On Wednesday, October 22, MMR was inundated with emails from individuals sharing the sad news that noted guitar/fretted instrument expert and dealer Stanley Jay had passed away. In 1971, along with his good friend Hap Kuffner, Jay opened a guitar shop on Staten Island in New York: Mandolin Brothers. In the subsequent years, Mandolin Brothers Ltd. established itself as a mecca for fretted instrument players and collectors, fielding an impressive array of acoustic, archtop, solidbody electric, and classical guitars, as well as banjos, mandolins, resonators, basses, ukes, amps, and more.
In 1980 Jay once again partnered with Kuffner and, along with Ned Steinberger and Robert Young, founded Steinberger Sound Corporation. The organization’s groundbreaking, all-graphite composite basses and guitars became iconic instruments closely identified with ‘80s popular music.
