Island City Acoustics

06/21/2026

Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads out there! 👍🏼 I was writing this post and going through pictures to try and get an idea of what we did this week and wow, what a week! 🎶 we had so much fun and met some amazing people, and it was just incredible! It’s actually hard to put into words the gratitude, joy and love we feel from the music community ❤️ So, here’s a quick recap…

We were able to connect instruments with their people, (favorite part of my day) 🪕 we had a fun guitar delivery to Andy’s Encore, also saw the Lakeside Hippies at Andy’s Encore, had some amazing jams at the shop, Northern Waters Distillery and Dorwin Park by the Minocqua Museum, was able to officially meet Karley Davidson 🔥 and help her out with a guitar while she entertained us in the shop, had the Hand-Picked Bluegrass band check out the shop and also entertain us with some songs, 🎻 and we had some absolutely amazing conversations and spent some time getting to know people in the shop that are longtime visitors to Minocqua area. 🛶 All in all, a pretty mind blowing week! I can’t wait to see what the rest of the summer holds!🤘🏻

06/19/2026

Thanks Karley! It was so fun to have you here and listen to you play🔥 thanks for supporting us ❤️ I know we’ll see you out and about!!

06/19/2026

Today is Minocqua‘s Island City Wine Walk! The shop will still be closing at 5 o’clock and we won’t be participating in wine and hors d’oeuvres. But…… From 5:00 to 7:00 tonight the 19th, we will be hosting an open acoustic jam in Dorwin Park 🌳 by the Minocqua Museum located at 503 Flambeau St. as part of MIBA. The Minocqua Island Business Association. So grab a chair and your favorite instrument, 🎻come on out and enjoy the beautiful park and patio area at the Minocqua Museum!!! ❤️ there’s something magical about an outdoor jam!

06/16/2026

We delivered a guitar to Andy’s Encore this morning and got a couple cups of absolutely delicious coffee too! ☕️They bought a beautiful Eastman guitar with a pick up in it to keep it at thier shop for anyone who wants to perform. 🎙️How awesome is that!? Andy’s encore has many different types of local performers and musicians scheduled throughout the summer. They have food trucks, live music, beer, wine, and coffee too! There really is no reason that you shouldn’t go there! 🤘🏻😍 Not to mention all the kayaks and paddle boards and mountain bikes and gear.. man!!!! They are located at 1301 1st Avenue in Woodruff right across from Ace Hardware Ali g hwy 47.

06/16/2026

Can’t wait!!!!!

Fun partnership with Island City Acoustics! Drop by today/Tuesday 5-7pm for an outdoor jam session.

06/14/2026

It’s been a fun week! 🪕 Summer is definitely here and we’ve had a lot of people come through the store this week and I have thoroughly enjoyed talking, playing, learning from snd getting to know everyone this week, what an incredible community! So we’re open a little early today at 11 instead of 12. I figured since I’m already up here playing around, I might as well open up the shop so come on down and catch us before we close at 4! Because, then we’re off to Artcoustics hosted by Earth Goods at 301 E. Front St. from 4:30 to 7:30. We’ll see you there this afternoon friends! ❤️🎶

06/13/2026

Fiddles!!!! 🎻 we’ve been trying to up our fiddle game here at the shop. So we have some in stock at the moment along with a viola. And we have some more on the way! including some great vintage fiddles from the early 1900s that a friend of ours is finishing set up on for us right now. We’ll have those at the end of the month. We even have a couple of really nice fiddle outfits from Eastman strings. Wait, correction-we have one Eastman fiddle outfit at the moment, we had two that came into the shop, but Sylvia just decided to keep one! 😄 I guess that’s one of the dangers of owning your own acoustic instrument shop! I did order another one and it will be here this week, thankfully! 👍🏼 And of course, we are also bringing in all the accessories to go with the fiddles, and we even have some extra fiddle cases that are also being shipped to the store as we speak. This is just the beginning……

And here’s an interesting fact that I learned when trying to understand the main difference between a Violin and Fiddle other than playing style. Often times a fiddle will have a flatter radius on their bridge to allow players to take advantage of doing things such as playing a double stop (two strings at once). which makes a lot of sense because a mandolin also takes advantage of double stops and after all mandolin’s and Violins, are tuned the same. so if you’re not busy today, why don’t you quit “fiddling” around and get down to the shop! I know that was corny, but I’m tired and it’s been a long week! We’re open every day of the week, Monday through Saturday 10 to 5 and Sunday 12 to 4, come down and see us at 201 Front St.

06/12/2026

Free strings?! Yes indeed! 🤟🏼 Make Music Day! Since we are an authorized Elixir dealer, they reached out to us and offered us 12 free packs of Elixir Attune 12-53 light gauge strings to donate to the first 12 people to come into our store and sign up for the free string change event for the Make Music Day which will happen on June 20 here at the shop at 201 Front St. No “strings” attached, sorry, i couldn’t help myself on that one. 😁 I have the sign-up sheet out, so come on down to the shop and we’ll see if we can get you set up to get your strings changed on June 20! There will be no charge for the strings and no charge to install them for you. 🎶

06/08/2026

You’re doing what?! That’s right everybody, we are going to be open seven days a week from now on!! Look how surprised these two guys are 😄 Our hours will be 10:00 to 5:00 Monday through Saturday and 12:00 to 4:00 on Sunday. And don’t forget tonight is the beginner Bluegrass jam here at the shop from 5 to 7 so come on down and get your Bluegrass on! 🤘🏻🪕🎻

06/06/2026

Beginner Bluegrass Jam reminder! 🪕 Happy Saturday everyone! We will have the Beginner Bluegrass Jam lead by Perry “Bluegrass” Smith here at the shop this Monday June 8th from 5:00 to 7:00. Just a quick recap of what this is….. Anyone looking to learn some Bluegrass style music and play along with others in the process. All Skill levels welcome! Thanks 👍 We will play at a slower tempo than the standard 800 beats per minute 😆 Just a few of the things we’ll work on are jam etiquette, solo breaks, rhythm, tempo, harmonizing and learning some traditional songs. Most of these songs are 3 chords and here’s a list of what’s Perry has planned so you can work on them ahead of time for you like. Red Haired Boy, Big Spike Hammer, Little Cabin Home on the Hill, John Hardy, Nine Pound Hammer, Your Love is Like a Flower, Long Journey Home, Handsome Molly, I’m Going Back to Old Kentucky, Shady Grove, Reubens Train, Wild Bill Jones, Darling Corey, Ashes of Love…… This is not a hard and fast list, so please feel free to share one of your favorites as well. One more thing, we are looking for traditional “Bluegrass” instruments, banjo guitar, upright bass, mandolin etc… The shop is located at 2012 Front Street Minocqua, WI. Use the side entrance on Flambeau St after shop hours. This is free of charge thanks to Perry!!!!!! 🎶🤟🏼