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City Life was privileged to catch up with Horace
and Maureen Gamlin, founders and owners of
Gamlin's Music Centre in St Mary Street as they celebrated the 50th anniversary of Gamlin's opening.
KEY OF G
Both in their eighties, Maureen and Horace are still as passionate about their business today, as they were fifty years ago when they started. They are particularly proud that Gamlin's has stood the test of time and survived where other businesses have been less fortunate. We talked to Horace about their incredible journey.
How did you get into the music industry?
My father was a piano tuner so I grew up having a keen ear for music. During the war, I would accompany him to concerts at the Empire Theatre in Cardiff where he was a duty tuner. I was a young child and I would collect autographs from the famous guest artists.
At the age of fourteen I left school and took an apprenticeship as a piano tuner with Dale Forty & Company, a wellknown piano retailer in Cardiff. I was with them for nine years before working for two other companies. I was taught to tune, repair and recondition pianos by some of the most highly skilled tuners and craftsmen in the country. In later years I was involved in a BBC radio show called Workers Playtime, for which I used to drive to the broadcast locations throughout Wales taking a piano with me for that particular programme and with Bert Wheedon playing the guitar.
Fifty years is a big achievement - how did it come about?
After Maureen and I married, I set up my own workshop for tuning and repairing pianos. Somehow, I got known by local musicians for my skills and in 1960 we had become established enough for us to open a retail business in City Road.
How have you kept up-to-date with the music industry?
Well, pianos were always the focus of the business but as the pop music scene grew, we found that a whole new culture was exploding and having a strong influence on the youngsters in the sixties. It was a really defining moment in music history and we needed to respond to their needs, so we started stocking electric guitars, vox amplifiers, sheet music and other accessories, which we knew every budding pop star would need. In fact, we were the first shop in Wales to stock Fender guitars and supply the type of amplifiers used by the Shadows and the Beatles at that time.
Within a couple of years of opening the shop we realised that we needed to separate the piano side of the business, so we acquired further space in order to extend our range of guitars, amps, PA's and percussion instruments. After a few more moves and acquisitions we moved into the premises we occupy today in St. Mary Street.
So it truly is a music centre?
We like to describe it as a music department store as we now occupy three floors of retail space. It involved a lot of restoration work on the exterior for which we were nominated under the design category for the Lord Mayor's Civic Awards in 1974 and modernisation inside. Now that Gamlin's is under the stewardship of our son, Philip, we have specific departments for upright and grand pianos and electric keyboards; acoustic and electric guitars; percussion; brass and woodwind instruments, sheet music, amps and PA equipment.
So what role does Philip play?
As well as store manager, Philip attends many music fairs around the world. He looks after our international contacts and is a major asset to the business. Gamlin's is in good hands.
You and Maureen obviously work well together
Yes we think so. With my technical knowledge and expertise and Maureen's sales experience we make a great team. We have been consistent in our vision and passion for the business over the years and we have been lucky enough to be supported by a great team of staff, without whose specialist advice and technical assistance we would be lost. We've survived all these years because customers know that they are getting Mr and Mrs Gamlin - we are the owners and are here all the time. It's our name above the door.
Are we allowed to ask if you have any celebrity musicians?
Over the years the shop has been a popular meeting place for members of local groups and sometimes people just pop in to say "hello". We're going back a long way now, but past regulars have included a certain Tommy Scott who used to sing with the Senators, but you'd probably know him better as Tom Jones.
Charlotte Church popped in the other week and her vocal coach Louise Ryan is a regular visitor here, and won't mind me saying so.
What can Gamlin's offer you?
■ A full online shop, selling everything from instruments to sheet music and amps to tuning forks
■ Piano tuning
■ Delivery service
■ On-line advice
■ Ring and Reserve for those who have browsed on line but want to visit the store to purchase
■ Payment plans and rental scheme.
Products and brands
Stocking a full range of traditional instruments from guitars to secondhand and new pianos and the very latest products in the electronic field, Gamlin's have selected well-known brands such as Fender, Vox, Gibson, Peavey, Blackstar, Weber, Yamaha and Kingsberg to name a few, with more details available on the website.
Customers and service users
From tiny tots wanting to play the recorder to children serious about learning a musical instrument, Gamlin's recognise that musical tuition and the purchase of instruments can be an expensive investment, yet it may just be a phase within a child's learning. To this end they offer a rental scheme whereby parents can spread the cost a good quality instrument in instalments, with the option of keeping it at the end of the term, or returning it sooner if the child does not acquire any real interest in music.
Gamlin's are also on hand to kit out school and college bands and orchestras and fledgling groups for their jam sessions, and for all musically proficient and talented professionals within all genres of music across Wales, the UK and worldwide.
Working also with The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, Gamlin's sees in excess of 3,000 candidates of all ages examined annually over three separate six week periods to test practical and theoretical proficiency.
Phil Thomas - Piano department manager
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