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<p>WILKES-BARRE TWP. &#8212; With a large inventory and a knowledgeable staff of musicians, technicians and teachers, Music Go Round provides a multitude of services to music industry customers in the Wyoming Valley.</p><p>Located at 251 Mundy St., the store carries a variety of guitars, drums, keyboards and orchestral instruments as well as sound equipment and accessories. Music Go Round also offers instrument tune-ups and repairs, along with several private studios for music lessons in guitar, bass, piano and flute.</p><p>The Music Go Round, a chain, started as Hi Tech Consignments Inc. in Minneapolis in 1986. Seven years later, the business was purchased by Winmark and renamed, and Music Go Round now has 34 locations throughout the United States.</p><p>Harry McDonnell and his wife, Linda, both of Shavertown, opened their franchise in Wilkes-Barre Township 18 years ago.</p><p>McDonnell took an early interest in the guitar, playing in fifth grade. His first career job out of college, at a software company, took him further from music for a while, but he said Linda brought him back to it.</p><p>&#8220;My wife is a musician, and we said, &#8216;Let&#8217;s do something together,&#8217;&#8221; McDonnell said. &#8220;We ended up doing this.&#8221;</p><p>Although Music Go Round sells some new products, McDonnell said a defining characteristic is the store&#8217;s focus on second-hand merchandise.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re primarily a used-gear store,&#8221; he said. &#8220;From the customer perspective, you know you can get value point pricing on anything we have.&#8221;</p><p>McDonnell said Music Go Round depends on people to bring in items they have given up on or no longer have use for, which can be an instrument that needs work or something almost new that simply didn&#8217;t match a musician&#8217;s style or feel.</p><p>&#8220;You don&#8217;t have to come in expecting to trade in for another item,&#8221; McDonnell said. &#8220;We will gladly make you an offer on whatever you bring in. We&#8217;ll buy anything and sell anything, from an instrument to a music stand.&#8221;</p><p>Music Go Round&#8217;s spectrum of instruments caters to everyone from the beginner to the more experienced player looking for professional-grade gear.</p><p>&#8220;If you&#8217;re a beginner, we&#8217;ll try to fit you with something reasonably priced to get you started, hopefully something that will take,&#8221; McDonnell said.</p><p>Matthew Gabriel, 34, of Wilkes-Barre, bought his first bass guitar at Music Go Round when it opened in 1999. Gabriel&#8217;s brother was classically trained in piano and violin by Linda McDonnell at another music school, and his family was invited to see the store&#8217;s inventory before its opening.</p><p>&#8220;I might have bought the first bass that was sold there,&#8221; Gabriel said. &#8220;And since then, I&#8217;ve purchased five more basses from them.&#8221;</p><p>Lessons are offered in guitar and bass by several seasoned musicians employed by the store, and Linda McDonnell is the primary teacher for piano and flute.</p><p>Harry McDonnell said about 75 percent of the store&#8217;s students are beginners; the rest are practiced and even professional players who want to sharpen their skills by learning from a musician with more experience.</p><p>For the neglected or ailing instrument, Music Go Round offers a wide range of maintenance and repair services, including everything from a general cleaning and tune-up to more intensive electronics repairs and replacements.</p><p>Store manager Josh Turner, of Forty Forty, helps customers as a retail salesman and a technician &#8212; he&#8217;s one of the store&#8217;s most experienced with electric guitar components.</p><p>Turner said he enjoys assisting customers who come in with a guitar they think is in disrepair or incapable of sounding how they&#8217;d like.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s pretty gratifying knowing you can make someone&#8217;s instrument play better,&#8221; Turner said. &#8220;There are (customers) who will ask for me personally, because I built something for them 10 years ago.&#8221;</p><p>But working on instruments isn&#8217;t the best part of Turner&#8217;s job.</p><p>&#8220;Personally, my favorite time of the year is the Christmas season,&#8221; he said. &#8220;You&#8217;re getting new blood into the industry. You can sell (customers) a guitar, something affordable that&#8217;s best for a beginner, but what you really want to sell them is the knowledge that not everybody becomes an overnight sensation. You want to let them know that it takes a lot of dedication to play their instrument well.&#8221;</p><p>In terms of customers and students served, Harry McDonnell said Music Go Round has been on a consistent growth path since opening nearly two decades ago.</p><p>&#8220;We had our best year last year,&#8221; he said. &#8220;&#8230; And we&#8217;re already ahead of that pace so far this year. We&#8217;re on an upward trajectory. Business is good.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Linda and Harry McDonnell opened their music store, Music Go Round, 18 years ago. Linda, a musician, is the primary piano and flute teacher at the business. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTL043017excellingMusic-Go-Round1-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Linda and Harry McDonnell opened their music store, Music Go Round, 18 years ago. Linda, a musician, is the primary piano and flute teacher at the business. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTL043017excellingMusic-Go-Round4-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Acoustic guitars hang at the store, which deals in new and used instruments that also include drums, keyboards and orchestral pieces. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTL043017excellingMusic-Go-Round4-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Acoustic guitars hang at the store, which deals in new and used instruments that also include drums, keyboards and orchestral pieces. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTL043017excellingMusic-Go-Round2-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">John Delaney, a guitar and sales tech at Music Go Round, works on a guitar. Maintenance and repair services at the music store range from a regular tune-up to electronics repairs and replacements. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTL043017excellingMusic-Go-Round2-2.jpg</photo2><caption2>John Delaney, a guitar and sales tech at Music Go Round, works on a guitar. Maintenance and repair services at the music store range from a regular tune-up to electronics repairs and replacements. </caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTL043017excellingMusic-Go-Round3-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Store manager Josh Turner picks an acoustic guitar at Music Go Round in Wilkes-Barre Township. Turner says his favorite part of the job is ushering &#8216;new blood&#8217; into the music industry. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTL043017excellingMusic-Go-Round3-2.jpg</photo3><caption3>Store manager Josh Turner picks an acoustic guitar at Music Go Round in Wilkes-Barre Township. Turner says his favorite part of the job is ushering &#8216;new blood&#8217; into the music industry. </caption3><photoCredit3>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta></subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Matt Mattei</p><p>mmattei@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>MUSIC GO ROUND</strong></p><p>&#8226; <strong>Address</strong>: 251 Mundy St., Wilkes-Barre Township</p><p>&#8226; <strong>Year opened</strong>: 1999</p><p>&#8226; <strong>Owners</strong>: Harry and Linda McDonnell</p><p>&#8226; <strong>Phone</strong>: 570-823-8733</p><p>&#8226; <strong>Website</strong>: <a href="http://www.musicgoroundpa.com/" target="_blank">musicgoroundpa.com</a></p><p>&#8226; <strong>Prices: </strong>Instruments range from $50 to $1,500 and up. Music lessons cost $20 for a 30-minute session once a week. Customers should call to inquire about maintenance and repair because pricing is done on a case-by-case basis.</p><p>&#8226; <strong>Notable</strong>: The store depends on customers who sell used and unwanted gear.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Matt Mattei at 570-991-6651 or on Twitter @TimesLeaderMatt.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre Township’s Music Go Round in tune with Wyoming Valley