Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE: MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
the violin makers and deduct for the same when known to many Cincinnatians, and who has been
with the Columbia Co. for the last twelve years,
paying for the finished goods.
An Interesting Letter From That Busy Small
Bows are practically made in the same way. is in charge as manager.
Goods Center—The System of Manufactur- Different parts—frogs, tips, hair, the wood, etc.,
ing in Vogue the Antithesis of Ours—An being furnished to the bow makers.
HOHNER OF WORLD FAME
Interesting Story of the Local Conditions—
One concern of this place planned to get violin
The Hohner exhibit at the St. Louis Exposi-
Advanced Prices Will Continue.
makers of lower and medium grades to work for
tion, already described in The Review, is attract-
them alone, and proposed to erect a big ware-
ing unusual attention from visitors as being at
(Snecial to The Review.)
house and keep the men employed. The entire
Markneukirchen, Germany, May 30, 1904.
ciice tasteful, unique and most effective in its
Only men who have visited this district and affair was impractical, raised any amount of
completeness. Among the Hohner products
contention, both with the makers and with the
devoted their time to studying the conditions of
shown on several mirror-backed shelves, are the
things have any idea how goods are made and exporters, and the matter was finally dropped.
new Hohner accordeons, Styles 532 to 621, the
Advanced prices on violins, bows, etc., as well
how they are furnished. The average man who
Hohner assorted boxes of harmonicas, in four
imports violins, bows and stringed instruments as strings, will hold good for quite some time. styles; the "Auto-Valve" harp, which has the
labors under the delusion that they are big fac- The demand exceeds the supply. Any one that reputation of being the easiest blowing mouth-
tories here, and that the exporter is a manufac- thinks that there will be a drop in prices is organ made; the "Cartridge" harp; the "Hoh-
turer. This is all wrong. There are no factories mistaken; if anything, they may still be ad- nerphone," the "Grand Symphony," the "Black
strictly speaking—it is all house industry; and vanced. Accordions and harmonicas made in Diamond," the "Vest Pocket," the "Bestovall,"
in fact it would almost be impossible to start a Klingenthal, Brunndobra, Trossingen and similar the "Marine Band," the "Up-to-Date Surprise,"
factory in this line. The workingman here can- places have been and are selling enormously. the "Up-to-Date," the "Second to None," the "Ma-
not be brought down to the idea of having set All combinations of outsiders can be expected to rine Band Echo," the "Marine Band Tremolo,"
hours for labor and to have a boss. The idea o£ be failures. The unions of workmen, however, the "Up-to-Date Very Best Tremolo Concert
working in a factory is repugnant to him. He are successful, and are here to remain, at least as Harp," and the "Up-to-Date Ocarina." This is
will work for very little from sunrise to sunset long as business keeps up the way it is now.
indeed a formidable list. The choice is large and
at his house, generally comprising one or two
excellent.
JOACHIM
A
WITNESS.
rooms, in which working, cooking, sleeping, etc.,
are % done. He, as a rule, owns a little farm, and
KRETSCHMAR'S LARGE IMPORTS.
in season works on it, and lets fiddle and bow How He Secured the Acquittal of a Dealer
Accused of Cheating in a Violin Sale.
making go to for the time being. For that rea-
TRADE IN MARKNEUKIRCHEN.
son customers should use good judgment and
place orders at certain seasons, to get anything
like prompt service. From October to May 1 or
June 1 are the working months on musical instru-
ments; June, July, August and September are
given to farm work.
The workmen have any number of holidays,
which are strictly celebrated, and an extra day or
two put in to rest after pleasure and dissipa-
tion. It matters very little how many orders are
on hand, or how many goods are to be furnished,
they must have their holidays whether or no.
Each firm of exporters have their "sweat-shop"
workmen that make goods for them, sometimes
working exclusively for one firm, sometimes for
two, and others working for any firms that they
can; the latter are generally the least desirable
for the exporters, none wanting to give them
steady work, using them only in emergency,
which has been the case for almost two years.
The orders for violins and bows are enormous.
The majority of the exporters cannot fill their
orders, even the oldest, richest and largest houses
have considerable trouble to do so.
The manner in which the majority of violins
are made is as follows: One set of men cut tops
and bottoms out of the raw wood, which are fur-
nished to the corpus (body) makers, who form
the sides and glue the parts together ready for the
violin maker. Then a separate set of men fur-
nish the necks and trimmings. As a rule, the
large exporters furnish all parts, etc., complete to
(Special to The Review.)
On one occasion, some time ago, all who were
present in the court of justice at Berlin had the
great pleasure of listening to a free performance
by Prof. Joachim, the famous violinist. I t ap-
peared from the evidence that a dealer in musi-
cal instruments was charged with cheating a
customer by representing that a violin which he
offered for sale at $1.25 was an instrument that
could be played.
The great professor was called in as an expert
witness, and, taking up the impunged instru-
ment, he proceeded to play upon it. Under his
magic fingers it really sounded like a violin,
but in a few moments, much to the regret of his
listeners, the maestro laid the instrument down
with an evident air of contempt. But he had se-
cured the accused's acquittal.
COLUMBIA CO.'S NEW QUARTERS.
Philadelphia, Pa., June 7, 1904.
Robert C. Kretschmar, dealer in small instru-
ments of every character at 830 Arch Street, who
has the biggest wholesale and retail trade in his
line in the city, says that his business has been
unusually dull this spring, and that he does not
believe there will be any improvement before the
election. However, he has been doing consider-
able importing. This week he received a large
shipment of R. C. K. strings, which are made
especially for him in Markneukirchen, Germany,
and are marked with his name, and they have at
present in the custom house a large shipment of
band instruments for use in the campaign, as
well as several cases of fine violins. Also several
cases of accordions, Italian style. Mr. Hafner,
traveling representative of the firm, has just re-
turned from a Western trip and started this
week on his Spring trip to the coal regions.
(Special to The Review.)
WHY ONE'S VOICE IS UNRECOGNIZABLE.
Cincinnati, O., June 6, 1904.
On Saturday last there was a formal opening
The fact that a person is often unable to rec-
of the new headquarters of the Columbia Phono-
ognize
his own voice when reproduced by a
graph Co. in this city. There were many musi-
cal features which interested and delighted the graphophone, but can always recognize that of
large and fashionable audience in attendance. acquaintances and friends, is accounted for by
The new warerooms of this company are lo- Professor Exner. He explains that passage,
cated at 117-119 West Fourth street, which are through solids augments the intensity of sound
fitted up in handsome style. The Columbia Co. and modifies its quality, and the sound of one's
will make this establishment the center from own voice is given different timber by reaching
which their immense business from the South the ear through the air and the bones of the face,
and West will be managed. Walter L. Eckhardt, instead of through the air alone.
MIS?
AX
J;IVIF»ORI^:IVT
QUESTION
^ O R DEALERS.
" What Banjo, Mandolin and Guitar will it pay me best to carry ?"
Unquestionably the
S. S. Stewart Banjos and the Geo. Bauer Guitars and Mandolins
\A/ MY?
Because more people ask after- them a«cl prefer them,
T H E ) RE>A«SOIV—They give the most satisfaction.
T H E > P R O O F - Y e a r s of world-wide popularity.
DON'T EXPERIMENT AND WASTE TIME AND MONEY. GET THE GOOD OLD "STANDBY'S"
Our Catalogue for the asking
Headquarters for TRIMMIMGS, Etc.
141O - 12
N. SIXTH
Selling Agents:
SHERMAN, CLAY & CO., San Francisco, Cal.
Canadian Headquarters:
NORDHEIMER PIANO & 1VHJSIC CO., Toronto, Ont.