Welcome to
Famous Old Time Music Company
Specializing in acoustic String Instruments
Sales, Accessories, Lessons, Repairs, and Appraisals
BUY, SELL, and TRADE
now accepting credit cards!
HOURS
419-568-1220 for appointment
| ……………….. | SUNDAY | by appointment only | |
| MONDAY | by appointment only | ||
| TUESDAY | 10:30 am til 6 pm | ||
| WEDNESDAY | 10:30 am til 4 pm | ||
| THURSDAY | 10:30 am til 6 pm | ||
| FRIDAY | 10:30 am til 6 pm | ||
| SATURDAY | 10:30 am til 5pm |
VIDEOS FAMOUS OLD TIME MUSIC COMPANY
Established in 1972 as a bluegrass specialty shop in Cincinnati OH, Famous Old Time Music Company has a long and colorful history. Purchased in 1981 by Vernon McIntyre, a nationally known bluegrass musician, Famous Old Time Music specializes in new and vintage acoustic stringed instruments. A large selection of banjos, guitars, mandolins, fiddles, and upright basses is in stock and available for purchase. Brands include Martin, Gibson, Recording King, Kentucky, Saga, Corbin, and others.
Instrument and accessory sales, repairs, and appraisals are the bailiwick of the retail location at 1196 Ross Millville Rd in Hamilton, OH. Call Vernon at 419-568-1220 for details about what instrument treasures are currently in stock or make an appointment with him to evaluate a repair or appraise an instrument for you.
Lessons are, of course, offered at both the Millville store and in Finneytown, OH (a suburb of Cincinnati) at a studio on Hollyhock Drive. Vernon is a master of the 5 string banjo and offers lessons at the Millville store. Kitty teaches at both locations and offers instruction on fiddle, mandolin, upright bass, flat picking fiddle tunes on guitar, and handles the beginning banjo lessons. Call Kitty at 513-607-1874.
INTERESTING STUFF FOR SALE
Just in! New teeshirts!
$30 per shirt or 2 for $50
Currently available in Medium, Large, X-LARGE, and XX-Large
for details: 513-607-1874 or vernon@iglou.com
VAM-JAM weekly acoustic jam 6:30pm til 8:30pm
1196 Ross Millville Rd, Hamilton OH 45013
NOTICE!!
Jam is outdoors so is weather dependant.
You can call 419-568-1220 to verify.
LESSONS
If you’re interested in bluegrass style lessons, Famous Old Time Music Company is the place to call! Vernon is a master of the 5 string banjo and offers lessons at the Millville store. Kitty, Vernon’s wife and fiddler for Appalachian Grass, teaches fiddle, mandolin, flatpicking fiddle tunes on guitar, upright bass, and handles the beginning banjo lessons. She teaches at the store in Millville and also at a studio on Hollyhock Dr. in Finneytown, OH (a suburb of Cincinnati)
Call 419-568-1220 for details and to schedule an appointment with Vernon at the Millville store. Contact Kitty at 513-607-1874 or email fotmc@iglou.com to schedule an appointment at your preferred location.
INSTRUCTORS
Vernon McIntyre
has played professionally since 1960. He teaches banjo, guitar, and mandolin at Famous Old Time Music Company in Millville, OH. Vernon is well respected on the festival circuit for his driving guitar rhythm with his band, Appalachian Grass. He knows the lead-in runs that need to be there and can put them in with the best of them. Although he has not performed publicly on banjo for many years, the reputation he built during his banjo career still speaks for itself. A little known fact about Vernon is that his first instrument was actually mandolin and, years ago, he played mandolin for James Monroe’s band. Vernon knows the Bill Monroe/Paul Williams style inside out. He also has the teaching experience to know how to slow down, break a tune into understandable pieces, and convey the music to his students.
Kitty McIntyre
has played fiddle professionally with Vernon McIntyre’s Appalachian Grass since the early 1980s. She started teaching fiddle when she and Vernon purchased Famous Old Time Music Company in 1983. Because mandolin and fiddle are tuned the same, she soon added mandolin to her teaching repertoire. With her repertoire of fiddle tunes, Kitty worked them up as flat-pick instrumentals on guitar and now has a number of guitar students. With a master like Vernon as a teacher, how could Kitty not learn Scruggs style banjo? And finally, she learned how to play upright bass from her brother, Andy, bassist for Appalachian Grass for many years. In addition to teaching at the Millville store, Kitty maintains a studio on Hollyhock Dr. in Finneytown, OH (a suburb of Cincinnati)
REPAIRS
Do you need your banjo adjusted so it plays just right and sounds great? Do you need your guitar restrung and tuned up? Does your fiddle have a crack to be glued? Have you broken the headstock on your mandolin? Vernon can solve any and all of these problems for you. Call him at 419-568-1220 and schedule an appointment.
Banjos are Vernon’s specialty; he is a master of all aspects of the instrument. If your banjo needs to be set up or isn’t sounding just right, Vernon is the man to fix the problem. If you have a tenor and want to convert to a five-string or for that matter vice-versa, he can do it. He can convert a banjo uke into a small five string for a kid. He can swap out the tone ring or install the capo nails banjo players need for the 5th string.
Weather can drastically affect a wooden instrument. Winter’s cold, dry air can cause cracks; when small, repair of these cracks is a relatively simple matter. Oftentimes, simply injecting glue into the crack and clamping overnight will solve the problem. If left unattended, however, they can grow into difficult repair problems. In the worst case, a crack can cause the braces inside the instrument to come unglued; the whole structure of the instrument is then impaired.
As glue ages it becomes dry and brittle. Old fiddles often need to be re-glued before they are playable, especially if they have been stored in an attic. A fiddle was once brought into the shop in splinters. The pieces were in a cake box that still had frosting in it! Vernon glued on that thing for weeks. A mouse had made a nest at one time inside the instrument and had gnawed the ‘f’ holes until they were ‘o’ holes. When the instrument was finally re-assembled and strung up, it was dismally ugly. When I drew a bow across it, though, it was one of the best sounding bluegrass fiddles I ever heard.
APPRAISALS
Vernon’s fifty plus years of Buying, Selling, and Trading bluegrass instruments make him ‘The Man’ to appraise your instrument. Maybe your insurance company wants a written appraisal; maybe you need to know the value for an estate sale; maybe you just want to know! Call Vernon at 419-568-1220 for an appointment.