The owners of a family-run guitar store on Staten Island continue to strum away at the hopes someone will buy it and allow the legendary shop to stay in business. NY1's Amanda Farinacci filed the following report.

It's not quite a sad song yet, but music lovers will sing the blues if the owners of the famous Mandolin Brothers guitar shop in West Brighton cannot find a buyer for their store.

"There's a lot of pride. There's a big emotional attachment," said Alison Jay, who co-owns Mandolin Brothers with her brother Eric.

The Jays' father, Stanley, launched the business in 1971. He was a guitarist in a band called The Smith Brothers and always had a soft spot for the mandolin.

His passion for the instrument led him to open a showroom where he began selling and fixing mandolins, folk instruments like banjos and ukuleles, and guitars.

There's nothing fancy about the Mandolin Brothers' storefront, and some people in the West Brighton neighborhood do not know what is behind it.

In the past, some pretty famous musicians, from Judy Collins to Sheryl Crow, have been customers.

The Jays still talk about the day George Harrison walked in.

"I was very young then, but he stopped by in the '90s," Alison Jay said. "Paul McCartney had his bass sent here with a security guard to be worked on in our repair shop. He was quoted in Bass Player magazine for saying that his bass never played in tune and Mandolin Brothers set it straight. Joni Mitchell wrote a song about Mandolin Brothers."

Alison and Eric's dad passed away a year ago, and then their computer system crashed. They've struggled financially ever since, unable to launch a marketing campaign to attract new customers.

The Jays have given themselves until January to find a suitable buyer.

The hardship has taken a toll. Mandolin Brothers' stock of about 800 new and vintage instruments has slowly dwindled to about 130.

The Jays have encountered some interest in their business, so they have some hope it will endure.

"I think we will be successful in selling it and keeping it going in some form," Eric Jay said. "I don't know what that form might be."

This summer, the corner of the street that Mandolin Brothers is on was renamed Stanley Jay Way. Eric says no matter what happens to the store, he'll take comfort in knowing a piece of his father will be left behind.