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THE m\JS\G TRKDE
EDISON FACTORY IN COLUMBUS?
[Special to The Review.]
REGINA GETS GOLD MEDAL
MUSIC FROM 2,000 STRINGS.
Not a Silver Medal as Was Previously Announced.
The Wonderful Myriophone Which Was Invented By
A Kansas Man.
The Regina Music Box Co. were notified
on Tuesday that a gold medal, and not a sil-
ver medal, as previously announced, had
been awarded them by the Commissioners
of Awards at the Pan-American Exposi-
tion for the Buffalo exhibit of Regina music
boxes. This will be an important addition
to the already imposing list of emphatic en-
dorsements received by the firm since the
Regina was first placed on the market.
Since that time, improvements have been
made continuously, and marvelous develop-
ments have taken place in matters of me-
chanical perfection, the most notable being
the "Regina Corona," which has already be-
come famous throughout the length and
breadth of the civilized world.
SCRIBNER'S NARROW ESCAPE.
Fate appears to be treating some promi-
nent members of the musical merchandise
industry rather shabbily in these days. Only
a few weeks ago, as stated in The Review at
the time, Mr. Pierce, of the Phonoharp Co.,
and his wife were thrown violently from the
runabout in which they were driving through
Prospect Park, Brooklyn. "Both sustained
injuries, and Mrs. Pierce narrowly escaped
death.
On Sunday last Frank Scribner and Mrs.
Scribner were driving in a similar vehicle
on the Hudson County Boulevard, Jersey
City Heights, N. J., not far from Mr. Scrib-
ner's home, when the bolt of the right-hand
shaft gave way. The rear end of the shaft
fell on the horse's hind legs. The animal
took fright and rushed down the Boulevard
among a crowd of vehicles, dragging the
carriage and occupants from side to side
by means of the single shaft still attached.
Mr. Scribner's presence of mind in main-
taining a firm, strong hold of the reins under
these trying circumstances alone saved a
"smash-up" and a fatal accident. "Luckily,"
said Mr. Scribner, "Mrs. Scribner kept cool
and remained in her place. Neither of us
were hurt, as it happened, but I must say
frankly that I would not go through the same
experience again for $io,ooo."
Keating, Smith & Southard, manufacturers
of cases for mandolins, guitars, etc., in Chi-
cago, suffered a total loss of stock through
a fire which occurred in their premises last
week.
Awarded Gold
Hedal at Pan=
American E x -
position.
JOHN C. HAYNES 8 Co.
451 Washington Si,
BOSTON,
€MASS.
Importers and ^Manufacturers
A musician was in a cycle repairing shop
one day watching a workman putting new
spokes into a wheel. In order to determine
whether they were tightened up enough the
workman plucked the wires with his fingers
and a musical sound was the result. An idea
struck the musician and after four years of
hard work he succeeded in constructing a
musical instrument that has delighted thous-
ands of people. The musician is M. Karsy,
of Kansas, City, Mo., and the instrument is
what is now known everywhere as the giant
myriophone. The music of the myriophone
is similar to that of a full string band, but
it only takes two people to produce the im-
mense volume of sound. It has the appear-
ance of a large screen with a number of
wheels fitted on the front. These wheels
have strings fitted on them and are very
much like cycle wheels. The muscles of stage
hands give them a rotary motion and the per-
formers, who have a small piece of wood in
each hand, touch the strings, thus making
a note, which can be prolonged to any length.
Mr. Karsy, explaining the mechanism of
the myriophone, said: "There are twenty-
five discs. Each disc has eighty strings, mak-
ing 2,000 strings in all. Piano strings are
used, and on each disc there are two single
notes and one double note. Beechwood is
used in the construction of the instrument,
and the sound-boards in the discs are of the
same material as the sound-boards of pianos.
Many kinds of substances have been tried
for the frame of the myriophone. First I
tried iron, but it was too heavy; aluminum
proved too brittle. A composition of iron,
copper and aluminum has proved very sat-
isfactory.'"
The myriophone is the vaudeville hit of
the present season.
SYMPHONIONS IN DEMAND.
R. R. Duffin, Symphonion traveler, re-
turned from a three months' trip on Satur-
day. During the tour he traversed many
States and visited most of the large cities.
Asked by The Review as to the results of
his trip, Mr. Duffin said: "The journey was
a very successful one from every point of
view. I am able to report that all of the old
Symphonion agents remain loyal.
"Many desirable new agencies were es-
tablished en route. Everywhere I found an
increasing interest in the Symphonion prod-
ucts. Local dealers, too, I was glad to note,
were doing good advertising in the local
press and in other ways. They think highly
of our music boxes and do a good business
with them."
The Boston Music Trade Association will
hold their annual dinner and meeting the
second Saturday in January. At a meeting
of the executive committee held last week,
steps were taken to aid the National Asso-
ciation in getting a reform of freight rates.
Columbus, O., Nov. 4, 1901.
Agents for one of the Edison syndicates,
located in New Jersey, have bought a large
tract of land north of the city and anothe!
west of the city upon which to establish plants
for the making of kinetoscopes and phono-
graphs. The syndicate propose to build up
suburbs around their plants and for this rea-
son have bought up land around the pro-
posed locations.
AN "EDWIN" CATALOGUE.
William Tonk & Bro., in their new "Ed-
win" catalogue, have surpassed all previous
efforts in special catalogue-making. Within
twenty-four pages they have included a fully
detailed and illustrated statement of the new-
est, most attractive "Edwin" instruments.
An interesting feature is an artistic album of
celebrities who use the Edwin guitars and
mandolins.
The portraits, including Delia Fox, Marie
Tempest, Anna Boyd, Pauline Hall, Sylvia
Gerrish, Helen Bertram, Katie Emmet and
Lottie Collins, are admirably produced in
appropriate floral settings. The illustrations
of elaborately finished styles in Edwin man-
dolins and guitars are well drawn and repro-
duced. Altogether, the latest Tonk book is
a highly creditable production and will doubt-
less be of great service in bringing the merits
of the Edwin instruments to wider notice.
ABOUT ITALIAN VIOLINS.
Italian violins have not always held the
supremacy they now enjoy. It was not, in-
deed, till the beginning of the nineteenth
century that they came into vogue to any
extent outside their native land. Previous-
ly Jacob Steiner (1621-83) was the favorite
maker, and his high model had been almost
exclusively copied by his fellow-Germans and
the different makers in France and England.
When the elder Cervetto, who had been a
merchant before entering the musical profes-
sion, went to London, in 1738, he took with
him some instruments by Stradivari. The
result of this endeavor to introduce Italian
work into England fills one with pathetic
wonder; it is almost beyond belief. As he
could not get as much as £5 for a violon-
cello, he was obliged to send the instruments
back to Italy as a bad speculation. Twenty-
five for a "Strad," and not a single purchaser
to be found! This incident in itself furnish-
es sufficient testimony to the slavish follow-
ing of the great German maker and the
strong prejudice of the violinists of that pe-
riod in favor of the high model. It is, in-
deed, the players who are most to blame for
DID VOl START S T RIGHT?
Waldo
Mamifaifturing
Company,
-, Saginaw, Michigan.