Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1913 Vol. 56 N. 3

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
Can Artistic Traditions Be Moved Like Freight.
AN anyone transplant all of the virtues which go with an old-
established piano manufacturing business with them into any
new enterprise?
Can the essential elements which have contributed to success
in the upbuilding of a piano name be transferred like freight over
night ?
If so, then what does name value amount to? What does
trade-mark value count?
What does the cumulative result of decades of workmen figure
if these things can be done? And yet, to read the advertisements
of a St. Louis department store, "The Grand Leader," one would
imagine that this could be successfully accomplished like the trans-
portation of merchandise.
The attractive advertisements recently put forth by the Grand
Leader regarding the Knabe Bros, piano would seem intended to
convince readers that when Ernest J. and Win. Knabe, 3rd, left
the American Piano Co. they not only took with them the family
name, but all of the knowledge of how to build a piano and that
the workmen left behind in the Baltimore factory quickly followed
them in their new enterprise.
Does such advertising show the right spirit on the part of the
Grand Leader? In a recent advertisement put forth by this house
appeared the following: "The possibility of making great gains
out of the word 'Knabe' suggested itself to a group of modern-
day capitalists. In the effort for increased dividends many of the
underlying principles handed down by Wm. Knabe, 1st, were com-
pletely lost sight of, his teachings were disregarded, simply because
doing so meant increased gain, then Ernest J. Knabe, Jr., and
Wm. Knabe, 3rd, the only living Knabes, came West to Cincinnati
with a band of faithful workers, some of whose great grandfathers
had worked at the side of Wm. Knabe, 1st.
"Here in an atmosphere not dominated solely by dollars and
cents problems, they came, actuated by a noble purpose."
Then the advertisement goes on to say that quite naturally
that purpose was to build a good piano. That one of them "per-
sonally draws the scales of every Knabe Bros, piano which is sent
out," and that they personally supervise all of the pianos in the
various processes of construction.
If the advertisement simply embodied claims made for the
new Knabe Bros, piano, we might stop there, and say that was the
advertiser's privilege, but obviously it involves a very hard stab at
the American Piano Co. and its business methods, its present man-
agement and the pianos which the division of Wm. Knabe & Co.
produces.
The advertising put forth by the St. Louis house has been of
such a character that the American Piano Co. has brought suit
against the Grand Leader and Knabe Bros. Co. to have the de-
partment store enjoined from selling pianos having the name of
"Knabe" on the fallboard.
In the advertisement of the Grand Leader appears the follow-
ing as a special note: "The Knabes of the present generation,
Messrs Wm. Knabe, 3rd, and Ernest J. Knabe, Jr., are now engage!
in making the Knabe Bros, piano, which is the only piano manu-
factured by Knabe to-day. Their piano must not be confused with
the original "Knabe" of Baltimore, formerly made by them, but
with the making of which no Knabe is now connected."
It is hardly necessary to analyze the insinuations made in the
advertising matter put forth. It might be said that the American
Piano Co. is suing Knabe Bros. Co. for infringement of name and
in other actions and the actual position of the piano manufactured
by the Knabe Bros. Co. has been determined by a United States
court, which decided that every piano made by them must be dis-
tinctly marked that it is "not an original Knabe."
The natural inference from the court decision would be that a
legal tribunal accepts the Knabe piano made in Baltimore as em-
bodying the prestige associated for seventy-five years with the
Knabe name.
The question which is quite naturally asked would be why this
decision unless for the purpose of protecting stockholders of the
American Piano Co. and the piano purchasing public?
In this connection it is only right to say that Charles Keidel,
now president of Wm. Knabe & Co., a division of the American
C
Piano Co., is a grandson on the maternal side of Wm. Knabe the
first, and nearly all of his business life has been passed in close
association with the Knabe business.
The two Knabe brothers, after leaving the American Piano Co.,
secured the piano manufacturing plant owned by Smith & Nixon,
located in a suburb of Cincinnati. This plant was subsequently de-
stroyed by fire, and the Knabe Bros. Co. became established in its
present factory.
The question of comparison of values of the different instru-
ments is hardly necessary, but, so far as any deterioration of the
piano made in the Baltimore factory is concerned, we might add
that recently dealers and experts have stated in the most unquali-
fied language that the present Knabe piano is a quality instrument
in the truest sense of the word, and surely the great artists who
have played upon it recently in public performances have given
their approval of its artistic qualities.
The officers of the American Piano Co. have stated in the
strongest possible terms that no expense would be spared in main-
taining the Knabe standard. That they have backed up this state-
ment by acts would seem to be conclusively proven in the testi-
monials given in the widespread approval of their work.
Last summer, on the seventy-fifth anniversary of the estab-
lishment of the house of Wm. Knabe & Co., the old factory em-
ployees signed a statement addressed to the American Piano Co.,
in which it was stated that the Knabe piano made in the Baltimore
factory at the present time takes precedent over the product of
previous years.
So it would seem that the position of the Knabe piano as a
high grade instrument has not only been sustained, but has been
materially augmented within a recent period.
So far as the Grand Leader advertising is concerned, the pro-
prietors of this house, Messrs. Stix, Baer & Fuller, have a splendid
reputation in St. Louis, which they have acquired through years
of honorable dealing, and it is safely assumed that a form of mis-
representative advertising is not in accordance with the wishes or
desires of the principals of the house.
It is also assumed that investigation has not been made by them
as to the claims put forth by the advertising department of that
institution.
Investigation concerning piano history is at all times interest-
ing, and the more one delves into the history of an instrument like
the Knabe, the more one point is impressed upon the mind, and
that is to produce instruments of high grade throughout a long
period of years there must be an organization created which shall
work in harmony, because it is through organized effort that results
must be achieved, and, as we asked at the beginning of this article,
if a creative organization—if good will—if accumulated values of
various kinds, including sentiment, can be transferred over night,
then what does high grade piano manufacturing amount to?
The best posted men of the industry know that it takes years
of intelligent effort to create a truly artistic piano, and every new
piano which is placed upon the market should be exploited simply
upon its own merits and not through an attempt to pull down
another instrument and another position by reference to it.
Such methods invariably react upon the individuals making
them, and any house which puts forth an announcement extolling
its own goods with an intent to belittle or discredit others, usually
is unsuccessful.
The piano business has been one of evolution and when we
go back seventy-five years and compare the instruments of those
days with the present, the comparison is educating to say the least,
and if an institution has existed through all of a period of seventy-
five years, it is self-evident that it must have created an organiza-
tion which in itself constitutes an element of strength in order that
the great piano name can be successfully upheld.
Granted, that a name value is the result of continuous effort
for an indefinite period and has been created as the result of organ-
ized effort, can all of these virtues be transferred like freight from
one end of the country to the other?
If this can be successfully accomplished, why then it will be
necessary to write an entirely new chapter upon family patronymics
which insure to the public a certain standard of values.
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
8
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
COLD WEATHER HURTS PACIFIC COAST BUSINESS.
Heavy Loss of Fruit Growers in Southern California Expected to Affect Piano Sales in That
District—Prominent Pianos Being Used in Concert—Kohler & Chase Activities—Separate
Organization to Handle Electric Pianos—Portland Piano Men Entertained.
(Special to The Review.)
San Francisco, Cal, Jan. 13, 1913.
The weather as we'll as the season has been a
little against business this week. California has
been sharing with the rest of the country in the
cold snap that arrived about the opening of the
year. In fact, California has been hit with a week
of the coldest weather known here in a quarter of
a century and, with the exception of two or three
days, the coldest ever recorded. Singularly enough,
the South has been the coldest, and California as
a whole has been colder than Oregon, though the
northern Coast States have also suffered from
storms.
.Jn this city the immediate effect has been to
keep buyers at home and to defer the closing of
sales to a more propitious time. This is, of course,
not a very serious matter, as most of these sales
will be made later and what is this week's loss will
be next week's gain; but in the southern part of
California, and perhaps in the orange growing dis-
tricts of the central portion of the State, the per-
manent loss will 'be very heavy. The citrus fruit
growers of Southern California alone will lose
anywhere from $20,000,000 up to twice that
amount. This is bound to react not only on the
retail trade of the southern cities and towns, but
on the wholesale business of San Francisco and
Los Angeles as well. Nevertheless, as a dealer
points out, this loss, though large, is really a very
small matter as compared with the total industry
of the districts affected, and will react more on
inflated real estate values than on the piano trade.
Godowsky Scores with the Knabe.
The musical history of San Francisco for the
year 1913 opened with the recitals of Leopold
Godowsky. The Knabe piano used by GodoVsky
was supplied by Kohler & Ghase, who have ac-
cordingly enjoyed an excellent Knabe week in
spite of the weather. In Los Angeles, where
Godowsky now is, the Fitzgerald Music Co. is get-
ting the benefit of the Knabe publicity.
CLOVER
Mason & Hamlin in Concert.
In Portland, the Wiley B. Allen Co. is in the
front with the Mason & Hamlin at the opening of
the new year. That company has already supplied
Mason & Hamlins for two artists since the first of
bhe year. These were Carrie Jacobs Bond, on
January 3, and Olga Steeb, on January 9.
Kohler & Chase Plans for the New Year.
year with a well advertised sale as an introduc-
tory matter.
Grant Falkenstein, manager of FalkensLein's
Music House at Fresno, Cal., believes that he has
made a good start for the new year by dosing a
contract with the management of the new Hotel
Fresno at bhat place for a Knabe Bros, grand
piano. This was used for the first time at the
opening of the big hotel on January 7.
R. J. Eilers, managing director of the Eilers
Music House, who passed through San Francisco
a few days since on his way to Pasadena, Cal., in
company with the Royal Rosarians of Portland,
Ore., has now returned to San Francisco for a visit
of a week or two with Manager Gannon, of the
San Francisco Eilers store. Mr. Eilers is more
than usually enthusiastic as to the trade possibili-
ties all along the Coast. He has started the year
with a big advertising campaign at practically all
of the "forty stores" of the company.
C. H. Harwood, advertising manager in Califor-
nia for the Eilers Music House, left this week on
an observation tour through the State. This week
he is in the Sacramento Valley noting business
conditions in that section.
Mr. Grosskopf, a well-known salesman from the
Seattle store of Kohler & Chase, who has been
made head salesman of the same company's Oak-
land, Cal., store, arrived from the north this week.
W. B. Ragland, vice-president and manager of
Kohler & Chase, who has been in the north for a
couple of weeks, returned this week and is now
busied with general plans for the new year. He
reports that the growth of the company's business
in Oregon, Washington and Idaho has been so
great in the last f^ months that it has now be-
come necessary to divide the territory for whole-
sale purposes. Heretofore >the whole Northwest
has been considered more or less as one unit under
the management of a-single manager. The division
of the territory has been under consideration for
some time, and the phenomenal business of De-
cember, the best month of 191*2, has brought the
matter to a head. A new manager for Washington
and Oregon will be named shortly, while the whole-
sale business for Oregon will continue in charge
of Manager Phillips, of the Portland store. While
NEW STOREJVUKING GOOD.
in the North Mr. Ragland assisted in installing A.
(Special to The Review.)
K Schumacher as manager of the store at Spo-
Troy, O., Jan. 13, 1913.
kane, Washington. Mr. Schumacher has hereto-
The
Correy
Music
Store,
which was opened here
fore been with the Portland store, where his good
a little over a month ago, reports that the outlook
work attracted attention.
for the sale of pianos and player-pianos in this
Bad Weather Hurting Business South.
territory is very fine. The store, of w-hich Charles
George K. Hughes, of the Wiley B. Allen Co., H. Miller is the manager, handles the H. P. Nelson,
states that the recent cold weather will undoubtedly
Steger and Singer pianos and player-pianos and
have a very adverse effect on business, and espe- carries a stock of about thirty instruments. The
cially on collections, in southern California. This, proprietor of the store is John Correy, a wealthy
he says, will make it necessary for the house to farmer, who is now devoting his full time to the
confine its spring campaign in that district largely piano business.
to the cities which have other lines of activity be-
sides the citrus fruit industry to fall back upon.
NEW BUILDING COMPLETED.
In view of the rain which followed the cold snap,
Mr. Hughes feels greatly encouraged regarding
The new seven-story building of the J. W.
conditions in northern and central California, Jenkins' Sons Music Co., Kansas City, Mo., has
v here the company is preparing for a steady in- been completed and the company is already occu-
crease of business. Contracts have been let for pying six of the floors with its piano stock. The
the changes in the Sacramento branch, which will new building is of heavy construction and is de-
have several rooms added on the ground floor and signed to permit the erection of seven additional
in the basement, as well as a new front and in- stories when required.
terior fittings. The work will be done during the
rainy season, when business is naturally slow, so
that the branch will have practically new quarters
for the spring trade.
r-Glue Bills
BRAND
New Concern to Handle Electric Players.
or
A change of some importance is announced in
the policy of Kohler & Chase, who are preparing
to discontinue handling electric pianos and similar
goods as an integral part of their business. It is
understood that the firm will remain in actual con-
trol of these lines, but that a new company witli
separate organization and management from the
parent concern will be organized to conduct the
sale of this class of goods. Some details of the
plans are still to be worked out, but the personnel
and management of the new company wil^ prob-
ably be known in a few days. The lines will be
moved to another location and the space vacated
used for the regular player lines.
No Pay For Me
Employes in Portland Entertained.
THE FELfERS 01
WEWYORK
CHFCAGO
BOSTON'
PHILADELPHIA
Last week J. H. Dundore, general manager for
the northern part of the Coast for Sherman, Clay
& Co., gave a dinner to twenty-eight employes of
the company's Portland store, the occasion being
worthy of the season as well as the closing of a
successful year and the opening of an auspicious
one for the house. Mr. Dundore, who has been
connected with Sherman, Clay & Co. for many
years and who has been manager at Portland since
the resignation of G. F. Johnson some months ago,
gave his guests a heart-to-heart talk on the ethics
of salesmanship and on the practical and other
benefits of loyalty.
Personals.
L. H. Schrader, of Richmond, Cal., has opened
a piano department at that place and is starting the
The Chute & Butjer Co., of Peru, Ind.,
express their degree of satisfaction as fol-
lows :—
"You will be interested to know that the
scientific method of testing glue, which you
have installed, has proven very satisfactory.
It has enabled us to reduce our total glue
cost 50%, and has given more satisfactory
results as to quality of work.
"As a practical man, I cannot recommend
it too highly, and I should be glad to speak
a good word for it to any wood working or
piano company. Thanking you for the great
care you took in teaching us, -and wishing
you the very best of success, I am, yours
very truly, E. J. Fishbaugh, Supt."
Send me a % pound sample of your glue,
with price attached, and amount used per
year, together with number of square feet
you are spreading per pound of glue. I will
analyze your glue and make you a proposi-
tion that you cannot afford to turn down.
John W. Beiger
Mechanical Engineer and Glue Expert
Room 11, Guaranty Bldg., Mishawaka, Ind.
Not connected with any Glue Factory

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