About Steve Weiss Music

Percussion Specialists Since 1961

Steve Weiss didn’t open a music store. He started renting marimbas out of a 1960s Plymouth.

That distinction matters. Most percussion retailers exist to move product. Steve Weiss Music exists because Steve spent years hunting music shops and estate sales across the northeast, searching for instruments most dealers never heard of, and eventually other players started calling to ask where he found them.

How Steve Weiss Started Collecting Rare Percussion

It started with a job on the Reading Railroad. The railroad let Steve travel for free, so he used it. He worked the day shift and played gigs on nights and weekends, and when he could, he’d duck into a shop like Ted’s Music in Baltimore looking for a vintage marimba or a timpano that had been sitting in a corner too long. He wasn’t building a business. He was building a collection.

From Rental Business to Full-Service Percussion Shop

Word got around. When Steve’s teacher Mickey Bookspan of the Philadelphia Orchestra asked if Steve could rent him a marimba, the answer was yes, partly because Steve had one, and partly because nobody else in the area was doing it. No one was renting marimbas, timpani, or taxi horns at the time. Steve filled the gap.

Philadelphia Music Rental came first. The retail side followed when customers started asking whether they could buy instead of borrow. He said yes to that too. That’s how Steve Weiss Music was born—not from a business plan, but from a series of practical decisions made by someone who knew the instruments and was willing to show up.

Trained Percussionists on Staff—Not Just Salespeople

Over 60 years later the inventory is considerably larger and the reach is global, but the business still runs on the same idea: stock products the big chains won’t bother with, hire people who actually play, and treat every customer like they know what they’re talking about. The majority of our staff are trained percussionists. When you call us with a question about a specific mallet, piece of sheet music, or hard-to-find part you’re talking to someone who has probably played the instrument you’re asking about.

Everything Percussion

From hand-built concert marimbas and specialty gongs to marching band equipment, rare sheet music, and everyday essentials—if it’s percussion, we probably have it or we can get it.

“Shop the Legend” – Steve Weiss Music