Jed – Interesting question - I'm always amazed by the depth of knowledge here on Mudcat.

Recently I subscribed to an on-line newspaper archive in hopes of finding some genealogy info.   They have various newspapers reaching back to the late 1790's..   

In a decidedly unscientific survey I placed a number of musical terms into their search engine, along with "United States only" and "Between the years of 1800 and 1850" - the following hits were revealed. These may be words in bona fide news stories or they may be advertisements, but one can get a rough idea of the popularity of the word in those times.   I didn't try "bones" or "triangle" or "virginal" because those also have other than musical meanings. When I've got more time I'll run the same names from 1850 to 1900.

Lute – 9,693 hits (this may have more than a musical connotation?)
Piano – 7,101 hits
Violin – 4,414 hits (Fiddle – 481 hits)
Fife – 2,568 hits
Harp – 2,535 hits   
Drum – 2,382 hits
Flute – 1,988 hits
Guitar – 1,854 hits
Choir – 1,467 hits
Trumpet – 1,261 hits
Singer – 807 hits
Tuba – 439 hits
Performer – 316 hits
Orchestra – 272 hits
Brass Band – 219 hits
Accordion – 219 hits
Banjo – 145 hits
Spinet -21 hits
Dulcimer – 16 hits
Harmonica – 12 hits
Mandolin – 5 hits
Concertina – No hits