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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
47
SLAMMING THEJtfJDE TROMBONE
PATENT TUNING MECHANISM
NEW USE FOR_SJEEL GUITAR
An Excoriating Castigation of This Insidious
Instrument and its Predilection Towards To-
tal and Absolute Depravity
Invention of Two Germans May Be Applied to
Stringed Instruments of the Usual Sort
Instrument Found to be Excellent for Making
of Talking Machine Records—Another Ha-
waiian Instrument Soon to be on Market
WASHINGTON, D. C, August 14.—A patent was
Tn a recent letter to the New York Evening
Sun, S. K. Wilson, of Swarthmore, Pa., sets
forth in fearless and unmistakable terms his
opinion of the evil effects upon the mind and
morals of the slide trombone. His letter reads :
"To the Editor of The Sun—Sir: The trom-
bone, as abused by the average popular band, is
the muckstick of music. It rakes deliberately
among the baser emotions. Its timbre is a sum-
mons to license. That shuddering slurred chro-
matic inflection, which is its distorted contri-
bution, which is so barbarously overdone in a
certain sort of band, is a direct pander to a low
and brutish musical intelligence and slides the
skids under the shocked soul of art.
"There is a positive vicious indecency in its
loose appeal, a calculated raw lewdness that
affronts both good taste and good morals.
"So exactly is this true that one can predi-
cate the gross type which will most loudly en-
joy it as closely as the gross feelings it evokes.
"No other musical instrument, not even the
human voice at its most animal, can dig up the
ruder passions so surely.
"Watch its step across the features of its
victims at the next band concert you are un-
granted last week to Gustave K. Hennig, of
Bohlitz-Ehrenberg,
Germany, and Ludwig
Bajde, of Leipsig-Eutriggsch, for a new inven-
tion which relates to the tuning mechanism for
stringed instruments, and seeks to overcome
some of the disadvantages of the devices and
mechanisms now in use. It is well known that
strings hold their tone but a short time after
tuning them, and there is no provision made
to compensate for the letting down of the tone,
so that the string has to be re-tuned by hand,
an operation requiring a musical ear. These
defects are especially noticeable in mechanical
musical stringed instruments that come into the
possession of non-musical persons, who are
unable to tune them. The letting down of the
strings is especially noticeable in combined
automatic musical instruments, as for example,
those combining one or more of the various
violin types of instruments with a piano.
The gut strings of the violin readily stretch
by use, and are very sensitive to temperature
changes and other variations of atmospheric
conditions, while piano strings get out of tune
less readily, and are influenced mostly by tem-
perature changes only.
able to escape.
S. K. WILSON."
It has been proposed to keep strings in tune
Mr. Wilson is evidently preparing to organize by loading them with weights or springs.
a Society for the Suppression of the Trombone, Known arrangements of this kind have not,
but his antagonistic attitude towards this loose- however, been satisfactory because they do not
jointed instrument may have been caused by the make sufficient allowance for variations in the
fact that some amateur trombonist was endeav- length of the strings or for the varying degrees
oring to master its intricacies while Mr. Wil- of strength of the strings and, therefore, do not
son was vainly trying to rest his perturbed spirit maintain a uniform load theron.
with sleep.
According to the present invention, and in
view of the small space available, the aim is to
NEW TREASURY J)EPARTMENT RULE produce a structure that permits the ready hang-
With a view to correcting misapprehensions ing and changing of the weights as well as of
on the part of some customs officials that have the instrument. The means for obtaining the
resulted in friction with exporters, the Treasury uniform load is a weight whose suspension is
Department has sent out an order to the effect guided over a roller.
that merchandise may be entered for immediate
exportation or transportation when satisfactory
TO MODIFY IMPORT PROHIBITIONS
evidence is presented to the Collector that it is
American importers of small goods will be
destined for a foreign country. Goods that are interested in the announcement just issued from
subject to a specific rate of duty may be with- London to the effect that the Controller of
drawn from warehouse for immediate transpor- Import Restrictions will recommend to the
tation and exportation at the entered quantities. Board of Trade the granting of immediate re-
When entered for this purpose the quantities lief to American shippers of prohibited goods,
should be ascertained at the original port.
whereby goods ordered prior to the date of
proclamations prohibiting their importation and
shipped before October 1, 1916, may be for-
warded if the freight situation continues favor-
able. The controller promises to examine all
specially meritorious cases.
DURRO
AND
STEWART
BOSTON, MASS.
WASHINGTON, D. C, August 14.—The Bureau of
Foreign and Domestic Commerce has just pub-
lished some statistics showing the exports of
musical strings from Germany to the United
States during 1914 and 1915. The declared
value of the exports of this class listed through
the Consulate General at Frankfort on the
Main in 1914 amounted to $25,586, while in 1915
the value of musical strings imported to this
country decreased to $25,404.
NEW FORM OF VIOLIN
WHIRKIER, CAL., August 14.—Gus Johnson, of
402 West Penn street, has recently placed on
exhibition a violin which is a radical departure
in shape from the usual form of this instru-
ment. Harrison G. Pitts, of 325 North New-
land avenue, manufactured the violin and musi-
cians who have played it say that the tone of
the new instrument is all that can be desired.
The oldest ai\d
largest musical
merchandise house
ii\ America —-
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113 University Place
A new steel guitar called the "Dreadnought,"
and said to produce the biggest tone of any
instrument of its kind, is now being used in
the making of phonograph records. It is also
said to be an excellent instrument for use in
auditoriums and large halls. Chas. H. Ditson
& Co. will soon have the above instrument
ready for delivery and at the same time will
introduce to the American public another Ha-
waiian instrument never before used to any
extent in this country, called the Terapatch, a
Hawaiian "fiddle." H. L,. Hunt, manager of the
musical merchandise department of the Ditson
store, left Thursday for Boston and after sev-
eral days' stay will make a tour of the larger
cities of the West. His trip will include a visit
to the new Lyon & Healy store in Chicago.
The tour is Mr. Hunt's annual pilgrimage in the
quest of new ideas and includes both business
and pleasure.
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