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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
THE "SMALL GOODS" TRADE
Story of a Famous Fiddle.
The Phonoharp Co.
John C. Haynes & Co.
Many new desirable connections have A STRADIVARIUS WHICH HAS BEEN VERY LIT-
TLE USED.
been made of late by T. Leverett Pierce
and the Phonoharp Co., in developing the
In connection with the death, the other
business of the Columbia zither, which day, of Mr. Laurie, the Glasgow violin ex-
seems to be experiencing what might rea- pert, reference was made to his having had
sonably be termed a triumphal progress through his hands the famous Stradivarius
from Maine to California, and from one violin which has come to be known,
end of Europe to the other.
somewhat irreverently, if not absurdly, as
Latest advices from the European repre- " T h e Messiah." The instrument is now
sentative of the firm says the Columbia in the possession of Mr. B. Crawford, of
zither can easily hold its own everywhere 'Newpark, Trinity, Edinburgh, who a few
against all comers. In proof of this he years ago paid no less than $10,000 for it.
sends instructions for the immediate ship- As recently as 1872, Charles Reade (who
ment of several separate consignments at knew as much about fiddles as about the
widely divergent points. The Phonoharp trade of letters), had valued the instrument
Co. is making rapid headway.
at $3,000, putting the worth of the varnish
alone at $2,825. Villaume, the high priest
Duplicates the Cremona System. of fiddle-making in Paris, had it at this
Herr Heinrich Castek, bandmaster of time. He kept it until his death in 1875.
the Austrian ioth Infantry Regiment, at From Villaume the treasure descended to
Garoslav, claims to have discovered an un- M. Alard, the great French violinist, who
failing system by means of which he is gave $5,000 for it. He died in 1888, and
able to construct violins on the principles two years later Mr. Crawford risked his
of the old Cremona masters, says the Poli- $10,000 on it.
There is some reason for the high figure.
tik. Herr Castek was for years associated
The
instrument is the only one that has
with the late Polish violin maker, Zdarsky,
come
down from Stradivarius's own hands
who found the keynote to the system;
in
a
state
of perfect preservation. It has
after long years of persevering study, Cas-
been
very
little played upon, and its glow-
tek has worked the system out practically.
ing,
ruddy
varnish is as fresh as if it had
Herr Castek claims to be able to make a
been
put
on
only a week ago. Mr. Craw-
violin, and give it any tone quality he
ford
has
a
second
" Strad," and also a very
wishes; also to be able to tell before the
fine
Guarnerius.
It is but a question of a
pieces are put together, what the tone of
few
years,
and
the
instrument, if it is ever
the instrument will be. The paper referred
sold,
will
fetch
a
considerably
higher price.
to declares that the results obtained re-
move the invention from the realm of ex-
The "Crown" piano, with its popular
periment to that of positive science.
orchestral attachment, is being used by May
Irwin's company of players, and it never
Menzenhauer & Schmidt.
fails to make a hit with the audience.
This week's report of progress at the
Menzenhauer-Schmidt factory is satisfac-
tory. The product last week was 7,000
guitar-zithers for domestic and export
trade, that of the week previous being
4,000.
Messrs. Menzenhauer and Schmidt are
still in Germany. Their well-directed ac-
tivity may be imagined when it is stated
that the whole of last week's product was
v
exported to their business address. The
entire force is working on full time.
A sneak thief entered Weber's music
store, Kansas City, Mo., last Saturday af-
ternoon and purloined a valuable violin.
The man was seen leaving the building,
and can be identified, but so far has not
been apprehended.
LOW PRICES.
A FAIR PROFIT TO DEALERS.
THE BEST INSTRUMENTS.
This is the combination that is unlocking the
door to profits for over one thousand dealers
who are handling "Bay State" Guitars, Man-
dolins, Banjos, Zithers and Flutes. Are you
one of them? If not, we would be pleased to
show you why it would be to your advantage
to handle these goods.
Correspondence Solicited.
JOHN C. HAYNES & CO.
New York
The Famous
Sweet-Sounding
BOSTON
Philadelphia
The wonderful scope of the work done
in musical instrument-making by John C.
Haynes & Co., the originators and perpet-
'uators of the " Bay State " products, can
only be fully realized by a survey of the
firm's catalogue. A revised edition has just
been issued. It contains a complete state-
ment of the " Bay State " goods.
It is announced that many important
improvements have been made, especially
in guitars and mandolins, and notwith-
standing increased tariff rates, prices have
been reduced in several instances in addi-
tion to these improvements. Several new
styles have also been added to the "Bay
Stai^" guitars, mandolins, banjos, and
zithers. Band instruments are now a "Bay
State" specialty and the "Bay State"
flutes include many unique examples.
*' Criterion" Music^ Boxes.
Wars, and rumors of wars notwithstand-
ing, the Paillard music-box industry con-
tinues to prosper in a phenomenal way.
Mr. Paillard and his traveling representa-
tives are yet on the road, and each report
sent in contains a full quota of orders.
The "Criterion" instruments have
made wonderful headway since their intro-
duction. They have gained a great repu-
tation for strength of tone, durability of
mechanism, and remarkably low prices for
the highest class of workmanship, There
are other special features, too, all helping
to swell the aggregate of sales.
Stewart & Bauer Banjos.
It was a happy thought to name one of
the greatest of the S. S. Stewart concert
and solo banjos the "Special Thorough-
bred." It is entirely appropriate if by
" thoroughbred" in this case is meant a
perfectly formed and finished instrument.
The ' 'Special Thoroughbred" has twenty-
two frets (three octaves) and is the style
used by A. A. Farland in all of his famous
banjo concerts. It has a nineteen inch
finger-board, and a ten and one-half inch
rim.
Farland, whose last concert tour covered
twelve thousand miles, says that these
"Special Thoroughbred " banjos are not
only the most brilliant sounding, "but, in
my opinion, the only banjos upon which it
is possible to effectively render the diffi-
cult work of the great composers."
g. S. S t e w a r t
-
._—
AND MARVELOUS ( j C O . t S a i l C f £~+
Stewart Books, Music and JOURNAL.
S T E W A R T & B A U E R , 1016 Chestnut St., (2d«oor,) Philadelphia, Pa.
^1
tt
1^.3.1*