Instrument maker opens store in Lynwood Center.

Alan Simcoe is playing a new tune these days.

The longtime island guitarist, instrument maker and music teacher steps out as store owner this month, with the opening of Village Music at Lynwood Center.

Simcoe credits an island friend, Dick Badger, with the idea.

“He took me to lunch at the end of May and fed me two pints of beer,” Simcoe said. “He told me, ‘You need a store because your instruments need more exposure.’”

Simcoe considered the notion and decided his cross-section of musical knowledge might be the right mix to open a full-service store.

He rented a 400-square foot space at the Lynwood Center complex, most recently part of Ruby’s on Bainbridge. With landlords Bill and Roslyn Hart, Simcoe reconfigured the space and refurbished the flooring.

The store will carry sheet music, stands, reeds, mouthpieces books and a full range of music accessories – some from Simcoe’s extensive personal collection.

“I had actually considered it before, but it just never happened,” he said. “I’ve been in music education for 30 years. I’ve played pop. jazz, rock and classical music.

“In the mid and late 70s, the job of choice for all us aspiring rock musicians was working in music stores, so I’ve worked in several, including start-up businesses.”

As former head of the Island Music Teachers Guild – recently redubbed Island Music Guild – Simcoe is familiar with the range of music educators’ needs.

“I can talk to band directors about band arrangements,” he said. “I can help find sheet music.”

The store will feature the guitars and historical instruments that Simcoe makes – lutes, viola da gamba and other bowed stringed instruments.

Simcoe also hopes to retail instruments made by craftspersons he’s known from years of networking, and the store will carry brass and woodwind instruments on consignment.

He hopes that the new store will have regional, as well as local appeal.

“We’re looking for a niche in Early Music,” he said. “I’m not aware of any store in the region serving the Early Music community. I’m hoping to be a magnet for the Seattle music crowd.”

Customers may see the finish work done on the instruments they purchase; Simcoe’s handmade store counter-top will double as workbench to put the finishing touches to his stringed instruments.

“It’s kind of like seeing your pizza made,” quipped Simcoe’s daughter, Alaina, who joins her father in the retail end of the business.

For Simcoe, striking off in a new direction has some of the improvisational nature of playing jazz.

“I’m making it up as I go along,” he said. “It’s like the entertainment for our opening; I don’t know who’ll be playing with me, but I know they’ll all be good.”

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The island’s new music store, Village Music at Lynwood Center, holds an open house 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 7 at Lynwood Center. Information: 842-4120.