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You can now use your Venmo account to pay for your orders here at Gollihur Music!Venmo is becoming a popular means for getting paid at performance venues, so lots of musicians have Venmo installed on their smartphones - so we figured it would be helpful to be able to easily use those funds for purchases at Gollihur Music!Since we are a registered business with Venmo, there should be no fees to buyers using Venmo to make purchases at Gollihur Music - so it makes it a very convenient way to pay!No …

We've been supplying upright bass essentials to our customers (and friends) worldwide for 24 (!) years now. We've made lots of connections with manufacturers, distributors, and other industry people, and we actually have access to lots of stuff that we don't put on the website, simply because a lot of it doesn't really fit our "niche" as an upright specialist.But that doesn't mean I can't supply some of those other products for you.Maybe you're interested in a violin or a cello for y …

On September 1st, a little after 6pm Eastern Time, the remains of Hurricane Ida spawned an EF-3-level tornado in Southern New Jersey. It devastated several dozen homes, farms, and neighborhoods in Gloucester County, and it began its 12.6 mile rampage in the small town of Mullica Hill.Mullica Hill, you may (or may not) recognize, is the home town of Gollihur Music, as well as the Gollihur Family.As you can see on the photo, which traces the tornado through its documented trail of destruction, it …

Yeah - it's been a problem, not just for us, and not even just in the musical instrument industry. What's going on with all the stock outages and delays? Lately, we've had to put a few more items on backorder than we normally have to. Some of our amp and preamp manufacturers have been dealing with product shortages, and some of our basses have been suffering from availability issues as well. What's the deal?In a lot of cases, even US-made items rely on components that are sourced worldwide. Whet …

I hope you'll grant me a little leeway here; I'm a proud dad. I dropped off my daughter this morning for summer theater camp. This year, she'll be performing in a version of "Treasure Island" - she's graduated to the "big kid group" after having done three previous shows with the 5-9 year-olds. She's a bit nervous (tryouts are today) but excited. I'm also nervous - in this COVID-19-aware climate (and with kids who are still too young to get a vaccination) it's a bit concerning to be gett …

"Pickup? Microphone? Which One Should I Get?"That's a question that comes up occasionally, by email or phone call. And when a customer asked me by email a couple years ago, I looked at the extensive treatise I'd written as a response... and realized that I'd just created another new FAQ for the Gollihur Music website. So I tightened it up and put it online. I figure, if ONE person was asking about it, there were probably lots of others who would benefit from the information I'd just pain …

I'm quite lucky, in that I really love what I do. Every day, I have the opportunity to speak with bassists from all around the world, and do my best to help them solve their bass-related concerns. And I'm able to provide a wide variety of products from manufacturers who are situated all over the planet, as well. That's kind of cool, if you think about it.It made me realize that there was more to the whole "Nation of Bass" phrase that Bob coined so many years ago, to describe our (now ubiquitous) …

An email question I commonly receive: "I find myself needing to ship a bass across the country safely - what can you tell me?" Oof. Yeah, that's kind of a big deal, fraught with lots of costs, a decent amount of risk, and some unknown variables.Here is some stuff to think about.Shipping OptionsTo start with, you'll most likely need to ship it by truck, using a freight carrier (like Yellow Freight, RPL, and many others); unfortunately, unless you have an agreement through work or someone wit …

To me, one of the most important ingredients in music performance is the interaction with the other musicians. But to interact everyone has to listen.  That's the downfall of far too many players. You know them -- those who play at you rather than with you. And it's no secret -- mostly, we bassists know our place in the universe, and that's not intended to diminish our role in the very least. We are supportive, we provide the foundation on which the music is built. We also work in part …

I heard from a customer who told me that he was talking to the owner of another bass shop (a shop which will remain nameless). When Gollihur Music came up in conversation, the other shop owner "talked a little trash" on our store, specifically saying, "How can you take a shop seriously if they're selling items like stick-on side markers?" Really? Is that all you've got? Okay, so... I guess I can understand a little bit of snobbery about side markers, even if they are temporary. Like we even say …

Well, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, it is. And, with COVID-19 still a factor, things are still a bit weird. But with summer often comes opportunities to play at festivals, gatherings, and other fun events. Some of these gigs might put you in the uncomfortable position of having to create more volume than your acoustic instrument can produce. Uncomfortable, because we bassists often find that the upright can be a rather difficult instrument to amplify. We can help! Amps, pic …

Here's why buying your bass gear at Gollihur Music is different (better!) I'm very aware that there are plenty of musical instrument stores, particularly online, where you can spend your bass dollars. If you have a local mom-and-pop music shop, I don't mind losing your business to them; we should support our local "bricks and mortar" stores whenever possible. But for those upright bass items you can only easily find online, we work hard to always be your first place to shop.Recently, as I was as …

It's a weird quirk that is unique to the upright bass, but "Full Size Bass" is a bit of a misnomer. Every other stringed instrument (and a selection of other instruments, as well) consider 4/4 size to be the full-size, common instruments for adult players. Most have "downsized" (aka "fractional") instruments that are generally used for younger students, with their smaller limbs, and players generally are expected to graduate to the full-size instrument when their hands and arms grow larger. But …

If anyone asks, I'm a bass player, through and through. That being said, I've spent much of my time playing other instruments as well. Mom was a school music teacher and a pianist, so we always had a piano in the house growing up. When the school started kids on band instruments in 4th grade, like a surprising number of bassists (in my experience) I picked up the trumpet; later, I moved on to playing Mellophone and French Horn in high school. I also own a home studio where I record mostly ori …

While we stock a host of 2-channel preamplifier solutions for bassists who double (with every bell and whistle imaginable), sometimes simplicity takes the cake. I personally like using a Radial Engineering PZ-Pro for my upright (and electric, thanks to its switchable input impedance) needs, and while it's a full-featured, flexible unit (even has microphone capability!) it might be more than you need for a simplified stage rig. An A-B box like The BigShot i/o Deluxe A/B Switch provides a simp …