A Heaven for Pickers

Lansing — Stroll into Elderly Instruments in Lansing and you're free to grab a $3,000 guitar or a $7,500 mandolin and pick out your favorite tune. No one will pressure you to buy it, and no one will mind.

The relaxed mood at Elderly is by design. Elderly's owner, Stan Werbin, once shopped for a Martin guitar at a New York City instrument store and practically had to flash a bankroll to get to play one. So, when he opened his store in 1972, he decided to give shoppers free access to the instruments.

That friendly policy and a big mail-order business help the store to sell 8,000-10,000 instruments annually.

Country star Clint Black sent one of his roadies to pick up a guitar when Black played Lansing. Other customers include Leon Redbone, Steve Miller, Suzanne Vega and author Robert James Waller.

Werbin chose the name Elderly to emphasize that he stocks many vintage instruments. (In the photo he's playing an 1840s-era Martin, valued at $23,000.) Along with guitars, the store's extensive inventory includes mandolins, banjos, violins, and dulcimers, as well as music books and CDs.

Elderly Instruments is at 1100 N. Washington. For catalogs or other information, call (517) 372- 7880

Published 03-1996