VISIONARY - Music Inc. Magazine

CLEARTONE COATED
STRINGS A “front-and-center”
mantra sells Cleartone coated
strings for Mills Music’s Brian Bell.
“They are some of the first things
people see when they come in,”
said the Kennewick, Wash., dealer.
He has a Cleartone-only display
to set the company’s product
apart from his other string brands.
Unlike other coated strings,
Cleartone’s protective EMP film
prolongs the lifespan of a set
without compromising tone.
O-PORT Using customblended
materials for maximum
flexibility and sound hole protection,
the O-Port suppresses
feedback and enhances the
clarity of any acoustic guitar.
It’s readily available for demo at
Firehouse Guitars in Grandville,
Mich., where Terry Lewis
keeps them installed in similar
models for cross-comparison.
“I had two Seagull S6 guitars,
one with the product, one
without,” Lewis said. “What
a difference! They pretty
much sell themselves.”
KALA U-BASS The anticipation
for Kala’s short-scale
U-Bass has been so great
that Scott Maxwell of Reno’s
Music has even created a
separate website, ukulelehotline.com,
to further promote
the ukulele category. Along
with a uke-specific book
section, he’s spread out 20
ukes over 16 feet of slatwall,
which garners the attention of
almost every customer base.
“Families, kids, adults and
musicians — they are all part
of the demographic for this
easy music maker,” he said.
AX-CESSORIES
The guitar sector’s hottest new
margin-producing add-ons.
BLUE CHIP PICKS Concocted
from a “space age”
composite, Blue Chip picks
provide tortoiseshell tone
without any wear or need to
polish. Their self-lubricating
properties make for flawless,
quick play, and the
critically revered brand also
comes as thumbpicks. “You
can’t break it,” said Joe Vest
of Big Joe’s Guitar Works.
SOULDIER STRAPS “[Souldier]
has really given the girls something
different,” said Raegan Medeiros of
John Michael’s Music and Sound
in Muskogee, Okla. The designs “fit
a niche that we have dubbed the
‘Taylor Swift Girls,’” she added,
referring to 8- to 16-year-olds
who opt for something
slightly more sophisticated.
She suggested
pairing the strap with
a traditional guitar as
a great selling technique,
especially “when the daughter
wants a pink guitar and
the parents are looking at
something less trendy.”
STONEWORKS PICKS
Carved out of agate jasper,
StoneWorks picks “actually
recreate the sound of a real
tortoiseshell pick,” said
Harry Gillum of Showtime
Music in Bridgeport, W.V.
“Plus, they’re very uniquelooking.”
Gillum hands the
picks to acoustic players
who are demoing guitars
and also arranges 25 of
them at each point-of-sale
area. “It’s almost like potato
chip bags on a clip rack.”
JULY 2011 I MUSIC INC. I 75