string instruments

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has issued guidance making it easier for companies which import instruments made prior to 2008 to file the import declaration form required by the Lacey Act.

APHIS’ Form PPQ 505 requires disclosure of genus and species and country of harvest for all wood contained in imported pianos and other string (but not electric) instruments.

Charles Avsharian is the CEO of Shar Musical Products, which he established in 1962 along with his brother, Michael. The brothers toured for years as professional musicians and along with their father formed a small business to provide instruments and accessories to their friends and fellow musicians. When the company grew the boys decided to work full time for the company, which has continued to grow in size and service.
 

George Borun began his luthier endeavors as a hobby and soon found himself enthralled with the angles, the woods and the tools of the trade. He embarked on a mission to assemble the blueprints and patterns of the world’s finest string instruments and sought to solve the mystery of their uniqueness. Along the way he created an impressive collection of instruments he made by hand and topped off his belief in giving music back to music makers by then donating his instruments to students of all levels.  

Lou Capece began selling musical products in the 1960s and has since become one of the industry’s largest musical instrument wholesale distributors. One of the successes of the company has been the development of their self-branded instruments with names well known around the world today, such as Oxford, DiPalo and New York Pro. After a long and successful career as a guitarist, Lou began selling accessories and instruments to his friends and fellow musicians. Soon the company grew enough that Lou could work full time for the wholesale business and travel less, making it possible for him to stay at home with his young family much more.

Ellen Cavanaugh brought her innovative business ideas and skillful communication and marketing concepts to expand the historic brands that make up the Super-Sensitive Musical String Company. Formed in the 1930s and established on the Red Label line of strings, Super-Sensitive was purchased by Ellen’s husband in 1967 and the company moved from Chicago to Florida to focus on new markets and a new product line. Ellen played a key role in the company’s expansion into other accessories and musical products.
 

John Cavanaugh and his father bought the Super-Sensitive Musical String Company in 1967 and worked long and hard to bring the products into new and international markets. John created the research and development department for the company, designing new products such as the Old Fiddler line. John also sought to improve the strings available for cellos and basses and introduced the now renowned Supreme string line.  

John Connolly established the Connolly Music Company (originally Connolly & Co., Inc.) back in 1970. Best known for distributing such brands as Thomastik-Infeld and König & Meyer, the company remains a family owned enterprise, with John's son, Jake, now at the helm. In 1954 John was hired by William Gratz as general manager of his wholesale business, which distributed products such as Hofner, Paesold, Bohm & Meinl, Kohlert, and Thomastik-Infeld. The company was sold to John after Mr. Gratz’ passing in the 1960s. He later decided to form his own company, Connolly Music, in 1969 with a focus on the string industry since at that time Thomastik-Infeld had just developed the world's first synthetic string. 

Jacquelyn Dillon was a pioneering woman in the music products industry. As a music educator she first connected with the industry when hired by Scherl & Roth in 1970 to head up their efforts to promote their string products by creating string orchestras in the public school system. She created schools in Oklahoma and Kansas and went on to write the book on how to create such programs, which was published by Kjos Music. She later wrote the Strictly Strings series for Alfred Publishing and among many other roles was the editor of the American String Teachers magazine. As a performer she also appeared in Scherl & Roth marketing material promoting the string products.

Kurt Glaesel was born into a violin-making family, which dates back to 1720, but it was Kurt who made his family name nationally known. After a noted 20 year career with Heinrich Roth, Kurt established Glaesel String Instrument Service, Inc. in 1973. The company was soon sold to Selmer, where Kurt remained making his handcrafted instruments for 15 additional years. During that time, Selmer marketed the string instrument line with a strong, worldwide campaign that featured Kurt’s likeness on each ad and brochure.  

Joe Guth’s career in the music products industry began with a short stint with Selmer and as a former band director he brought a great perspective to selling instruments to school music programs. He later had a storied 25-year career at Gemeinhart Flutes in Elkhart, IN, where he furthered his relationships with dealers in larger markets along with the band directors with whom he could so easily relate. One of Joe’s most satisfying aspects of his career in the industry is the many friendships he has developed along the way.