Midweek Mugging: Fantasie Musical Instruments
Posted Jun 20, 2018 03:44:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Stephen MacNeil, general manager at Fantasie Musical Instruments, is this week’s Midweek Mugging recipient.
“Halifax is a pretty rocking city,” MacNeil said. “You’ve got Celtic bands, a really big pop scene, some blues.”
Located at 5512 Spring Garden Rd., Fantasie Musical Instruments has keyboards, electric and acoustic guitars, basses, amplifiers, effect peddles, microphones, ukuleles and more.
“We stock the store with what most musicians gigging in bars downtown would be looking for,” MacNeil said. “So if you’re on a gig and you need speakers, cables, wires, streps—we have pretty much everything.”
Along with these items, the store also sells traditional Chinese instruments such as the gugin, which MacNeil said is similar to a harp.
In addition to providing musical supplies, Fantasie has studio space in the basement and offers one-on-one lessons seven days a week.
The store also has a guitar technician on site for set-ups and minor repairs.
“If something’s broken or you’re missing a piece, we can gear you up pretty fast,” MacNeil said.
Fantasie was started by David Yu in 2015. MacNeil, who has a degree in jazz performance, joined him not long after.
As a growing business, MacNeil said he and Yu are making exciting changes to the store. They have recently added Yamaha products to their inventory and are planning to open an in-store recording studio by early July.
MacNeil said the store's downtown location brings in a lot of business from visitors to the city.
“Every tourist, they come off the cruise ships…[and] come in looking for Canadian picks, guitars and CDs, and want to know where all the bands are playing,” MacNeil said.
MacNeil said the store is often frequented by students and those looking to get into music for the first time, and beginner guitars are very popular. Fantasie also offers instrument rentals for those who are not ready to buy.
“I do really know all our customers very well,” MacNeil said. “It’s a very nice, small community here. I’ve been in the scene 20 years, I know a lot of musicians and it’s really fun to deal with everyone in town.”
