Books › Ayars, Contributions to the Art of Music in America by the Music Industries of Boston (1937) — the Squier, Farley, Rettberg, Rockwell and Elias Howe matter, 1937 › scan 229
Scan 229
Ayars, Contributions to the Art of Music in America by the Music Industries of Boston (1937) — the Squier, Farley, Rettberg, Rockwell and Elias Howe matter, 1937
23 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026. Printed page 203. See the scan on archive.org.
1JACOB THOMA & SON ³
3This business was established in 1880 by Jacob Thoma, a German who had had a number of years of experience previously in Leipzig. It was located in the old Music Hall Building in 1898, at [address hidden] in 1901, at [address hidden] for some years to about 1934 and is now carried on by Jacob Thoma's son, Alexander, at his residence, [address hidden], Dorchester, Massachusetts.
5The business consists of importing and dealing in high grade violins, violas, violoncellos, bows, cases, strings and specialties; repairing violins and bows; violin making; and appraising instruments. While Franz Kneisel was living this firm did work for him and the Kneisel Quartette.
7In making their own "Thoma Solo Violins and Violas," which are of selected old tonewood, Stradivarius and Guarnerius are used as models. These instruments are used largely by violin teachers. The firm also winds strings for violins and violas, making a specialty of the silver "G" and aluminum "D" strings.
9JOHN A. GOULD & SONS ⁴
11John A. Gould was born at Windermere, England, in 1860, and was apprenticed to a pianoforte manufacturer at the age of thirteen. He learned his trade, but wanted to make violins which he studied in shop windows, making his first at the age of sixteen. Two years later he worked with F. Archer, starting for himself in 1878 at [address hidden], Liverpool, as:
13"Pianoforte Tuner and Repairer.
14Violins and all stringed instruments
15made to order and carefully repaired."
17In 1882 he settled with a brother-in-law in Ontario. At the Hamilton Industrial Exposition in 1884 he was granted the first diploma ever awarded in Canada for violin making. This can now be seen hanging on the wall of his shop at [address hidden]
19There was not enough business for a violin maker in Hamilton and Toronto, so Mr. Gould came to Boston in 1885 and worked for Orin Weeman for whom his second son is named. Two or three years later he went home to England, returning in 1889 to open
21³ Listed in Bachmann, Alberto A. An Encyclopedia of the Violin p. 54.
22⁴ Listed in Willibald, Leo. Die Geigen und Lautenmacher p. 232.
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