A local music shop where everyone is welcome
at 201 Front St, Minocqua, WI | Open Tues – Sat 10-5, Sun 12-4 or by appointment
Acoustic instruments, lessons, repairs, jam sessions, and more; a place to hang out and get inspired.
We started playing just a few years ago and it’s not easy to keep going, especially when you’re older. It was hard for us – music shops were intimidating, lessons were hard to find, online resources plentiful but overwhelming.
We quit a bunch of times, until we started playing with others – that opened up a whole new world for us! One that we want to keep growing and sharing, especially with anyone new to playing or new to playing with others in a group. We hope to not only get you started, but keep you going.
And we want a neighborhood shop where everyone feels welcome, regardless of music knowledge or experience. Our hope is to spark a new interest, rekindle a past hobby, or otherwise inspire and motivate you to play more. Ask about lessons and jams and local events.
Our goals is for this shop to be a music hub for the Northwoods, a place where musicians feel supported, where people of all skill levels find inspiration and community, and where folks can learn more about the local music scene.
Koji Taylor from NBC Newswatch 12 stopped by the shop a few days before we opened. It was the day we unpacked some new instruments from one of our favorite instrument manufactureres here in the US, Troublesome Creek.
Koji spent a couple of hours here and then knocked out a fantastic news segment for that evening! Thanks, Koji! You did a really nice job of telling our story.
Speaking of Troublesome Creek Stringed Instrument Co., a recent segment on the PBS News Hour highlighted this nonprofit and their mission.
We’ve seen firsthand what addiction can do and what the ultimate cost can be. The full scope and impact of what Doug has created to help people in recovery is hard to put into words. And on top of that, these are some of the finest instruments we’ve ever seen, made by some of the finest people there are! Troublesome Creek and all the people who work there are an inspiration to us here at Island City Acoustics!
Check out the video and consider making a donation to Troublesome Creek. Stop by the shop to explore a selection of their guitars, mandolins, and banjos.
We are proud to be an authorized dealer for:
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Now open at 201 Front Street, Minocqua WI
Another little recap of the second half of our week as we gear up for Sunday Artcoustics over at Earth Goods! We jammed at Northern Waters Distillery, jammed at the shop and Sylvia and I worked on some songs together in a secret little spot that I know on a beautiful afternoon outside. A certain fellow (let’s call him Steve) once told me, “ I love to play my guitar in beautiful places”. So I took his advice, thanks Steve! Playing outside is awesome! Speaking of playing outside….. We got some new McPherson all carbon fiber guitars made in Sparta Wisconsin here in the shop, they’re amazing! Stop in and try them out.
We also got to see the Lakeside Hippie’s perform at Andy’s Encore, (you can see Perry getting his bass loaded for the gig). That was so fun! Lot’s of people stopped by the shop and supported us this week. Thank you everyone ❤️ We couldn’t do it without you! We also met Chase and Audrey from Caldwerwood Guitars in Iowa City Iowa this past week. They just opened their shop a couple of months ago! If you find yourself in their neck of the woods, swing on y and check them out! The last picture is of Chase getting surprised with a Mandolin for his birthday from his wife during our jam session. 🤘 That’s pretty cool! Thanks guys! The lead singer (Dave) from the band Janus stopped by and picked up a couple of sweet guitars. Then we had Chelle pickup this nice little Loar mandolin after I installed a pickup in it for her! We’ll see you at Artcoustics this afternoon!
McPherson guitars!!!! 🔥 We are officially a McPherson dealer! These guitars are awesome, we just received our first two yesterday afternoon and they are something you absolutely must come into the shop to experience. Not only do they look absolutely amazing. They sound amazing as well. The two that we currently have are the “Sable” models. One with honeycomb carbon fiber pattern, and gold tuners, and the other with basket weave carbon fiber pattern, and black chrome tuners. They are set up with medium gauge strings, which is hard to believe because the action is so close I would never guess I’m playing medium strings instead of light strings. The fret-board floats above the top of the guitar to allow for more resonance along with the side hole cut out. There is no truss rod because there is no truss rod needed! The guitar is made with the relief built right into the neck and they send an extra saddle with if you want to change your string height. Super cool!! They both have pickups installed and custom hard cases. Did I mention they’re handcrafted right here in Sparta Wisconsin?!
I’ve been playing the Octave Mandolin and as usual my instrumental ADHD has kicked in again and now I need one of these guitars! I’m going to do my very best to resist keeping one of these and instead just play it while it’s hanging in the shop and hopefully someone will come in and buy one so I don’t have to be tempted anymore. Although then I will order more so I’m not sure that there’s a way out of this musical cycle, but there are worse things to deal with. 😆 Come on in and try them out for yourself. Open 10-5 Mon-Sat and 12-4 on Sundays #mcphersonguitars #islandcityacoustics #buylocalwisconsin
