I went there this last weekend and it was a very cool store. They had about 10-15 mandolins, mostly high end (I think they had 3 Northfields, which were my favorites).

I was looking for something under $1500 an didn't find anything that really excited me so I'm going to keep looking. The guy there said used mandolins have been really hot, and they had a Gibson earlier that week that didn't last 2 days in the store!

[Joey Anchors]

Never been to Dusty Strings but I was lucky enough to snag this Waterloo WL-M after seeing it pop up on their Instagram account back in ‘20.

[Old Dog Dave]

I went there this last weekend and it was a very cool store. They had about 10-15 mandolins, mostly high end (I think they had 3 Northfields, which were my favorites).

I was looking for something under $1500 an didn't find anything that really excited me so I'm going to keep looking. The guy there said used mandolins have been really hot, and they had a Gibson earlier that week that didn't last 2 days in the store!

I may be the guy who bought that Gibson. I went up to Dusty Strings week before last (I live in Olympia) and bought the 2004 Gibson A9 that they had, although apparently they'd had it for just a short time. Anyway, I love Dusty Strings; and, although parking in the Seattle area is pretty dicey, I've never had a problem finding a space reasonably close by the store. All in all, a pretty good place to look at and for stringed instruments.

[urobouros]

When you open their door, a dulcimer strums your welcome & pretty much sets off the whimsical feel. I worked in the neighborhood 20 yrs ago & whiled away many a lunch hour (& a half...) Such a great shop with fun people!

[Drew Egerton]

Have never been, but my new Northfield F5S came from there. Easy online transaction and friendly service

[Marcus CA]

Not sure what happened to all the Collings. All sold? Store no longer carrying them?

On their website this morning, they're showing two guitars. https://store.dustystrings.com/c-230...nufacturer=-9-

They also have one Collings mandolin, but it's a 2005. https://store.dustystrings.com/p-110...llings-mf.aspx

I agree that they are "pretty much THE acoustic music shop in the Northwest." Portland seems to be much better for electrics than acoustics. At Dusty Strings, it's really easy to try out the instruments, because the acoustic room is really long and narrow, so you can get away from someone else who is trying out an instrument. Also, it's not a locked-cabinet or behind-the-rope store.

[Kenny]

Never been to Dusty Strings but I was lucky enough to snag this Waterloo WL-M after seeing it pop up on their Instagram account back in ‘20.

Very nice, indeed! As I approach one year playing mandolin I’ll begin a search for an oval hole A-style for my next mando. Thanks for feeding that yearning!

[gtani7]

That whole neighborhood is great for musical instruments, American Music up the hill, and Mike/Mike's Guitar bar which ahs some really nice acoustic instruments upstairs (I think a lot of people assume they only sell vintage Strats and Tele's and Les Pauls because that's what you see from the street). Also, but not in walking distance Lasley Violins Ballard and Stone violins in U district where I get the f hole cracks in my mandolins repaired...