Whether it's a harmonica, a heart-shaped electric guitar, a fluorescent green and orange drum set, a sitar or a Paraguayan harp that you're looking for, Andy's Music has your musical instrument needs covered.

The gigantic store, at 2300 W. Belmont, carries all kinds of unique musical instruments from around the globe. With mini-harmonicas for as little as $6 and other, much larger instruments costing $5,000 or more, Andy's has something to accommodate most budgets.

Andy's probably has the "largest selection of high-quality ethnic musical instruments in the Northern Hemisphere," says Alexander Duvel. Duvel, 35, is the manager of imports and specialties at Andy's, which has been open for 16 years.

Entering the front room of Andy's can be quite deceptive if you're a newcomer. That's because, although it's packed with shiny harmonicas, hand drums and other fun instruments, there is much more to the shop, including a few more rooms and the basement, all filled with many more instruments and accessories.

Andy's boasts the largest retail display of harpsichords in the country as well as what's reportedly the world's largest gong.

Why so many harpsichords? "[Owner] Andy [Cohn] is a self-taught piano player and likes keyboard instruments," Duvel says, adding that Andy once met a harpsichord maker when he was traveling in Europe, and then he bought several.

Although Andy's has sold a couple of harpsichords, Duvel says that most of Andy's harpsichords and the world's largest gong stay in the shop's warehouse a few blocks away. Many musicians also use the warehouse as a practice space. However, Duvel says that college students and rock musicians sometimes want to use a harpsichord for a music recording and will rent one from Andy's. In fact, the band Wilco rented a harpsichord from Andy's and incorporated the sound on a recent album, Duvel says.

If you keep walking toward the back of the store, you'll pass a variety of hand drums and see a bumper sticker sitting on a shelf that reads, "Drum machines have no soul."

Walk a little further and you'll see in a dimly lit area many acoustic and electric guitars in emerald green, aqua blue, powder blue, glittery purple and Kool-Aid pink. Some electric guitars also are heart-shaped and butterfly-shaped.

Andy's customers include kids who are eight or nine years old and taking drum lessons as well as music-minded folks in their 70s and 80s. The place attracts musicians who want to get an instrument that makes a particular sound as well as amateur musicians who are just starting on a "musical adventure," Duvel says.

"Most of our customers are local," he says, and many traveling bands visit after hearing about Andy's by word of mouth.

In the next room, Duvel notes that Andy's is undergoing construction and soon will have more slide walls, making it easier to hang more instruments. Meanwhile a tan-colored harpsichord sits near a table featuring a trombone for $550, a $300 used trumpet and a black $295 clarinet. Nearby stands a Paiste Accent gong for $326 and an elegant $850 Paraguayan harp that's as tall as this reporter.

In the back room you'll find many drum sets, plus a variety of cowbells, bongo and conga drums, maracas and tambourines.

Many Arabic drums and Indian classical musical instruments, such as the sitar, are popular sellers, says Duvel, who likes to play Indian music with a tabla, sitar, hand drums and dilruba, an Indian string instrument. Duvel, who also has played a trumpet for 26 years, says African drums, drum kits and accessories also sell well.

In the basement Duvel uses some wooden mallets to play tongue drums, which are hardwood percussion instruments that look like attractive wooden jewelry boxes. Duvel also shows off some white crystal bowls, which go for $400 to $600 for large ones or $80 to $200 for smaller ones. They're popular with people involved with "sound healing," he says.

As Duvel holds a wand closely to a bowl and gently circles it around the bowl, he creates a pleasing, humming-like vibration and sound that I can imagine people meditating or doing yoga to. "They're used to center one's self and relax you," he says.

Andy's gets some instruments from import companies that specialize in different countries, and traveling musicians sometimes go to their home countries and return with unique instruments for Andy's, Duvel says.

Back upstairs Tony Karasek is trying to tune somebody's sitar. Karasek, who lives in North Carolina, is in town for a few weeks to repair Indian instruments at Andy's. He is demand since his expertise is rare, and he says he is having a blast working on customers' instruments.

He says that the sitar is the most popular string instrument of northern India, and he says he started to appreciate the sitar when he starting hearing George Harrison play one.

Indian music has no chords and key changes, Karasek says. Then, as he plays the sitar, he shows me that the instrument creates a melody over a drone and that it also can create different moods. He shows how sitar strings can emulate vocals, create an echo effect or create a "nice, buzzy" effect.

Talking about the sitar, Karasek says, "It really comes alive when it's tuned right."