During the pandemic, learning a new instrument was one of the top ten new hobbies taken up by people stuck at home. Guitar purchases are still climbing. Up to 40% of sales today are made online, but thankfully our area is home to several fantastic music stores, so we can still get the gear we need and keep it local.
Over the last week or so, I buzzed around and visited five different music stores within easy driving distance. Here’s the lowdown.
Jacobs Music Center
1 Milton Ave., Highland, NY
Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, Jacobs Music Center is a traditional hometown music store that fulfills the needs of musicians of all ages. Guitars, drums and keyboards can all be found here, as well as rentals for school bands and orchestras.
Originally from Utica, owner Dennis Jacobs grew up in a family of small-business owners. Being an accomplished jazz musician (he performs weekly at a microbrewery in Highland), creating a music store was a natural way to combine his passions.
“I play jazz, but I teach everything,” Dennis says, who gives private lessons at the store and also fixes all the guitars personally.
Dennis will be the first one to tell you that each instrument is unique, particularly guitars. Getting a guitar properly set up is more than just measuring the minute distance of strings from the fretboard.
“Wood is a living, breathing thing,” he explains. “When I set up a guitar, it’s more than just using a ruler. I put love into the instrument. I go through and check all the nooks and crannies. You gotta feel that. And each customer has their thing that they like, too. That’s why I’m here.”
There’s a word in Arabic, nafas, that means breath or spirit and is used to describe that extra something in certain people’s cooking that you can’t put your finger on, but you can taste it. Dennis might just be onto something.
Jacobs has a good selection of affordable guitars for beginners and stocks some higher-end Les Pauls as well. There’s a whole separate showroom for drums, keys and basses, and rooms for private lessons.
“I love teaching, I love playing, I love fixing the instruments,” Dennis says, and it shows.
Planet Woodstock
1104 Ulster Ave., Kingston, NY
Originally located on Morton Boulevard for about 10 years, Planet Woodstock has a brand-new location on 9W. One of the nice features of the new place is that it’s spacious—plenty of room to pick up an instrument and give it a try.
There’s a good selection of affordable new and used guitars, amps, drums, keyboards, and a well-stocked showcase of previously enjoyed guitar pedals. The store also provides rentals for area schools and has on-site lessons as well.
Co-owners Doug Prout and Dustin Bryant both used to work at Abrams, so Planet Woodstock may well be the closest thing to a Kingston legacy that we’ve got.
“We offer something the internet can’t,” Dustin says. “When you come in, you touch the instrument, you hear the amp, you feel the connection. There’s soul in that experience. You get advice from real musicians, not an algorithm.”
Trying out an instrument in person is a good point, particularly when it comes to electric guitars, which can sound drastically different depending on which amp you plug into. Dustin also understands the essential nature of community.
“A music store is more than gear,” he says. “It’s a place to talk, hang, learn and be inspired. See something you might not have been searching for but now need to have. In a real music store, you meet real musicians, develop friendships, and hear stories from people like Dr. Know from Bad Brains, who’s been a regular for a while now and even hung out with us during our move.”
Yeah, it’s safe to say you will never bump into the guitarist from Bad Brains shopping on the internet.
Stockade Guitars
41 North Front St., Kingston, NY
Stockade Guitars owner Ted Lawrence was previously a wine importer, before that worked in the advertising biz in NYC, and lived in Hoboken, where he played in a variety of bands.
In October 2015, Ted opened Stockade Guitars, so it’s about 10 years old. New, used and vintage guitars, pedals, amps, etc., but no drums, keys or other instruments.
There’s also a friendly dog named Lou who will greet you when you walk in the door.
Stockade was right around the corner from where we were having coffee, so I couldn’t resist the opportunity to bring my buddy Grasshopper from Mercury Rev on my field trip to Stockade to see what he thought of their gear.
We began by checking out a rare DeArmond Tremolo Control from the 1940s, one of the first guitar pedals ever made.
“It has an actual motor,” Ted explained. “There are little gears inside, like a bicycle.”
I asked Grasshopper which of the guitars he found the most interesting.
“This one!” he said without missing a beat, pointing to a Fano SP6 hanging on the wall.
“That thing’s got a neck like a baseball bat,” Ted said.
He told us it was a boutique guitar, roughly 20 years old, designed by Dennis Fano, known for having gotten his start as a repair tech at Matt Umanov in NYC. I was curious what in particular Grasshopper liked about it.
“Just the cut, something between a Gibson and a Tele,” he said, pointing to the instrument’s graceful curvature. “And this pickup.”
“They got some dirt to them,” Ted said of P90 guitar pickups. “Total rock ’n’ roll pickup. Great for overdrive.”
Grasshopper seated himself on a stool and began to strum the Fano lightly with his thumb.
“The best thing is to play it first before you plug it in,” he said. Ted agreed, then proceeded to plug him into an Ampeg Portaflex anyway so we could hear what it sounded like through an amp. Rich, satisfying tone.
“This thing is beautiful,” Hopper said. “I might have to go to the casino and play some roulette.”
True, the Fano is more than you’d have paid for anything at Sam’s here on North Front back in the day, but there are plenty of other classics to choose from. This was attested to recently by Erin Barth-Dwyer of Kingston indie band Overheard, who says she’d acquired her beloved Guild Starfire from Stockade not too long ago.
Strawberry Fields
33 Tinker St., Woodstock, NY
Another area guitar store with an eye to the classics is Strawberry Fields on Tinker Street in Woodstock. Owner Howie Statland also owns Rivington Guitars in NYC, which helps explain its cosmopolitan-in-the-country vibe.
Strawberry Fields is a collaborative effort between Howie and his wife, who owns a French-inspired clothing boutique in the East Village, which is why the store features both guitars and clothing.
“We always had the concept of putting them in one store so the wife could shop for clothes and the husband could shop for guitars—or vice versa!” Howie says.
The focus of the guitar collection is most definitely quality vintage. On the wall at the moment is a ’62 Jaguar, issued the very first year Fender introduced what was considered their high-end model. Being a longtime fan of ’60s Sears models myself, I was also quite impressed by the number of Silvertones and Harmonys on offer.
“I was in a touring band as a professional musician before I started Rivington Guitars,” he says, “so traveling the country looking for guitars is just a natural progression.”
Considering the NYC connection and overall vibe, I had to ask if any pros might’ve dropped in at some point.
“Oh tons,” Howie says. “Gary Clark Jr., Robert Plant, The Black Keys, Arcade Fire, Courtney Love, Radiohead—the list goes on…”
Not a bad clientele. Strawberry Fields also features high-end vintage amps and a nice selection of pedals as well.
Woodstock Music Shop
6 Rock City Road, Woodstock, NY
On appropriately named Rock City Road you will find Woodstock Music Shop. Owner/operator Jeff Harrigfeld is a noted local sound engineer. Jeff grew up in Woodstock, where just a few doors down, his parents opened The Colony as a music venue 25 years ago. It’s safe to say Jeff is woven into the fabric of the Woodstock music scene beyond being super knowledgeable about gear.
In addition to a good selection of guitars, amps and keyboards, Woodstock Music Shop is a gearhead’s dream when it comes to all things rock ’n’ roll. The place is packed to the gills with mixing boards, analog tape recorders, rack effects and even lighting equipment.
“We’ve helped many pros sell their instruments and gear over the years as well as find something new to add to their studios,” Jeff says. “We specialize in unique items that are always changing based on what comes in.”
The store has a fantastic collection of vinyl and is located in the former Orange-Ulster Savings Bank, so there is literally a vinyl vault in back to check out. There’s also a real jukebox, which is not entirely functional, but is part of what gives the store its great vibe.
Shop Local
When’s the last time you bopped into a local music shop? Even if you’re not in the market at this very moment for a new or used instrument, don’t wait to check out our area’s excellent stores. Find one that feels right, forge a connection. Instruments, supplies, advice, actual human beings—they’ll all be there when you need them.
Join the family! 
