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By LEO V. KAPLAN
Around 20 years ago, a trip to the Chicago Drum Show changed Shawn VanSteeland’s life.
“I was like, ‘This is awesome, we should do it in Michigan,’” the longtime local drummer said. That’s just what he did.
Three years in, the drum swap became an instrument swap. Ten years after that, VanSteeland quit his day job to open a storefront in Potterville with his wife, Lisa.
Three moves later, Music Instrument Swap landed in Holt on March 24, celebrating its grand opening May 29. The shop offers used instruments, with a focus on drums and guitars, alongside amplifiers, pedals and other equipment, as well as in-house guitar repairs.
The shop’s all-used offerings mean customers are both allowed and encouraged to try anything and everything before they make a purchase.
“If you go to a normal guitar shop, they just have new things on the wall,” VanSteeland said. Rather than buying something in a box or ordering online, he believes musicians should experiment before pulling their wallets out.
“You should pick them up and try to play them and make sure it’s what you really want,” he said. “So many times, people will see, like, a Zildjian K cymbal posted online and come in to play it. And then they’ll play, like, an old Zildjian Amir from the ‘70s, which was a student-level cymbal, and they’ll like it more.
“It doesn’t matter how expensive it is, it’s just about finding what you absolutely love,” he continued.
While the drum kits vary in price, the guitars are generally in the $300 to $500 range, which VanSteeland said is the Lansing area’s “sweet spot.” He prefers to sell used instruments, which he said are more accessible for beginners and can retain their value better than new-in-box items.
The move to Holt is largely about convenience for the VanSteelands, who live about five minutes away from the shop and keep it open daily. The new storefront is smaller than the previous West Saginaw Highway spot, but VanSteeland said size and location are less relevant for a “destination shop” like his, which brings in people from all over the state via its online catalog.
“West Saginaw has a lot of traffic, but what we learned was that people don’t drive by at 50 miles an hour and decide they need to buy a drum set,” he said. “People find us online and through word of mouth.”
But talk to VanSteeland long enough, and it will become clear that he’s not just in the scene to turn a profit. A veritable expert on local music, he set up Grand Ledge’s Music in the Park concert series 15 years ago, helps put on similar events across the area and even keeps an extensive local music calendar on the Music Instrument Swap website.
The local band tees hanging behind the shop’s guitars, each with its own unique story, are a reminder of VanSteeland’s passion for local music.
“My whole being is about getting people to come out,” he said. “People complain that there’s nothing to do. Are you kidding me? There’s all this stuff, and most of it is absolutely free.”
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