For every East Village business that’s opening or closing, dozens are quietly making it. Here’s one of them: First Flight Music.

While the East Village is a Rock ‘n’ Roll Mecca, there aren’t many places where you can tuck away and play the hell out of a some bongos, or scratch out some high chords on an electric guitar, without really annoying the neighbors. There are no such auditory conundrums to battle when within the 1,500 square-feet of First Flight Music on 174 First Ave. “We insulated the space as best as we could, and we don’t teach after 8pm, so the landlord accepts it.” says owner Daniel Wollock about being on of the few places in the city that is able to teach drum lessons, and that also provides rehearsal space for bands that need some practice time.

While it’s nice to keep the neighbors happy, Mr. Wollock’s creative kindness also extends to all levels of musicians, including the unskilled. A sound room was built so people can try out instruments in private without having to showcase their skills (or non-skills) for all to hear. “Music stores are a great atmosphere to show off in, but the sound room is for people who don’t want to have to deal with the social stigma of not having skills yet. They can sit there all day and play until it feels right. I just keep handing them guitars until they are happy.”

We spoke to Mr. Wollock about how he’s managed to keep rocking and rolling since 1995.

How long have you been in the neighborhood?

Seventeen and a half years. At that time, the East Village was under-served, but also a place where most musicians were living. Before me, this space was Pete’s Spice Shop. When I found it, it was a dark, dirty, hole in the wall. My father and I built it into a store.

What was your plan when opening a musical instrument shop?

I spent most of my adult life building motion picture and television scenery. Guitars and music was always a sideline. When I developed a problem with my feet and had to have surgery on both of them, I was in wheelchair for several years. It was then that I kind of reinvented myself as a musical instrument dealer. I had always bought and sold guitars as a hobby and I started studying them more when I was laid up.

What’s a work day like for you?

It is multi-faceted. I’m buying new products from distributors, buying used products from customers who walk-in, I’m searching the Internet and Craigslist, wherever and however I can, for stuff. 40% of our business is sales and that includes rental space. Another 40% has comes from teaching and the rest is [revenue from] repairs.

There are a lot of guitar shops in the East Village now, how do you stand out?

More recent types of musical instrument stores are guitar only or vintage only. We decided along the way to be more of a universal musical store that handles a little bit of everything. We have maracas and hand drums, percussions, drum sticks, drum heads, woodwind reeds and mouthpieces. We carry a lot of the things that most stores don’t carry unless you’re a store like Sam Ash. We’re also for the little kid in need of a small inexpensive guitar, or mouthpieces for a clarinet, saxophone or trumpet. We have the stuff the typical rock n roll store won’t have, but then we have that stuff too. We’re not the trendy boutique store, but we’re for sure not corporate.

Your store isn’t located at street level. How does being a flight up affect business?

Well, we’re on First Avenue, so prime East Village real estate, but we’re on a mezzanine floor – which is where we get our name from – and a mixed blessing. We have more space than most because we’re on that second floor. But we have a lot of people who say they live in the neighborhood or even on our street and have never noticed us. We have a big window that faces the street with guitars clearly facing out, but people in New York don’t always look up. But with all that space we’re able to have lesson rooms to teach — guitar, bass, drums, voice, keyboard, and woodwinds.

How do you get new business if people don’t always notice your shop?

Advertising has become prohibitively expensive for us. We have a presence on Facebook and Twitter, but I would say most of the business we get is word-of-mouth. We have a good relationship with the Third Street Music Settlement. We have good relations with Guitar Center who sends up people for things we handle that they don’t and we do the same. We have a lot of the kids’ stuff that they don’t bother with.

How’s your rent?

I pay under $7000 and if it were a store on the street it would be twice that. My landlord has made certain small concessions based on the economic atmosphere, but it’s still a lot of money.

How is business?

It used to be a lot easier. We were considered fresh and new and exciting, and I had more money to spend. It was pre-9/11, pre-economic downturn, pre-everything. I didn’t know what I was doing then so it was a great, exciting learning experience. Now I am more the jaded experienced businessman, but I still do have a lot of fun. We do this because we like it; not to get rich. It’s hard to compete with stores that don’t need to make a profit like Guitar Center. Their corporate does but not their individual New York store. Where they may just want to maintain their New York presence and can afford to not make money in their one New York store, we needs to.

So how do you sustain?

We try to keep our costs low and our reputation high. We keep serving the public well, and people seem to like us. That is the essence of staying in business. I find it harder to stock the store and have the stuff that people want. I have a lot of consigned guitars now where I used to own more of the guitars being sold. I don’t have the same funds to buy expensive guitars like I used to. I don’t have the range and breadth of vintage guitars and equipment like I used to.

What instrument sells the best?

The ukulele sells best. There is a lot of interest in ukuleles right now in the musical instrument world. The couple of weeks up to Christmas, we sold a good two-dozen ukuleles ranging from $40 to $300.

Who comes into your store?

We get famous rock ‘n’ rollers and Broadway hit musicians. Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) has come in. James Iha from the Smashing Pumpkins used to come in a lot; same with Norah Jones. But what’s most fun for me are the five, six and seven-year-olds with stars in their eyes, trying out their first instruments. They don’t have any pretension to them at all. They’re just getting started.

Do you have a cute kid story?

A kid and his mom came in looking for an ukulele and the kid asked me if he could play rock ‘n’ roll music on the ukulele. I said: “You can do whatever you like, whatever makes you happy. There are no ukulele police.” His mother loved that and wrote a nice Yelp review about it.