BMG (Banjo, Mandolin and Guitar) magazine, 1945 – 74

A collection of BMG magazine was donated to us recently. The title in its entirety was Banjo, Mandolin and Guitar, and this was a monthly which started in 1903 and disappeared in 1976. (It seems it restarted in 2009 as a quarterly, lasting until 2021.) Our collection is scattered between 1945 and 1974.

 This is a title new to us and it arose, we learn, out of the BMG movement of the late nineteenth century, and then shifted its focus over the years to fit in with changing trends. By 1945 it was the magazine ‘devoted to the interests of the banjo, mandolin, guitar and kindred instruments’, and by 1974 reached out to ‘all fretted instrument players’. It wasn’t expensive (9d in 1945, 20p in 1974) but was generally thin with little advertising and all in black and white.

 Full-page ads were on the whole restricted to the back page and inner cover pages. We’re showing a selection here, for guitars, plectrums, playing techniques, lessons (Novello), sheet music, instrument repairs, strings and machine heads. Editorial, with black and white photography ,was the main purpose, though, with articles on featured musicians, performances, reviews, sheet music, news, and plenty of small ads.

 As part of its efforts to maximise its audience (and chances of survival), it changed publisher in 1973, calling itself Guitarist incorporating BMG before resuming the old title and publisher after just three issues. We have those three issues in our set, and are delighted to add these two hundred-odd copies to our collection.