Spruce Tree Music

We've extended our Harp Sale through March. 20% off all in stock harps. Please check our website for inventory or call with any other questions.

Come check out our inventory of Larrivee guitars. 20% off all in stock for the month of March.

Come in for our awesome February sale. 20% off all in stock instruments.
Consignment items excluded.
For any questions please call the shop.
608 255-2254

New, Used & Vintage Stringed and Fretted Instruments - Spruce Tree Music New, Used & Vintage Stringed and Fretted Instruments, repair and restoration services, appraisals, since 1980. Guitars, mandolins, violins, banjos, harps...

10-20% off all in stock folk harps.
Please visit the shop or website to check out our current stock.
We'd love to help you find the perfect instrument.

http://www.sprucetreemusic.com/2023/03/yes-we-are-open/

Yes, we are open! - Spruce Tree Music Despite what you may have heard or read, or heard from others about what they’ve heard or read, Spruce Tree Music is still open and doing business as usual! We’ve survived the supply chain issues that have plagued everyone and are now loaded with guitars, banjos, ukuleles and the usual assortmen...

The wait is over. The new T-Shirts are in! Stop by and check out the fun new colors.

If you're looking for a fun gift idea, we just stocked up on a wide selection of ukuleles.

Spruce Tree Music updated their business hours.

We've just marked the occasion of our shop's 38th anniversary by putting out the rare newsletter. If you didn't receive one and would like to, just drop us a note. Meanwhile, here's a collage we put together showing different woods on the *backs* of Bourgeois guitars we have in stock. I suspect we're not the only suckers for nice wood.

Here's what we're listening to at the shop, a fun new recording that's a looks and sounds like a throwback to the 1950s. Joel's a Madison native. We're always glad to see him come back for a visit. Check him out! https://www.bloodshotrecords.com/album/hi-fi-christmas-guitar

Hi-Fi Christmas Guitar Brand-new 14-song instrumental Christmas CD by Chicago guitarist Joel Paterson, a multi-track guitar extravaganza in the tradition of Les Paul, Chet Atkins, and many more of Joel's biggest heroes and influences.

One word: Plastics. The race to make everything out of plastics included ukuleles. The 1950's Maccaferi ukes are well known (see the T.V. Pal, second from left). But George Finder and Nino Marcelli's patent predated the Maccaferri's patent by three months. These non-Maccaferi's were made in San Diego under a variety of trade names. Here we have the Fin-Der, Mauna Loa and Aloha. We show the back of the Fin-Der with the swirly plastic and zippy colored tuners. More pics and info on our website: http://www.sprucetreemusic.com/used-vintage-instruments/ukes/

This Supro lap steel guitar and Supro amp were purchased together in 1941. They were brought in by the family of the original owner. We especially like the amp's "Radiant blond" cabinet and patterned grill fabric. http://www.sprucetreemusic.com/product/supro-irene-lap-steel-guitar-c-1941/

Your basic half acre of guitar, a 1950s Kay, 17 inches across. With 1950s styling. Not every guitar looks right with a white pickguard....

Here's a fun cheapie from the Hawaiian music craze of the 1920s. Square neck, tuned with a zither wrench, suspended metal disc in the soundhole that simulates a resonator. The paper on the fretboard, showing ALL the notes, is the icing on the cake. And for the person who always asks, "But how does it sound???" we'll say kinda like music coming out of a 1920s radio.

We've received new shipments of dazzling bottlenecks from Diamond recently. And thanks to the miracle of the international exchange rate, the price on these has gone down a couple-few dollars. We take individual photos and detailed measurements of "Ultimates," the leaded glass bottlenecks, to help you find the one that's perfect for you. We have a great selection in stock right now.

http://www.sprucetreemusic.com/instruments/accessories/diamond-bottlenecks/

Diamond Bottlenecks - Spruce Tree Music Hand blown leaded glass bottlenecks from Diamond Bottlenecks in England (no two are identical), as well as Diamond Redhouse Bottlenecks.

Thank you, Robyn, for the fine write-up! http://host.madison.com/lifestyles/fashion-and-style/madison-style-spruce-tree-music/article_e4e28076-4e9f-5141-9383-080ec3c3730a.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share

Madison Style: Spruce Tree Music Many years ago, a vintage instrument sales and repairman was looking to leave Bloomington, Indiana, and considered moving his shop to Minnesota’s Twin Cities as he had friends there. However,

Here are more views of the guitar that Linus (aka Brian Bauhs) recently sent to Spruce Tree.

Brian Bauhs did repairs in our shop over 20 years ago. He was also the lead guitarist for the regionally-renowned Marques Bovre and the Evil Twins. He now lives in Brooklyn NY, refining his instrument-building technique. Here's an Orchestra Model, built under his "Linus" nickname. Among other attributes, this guitar features a hand cut tree-of-life inlay and French polish finish. We're happy to have it here in our shop. http://www.sprucetreemusic.com/instruments/guitars/linus-guitars/

Here for repair: The rare, vintage, versatile, bi-polar mandolin-ukulele. Two views of the same instrument. (Yep, the view through the sound hole goes all the way through.) Restringing/tuning instruments like this are special kind of sobriety test. We have no idea why these failed to catch on....

Catalog mandolins: Sears and Montgomery Wards. The Supertone (L) was made by Harmony for Sears--a decent cheapie striving to look like a better instrument, c.1940. The Wards instrument was made by Gibson in the 1930s.

Here's a handsome half-acre of guitar, a 1950 Gibson L-5, recently arrived in our shop. Simply a classic.

A prototype of the newest model in the planning stages at Pisgah Banjos. The North Carolina company uses 100% locally-sourced domestic hardwoods. This particular banjo has a dark-stained ash rim, ash neck and Richlite fretboard, with a 12-inch pot. Welcome the Pisgah Woodchuck. This instrument is $995 including gig bag--which makes it especially easy for us to recommend as a great old-time banjo. http://www.sprucetreemusic.com/product/pisgah-woodchuck-prototype-on-order/

Headstocks from two guitars in the shop. The Fender is more what we’re used to. The c.1950 Kay “Old Kraftsman” archtop has a headstock that’s a throwback to 19th century European guitars. A fine mental challenge to tune one and then tune the other. Yep, our idea of amusement.

Here’s a fun comparison of wood used in three guitars currently in the shop. From L to R: a Bourgeois Bryan Sutton Signature Dreadnought, a 1959 Martin 00-28G, and a c.1900 Harmony. Line ’em up, and we start to hear the Sesame Street song “One of these things is not like the other.” The Bourgeois and the Martin have lovely Brazilian rosewood. The Harmony has a mahogany back, cleverly painted to resemble Brazilian rosewood. Grain-painted finishes show up on vintage guitars and antique furniture. Faux finishes also show up in old houses, frequently replicating quarter sawn oak trim. Not as nice as the real thing, but kinda cool nonetheless.

All of us at Spruce Tree Music would like to Thank You for your Thirty-Five years of support. Yes, hard to believe, here since December, 1980. We’ve been buoyed by your enthusiasm. You and your instruments keep life interesting. We’re honored to be part of a strong community of music-makers, far and wide. We are grateful to be here. Thank you, again. If you’re in the neighborhood, please stop in, say hello, enjoy some coffee (strong) and holiday cookies (good ones). We look forward to seeing you.

- Wil, Julie, Dale, Doug, Ed and Jen

We’re pleased to have Scott Fore visiting our shop Monday, January 11, offering lessons and demonstrating Bourgeois guitars. Scott is a two-time National Flat Picking Champion, having most recently won at the Walnut Valley Festival in Kansas this past September (aka “Winfield”). Scott is also a fine finger style guitarist, and a nice, low key kinda guy. It’ll be a treat to have him here. Contact us for more info.

Here's a lovely and uncommon guitar, a Regal Custom Built No. 4. (Nope, not a custom guitar; that's the model name.) Built in Chicago c.1930. We're happy to report that this guitar arrived in our shop unscathed by the ravages of time and bad luck.

When we started this business, we had one phone--with a dial on the front. The phone itself was c.1930, the original phone for the shop space. And a typewriter. That was the extent of or technological toolbox. Fast forward 35 years, we're announcing our freshly overhauled website: http://www.sprucetreemusic.com (you may need to refresh your browser). Still working with the same chisels and bandsaw, though.

Italian Spruce top, Madagascar Back and Sides - headed to Spruce Tree Music in Madison WI - http://bit.ly/sprucetree