GRANMA’S ATTIC

I don’t get how the other 2 reviewers to date (March 2014) gave 5 stars for this business.
I’m a former pro-​musician. Was for 40 years. I owned a musical instrument shop for 7 years. I know and own good quality instruments.
My visit to Grandma’s was pretty ludicrous. It’s pretty much a junk shop. The brands of musical instruments are sub-​par. There’s some used items, but those, too are pretty crappy brands that will not meet the needs of a good musician.
Instead go to Loud n’ Clear in Cotati, or Bananas at Large in Santa Rosa.

Excellent regional treasure trove of both musical instruments, musical supplies, and special orders; but also Artwork (both vintage and local/​unknown), antiques, specialty items and more… much more. No I am not on commission. I have to stop there every time I am in Rosa for whats new and for the conversation.
Now for years I passed by assuming by its curbside appearance to be a second hand store and at best a low end drum kit outlet.
Finally when desperate for a item i wandered in.
I realized I may need a few more credit cards if I was to really be there and not leave frustrated at what I could not take home.
Most recently I brought my musician daughter and friend to just see it. She is a drummer, albeit the least of her Giftings. She was also amazed. We picked up some drum sticks and a specialty tambourine for under 25 $. There were along with the proprietor I believe they called Granma, a couple young friends of his. The mood is noticeably positive and inquisitive.
He has a penchant for collectibles and is apparently licensed to appraise estate sales and has knowledge of that circle of business. He was willing to receive an picture of suspected antique items and give accurate estimations. Uncertified. For free and suggestions for sale or further info.
I am looking forward to meeting him again and am hoping to purchase some instruments there for our family. I also love the art and found some great oddities for our youth groups hangout.
I will be back and am just beginning to see what the great find may come from this little shop of treasures. The man is really the treasure. He has taste and a place to present it.

So, I see this Craigslist post selling new conga drums still in box with goat skin heads for $ 98 with your choice of color (which in my limited research on congas, I found to be a steal). I showed up to the address indicated on the ad and arrived at Granma’s Attic which looks like an old house converted to store space.
This place then proceeded to blow my mind. Firstly, when you enter the store it’s like you’ve entered the home of a hoarder. There was little room to maneuver because musical instruments and boxes were haphazardly stacked all over the place with no regard for the condition of the instruments or people’s safety. I remember an inverted conga lying on it’s head being used to store wires and guitar parts. There were also guitars sans stands propped on top of each other. Once I made it to a clearing in the maze of stuff, I was enthusiastically greeted by the proprietor of the establishment (Jose I think his name was).
Wow!!! Jose was a character! Classic and quintessential are the words I would use to describe him. He is that sleazy «used car salesman» you only see in film or TV. Once I tell him that I’m responding to his ad, he gives me the hard sell. He claims that he’s selling me a pro conga drum that typically goes for $ 400 but he gets it straight from the factory which is why it’s so cheap. Meanwhile, as he talks, I realize that the weird radio chatter in the background is a police scanner. Also, he started getting nervous around my friend who had accompanied me, and half-​jokingly asked him if he was a «tax man» or some kind of government agent type. He tried to sell me a $ 75 electric guitar as well, which was some obviously cheap, generic off-​brand thing that he was proudly claiming was a fender strat. Somewhere in his spiel there was a tirade against «those bastards at Guitar Center» which amused me greatly.
So, he goes to look for a conga to show me, but can’t find one in his mountain of stuff. We go to his van parked outside which is just as packed with crap as the store. He grabs a conga that was sitting on the front passenger seat, obviously not in box and not in a variety of colors as advertised. The «goat skin» head was instead a synthetic head which had 2 spots where the coating was worn off due to heavy use. The badge on the drum said Havana Drums, which upon further review was not an actual badge but rather a metallic sticker that he put on himself. I noticed lot of the items at the store had the Havana Drums stamp or sticker on it, which I guess is to make the gear a little more authentic perhaps. Aside from that, the drum looked super pretty (a glossy reddish finish where you could still the grain of the wood) even though there were a few scratches and sounded good to my untrained ear. I felt the price was fair considering used drums on Craigslist were going for a little more than the $ 100 he was charging. I’d like to think he was selling me a stolen high end drum.
Once we left the shop and hopped into my car, my friend and I laughed about our experience there. Jose was super endearing and charming in his own sleazy, unscrupulous way. His prices were fair especially since I didn’t have to deal with any tax. If you’re a parent looking for cheap, entry level gear to appease your kid who’ll probably lose interest in learning guitar in a month, I’d consider going to him. Personally, just meeting Jose is reason enough to make the trip there.