Could Carter Vintage be the best musical instrumen...

Could Carter Vintage be the best musical instrument store in the world? It's certainly in the running. This is not a place to find your first guitar. Or even your second. There's not much in there for less than $1,000, and it's a fun game to try to find the most expensive item: on my last visit there was a 1950s Les Paul played by Waylon Jennings for $31,000, and a 1931 Gibson banjo for $28,500.

It may be the only store in the world where you can say, "I'm looking for a three-neck pedal steel" and the response is, "What color?" The point being when it comes to country, bluegrass, and blues instruments, they have just a truly fascinating collection.

Even if you're not a professional musician, it's a great place to visit. The staff is helpful and friendly, and you can play most of the instruments. If you're just a tourist and don't need to a pick a Frank Neat banjo made for Ralph Stanley (yep, they have that too, $7500), they've got stickers and knick-knacks.

Great place.