Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
OCTOBER 12,
THE
1918
INSTRUMENTS FOR HOME USE
Small Goods Dealers Report Excellent Demand
for Instruments of All Kinds to Furnish Music
in the Home—Abundant Opportunities for the
Live Dealer to Make Sales
The various campaigns which have been car-
ried on throughout the country during the past
year or more and which have had as their ob-
ject the furtherance of the cause of music in
the home have been of distinct benefit to every
branch of the music industry, not excluding the
small goods division. Dealers in musical mer-
chandise are finding that there is a steadily in-
creasing demand for instruments especially ap-
propriate for home use, such as violins, man-
dolins, guitars, and other instruments of the
fretted type. There is no question but that the
war has brought with it an increased need for
music, and it is safe to state that there is more
music in the average American home to-day than
there ever has been before. Many factors con-
tribute to make this condition a fact, but the
main point is that people who have no pianos
or players in their homes, either because they
cannot afford to have them, or because, in the
case of .the piano, there is no one who can play,
or no one who wishes to spend the time neces-
sary to learn to play, are providing themselves
with music through the medium of the smaller
instruments.
Aside from the demand for instruments nat-
urally designed for use in the home, there has
been such an enormous demand for band instru-
ments of all kinds that the factories in this coun-
try cannot turn out goods fast enough to keep
ati adequate supply on the market. Not every
dealer in small goods is in a position to profit
by the demand for band instruments, as Gov-
ernment orders are filled in most cases direct
from the factories, and the orders for the equip-
ping of the larger civic or semi-military bands
are usually placed with the big metropolitan
dealers, but every dealer in small goods, no mat-
ter how limited his field, can build up a sur-
prisingly good trade in instruments for home
use by planning a systematic campaign of ex-
ploitation among his customers. The sale of
one instrument almost invariably will give rise
to a number of prospects, many of which can be
turned into customers.
If the young prospect buys a mandolin, he,
or she, will immediately begin to search for
some friend who can play a guitar, as these two
instruments go together. Once a dealer makes
a sale of an instrument of this type, a little
judicious questioning will usually give him in-
formation as to whether or not the customer
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
has a friend who plays an instrument suitable
for accompaniment purposes, and if no such
friend exists, it is very easy for the dealer to
suggest to the customer that it would be a very
nice thing if some friend had an instrument also,
so that the two young folks could practice and
play together. This suggestion, if rightly given,
will often prove sufficient to cause the customer
to go out among his circle of friends and pos-
sibly induce one of that circle to take up the
study of the instrument, and naturally the cus-
tomer will bring his friend into the store where
he purchased his instrument. This idea is ca-
pable of almost unlimited expansion, and the
organization of glee clubs, mandolin clubs, etc.,
is easy of accomplishment, as many dealers dur-
ing the past year have, through the sale of one
instrument to a popular young man or young
woman, been able to make that sale the nucleus
of a fair-sized musical society, to every mem-
ber of which an instrument has been sold.
The many opportunities existing to-day for
the sale of musical instruments makes it pos-
sible for the small goods dealer to sell every in-
strument he can possibly get from his jobber,
and the dealer in small goods who complains
of slack times and lack of business really has
himself to blame in a large measure.
Sheet Music and Small Goods
Peate's Music House, Utica, N. Y.
' O L D * NEW
VIOLINS
6RAHD PRIZES^
[BEST STRINGS
JOHNFRIEDRKH&BRO.
SEND FOR
OUR
TAL06UES
9
279 FIFTH AVC
(^^
OLIVER DITSON GO.
BOSTON. MASS.
MUSICAL
MERCHANDISE
LARGEST MUSICAL
Attractive Specialties
Modern Service
ESTABLISHED ISM
MERCHANDISE HOUSE
IN AMERICA
Exclusively Wholesale
ESTABLISHED 1034
351-53 J
Victor Distributors
Special Electric Hammer Used by U. S. Marine
Band to Produce Shipbuilding Effects
DURRO
AND
STEWART
Largest Wholesale
Musical Merchandise
House in America
Buegeleisen & Jacob son
Manufacturer*
l m p « r t m and Jobbers ©I
T H E OLDEST AND
WAR BRINGS A NEW INSTRUMENT
Those who have heard records of "The Volun-
teers March," by Sousa, particularly the Edison
Amberol Record No. 3512, which depicts the ac-
tivities in a shipyard, have been greatly im-
pressed with the naturalness of the effects. In
this connection it is interesting to note that
at the special request of the United States
Shipping Board, Louis Paulero, of Petersburg,
Va., has invented an electric hammer for the
United States Marine Band that imitates the
noises made by the driving of rivets into ships
and boilers. It is this noise that is heard on the
record referred to and which is its most effective
feature. Although this invention was originally
made for the production of sounds in a ship-
building plant, it may also be used to imitate the
"pit-a-pat" of the machine gun. The new
"riveter" will be put to use by all bands when
playing "The Volunteers March."
The new "musical" instrument is mounted on
a steel plate, supported on springs over a
wooden base. The drummer operates the ham-
mer by pressing a button either with one of his
hands or feet to turn on the current. The switch
so adjusted that the device may be turned
JAZZ BAND DELIGHTS GEN. PETAIN is
to produce a tone either high and shrill or low
When General Petain recently visited the sec- and dull.
tor on which there are American troops he was
delighted with an impromptu burst of jazz band
INSTRUMENTS FOR SAILORS
music, followed by buck and wing dances in the
old plantation style, which were provided by Wall Street Business Men's Association Makes
Appeal for Musical Instruments
the negro band, says Herbert Bailey in a des-
patch from France to the Public Ledger of
The Lower Wall Street Business" Men's As-
Philadelphia.
sociation,
with headquarters at 124 Front street,
Before leaving General Petain shook hands
with the negro band leader and complimented New York City, has sent out an appeal to the
general public for mandolins, harmonicas, vio-
him on his impromptu show.
lins, banjos, talking machines and records, and
other
small musical instruments for the use of
TO IMPROVE VIOLIN TONE
sailors. Special arrangements have been made
WASHINGTON, D. C, October 7.—Patent No. for the shipment of all instruments received to
1,278,707 was last week granted to Charles Mar- men in the service, and the response to date
has been very gratifying.
tin, Manchester, la., for a violin.
The primary object of this invention is to
improve the construction, and consequently the
NEW INCORPORATION
tone and expression of violins. A secondary
The Frances Clifford Music Co., Chicago, has
object is to dispense with the usual sound post.
been incorporated with capital stock of $50,000,
to engage in a general musical business.
I WILL B U Y
FOR CASH
45
WEYMANN
EM
Sqnrior (Mity MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Victor Distributor*
1108 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
Established OTM half a caatury
113 University Place
NEW YORK
Black Diamond
Strings
THE WORLD'S BEST
National Musical String Co.
Nev Brunswick, N. J.