Music Trade Review

Issue: 1920 Vol. 71 N. 4

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
36
THE
MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
JULY 24, 1920
IN THE MUSICAL MERCHANDISE DOMAIN—(Continued from page 35)
AMERICAN JAZZ FOR CHUSAN FEW
STRING FASTENER AND ADJUSTER
RESPONSIBLE FOR MUCH JAZZ
Disciples of Buddha Welcome Melody-laden
Junk and Put Island on the Map
New Patent Refers Especially to Violin E
Strings—Allows Fine Adjustment
Worcester, Mass., Man Wins Success in the
Making of Jazz Instruments
Somewhere in the southern stretches of Hang
Chow Bay, off the East Coast of China, the fishes
swim shoreward of a Summer's evening to hear
melodious strains coming from a lone organ
which was shipped to the island of Chusan in
May. After a long journey from the United
States the instrument was loaded onto a Chinese
junk and set off on the last lap of its journey
to the Far East. The junk arrived safely—(we
mean the boat, not the instrument)—and thus
it comes about that the island of Chusan breaks
into print in the U. S. export statistics, even if
the compilers insist that the place is Chosen.
Although the information is utterly superfluous
we add that this same island is midway between
Chow Hing and Ning-po, is east of several un-
pronounceable provinces and west of so many
square miles of ocean that even a Government
statistician has not the time to figure out the
answer.
Since the month of May the musical appetite
of the Chosen few, or the Chusan few, if we
must be accurate, has increased amazingly and
experts are agog over .the fact. The natives
brought in one player-piano valued at $190, in
addition to the aforesaid organ valued at $500.
A piano of unknown form, worth, or rather
valued, at $310, also found it way into Chusan.
Chinese jazz enthusiasts prevailed upon Buddha
to let $358 worth of talking machines be im-
ported, together with $87 worth of records.
Special wireless reports tell us that since the
introduction of these instruments the natives
await eagerly the periodical arrival of the junk
—again, do not misunderstand—for who knows
what its burden may be?
WASHINGTON, D. C, July 19.—Patent No.
1 ; 331,863 was recently granted to Herman
Cohn, New York, for a string fastener and ad-
juster for musical instrument strings.
The present invention relates to improvements
in string fasteners and adjusters for musical
instrument strings, particularly a device espe-
cially desirable for violin wire E strings. Wire
strings as ordinarily used upon violins are very
difficult to adjust to the exact tone because the
wooden pegs employed for adjusting the string
would not permit of such fine adjustment as is
required to properly tune a wire string. It is
an object of the invention, therefore, to provide
means by which the string may be attached to
the tail piece of the violin with facility and by
means of which it may be adjusted to the very
finest degree, and slippage will be prevented. A
further object is to enable the loop of the string
to be readily secured to the device and easily
removed, that is, its removal will not be made
difficult by the tight binding of the loop caused
by the stretching of the string. Other objects
are to provide such means which will not be-
come loose and will not readily get out of or-
der, and which will be simple in construction
and inexpensive to manufacture.
WORCESTER, MASS., July 19.—Because a Wor-
cester man invented some noise producing in-
struments he gave a terrible impetus to that now
known as jazz. Furthermore, Bernard Walberg
admits that he is not over proud of having been
guilty of inventing and later manufacturing what
seem to be a considerable part of jazz or-
chestras.
In order to make a business a financial suc-
cess he says the popular demand must be catered
to and just now jazz is going very strong in this
country and in England and France, where the
American doughboys introduced it as a side
line while they were showing Heine how to re-
treat to the Fatherland.
No orders for jazz instruments have been re-
ceived from Germany as yet, owing to the fact
no doubt that the Germans are not in a jazzing
mood, but Mr. W r alberg believes the orders are
sure to come. Worcester's musical industry did
not start as manufacturers of jazz instruments
but as manufacturers of percussion musical in-
struments made in a small room in the old
Crompton block, now the Plaza Theatre. This
building has housed practically all the musical
instrument manufacturers in this city. First of
these was Isaac Fiske, in his day, a celebrated
maker of band instruments. A great many of
the band instruments used by the bands in the
Civil War came from the factory of Mr. Fiske
in Worcester.
C. G. Conn of Elkhart, Ind., who bought the
Fiske business, at that time was building the
foundation to what is now the largest band in-
strument factory in the world.
He continued the Fiske factory as an Eastern
branch until 1898, at which'time it was moved
to New York. Mr. Walberg, who was at that
time on the road as trombone soloist with the
Chicago Marine Band, under the leadership of
Thomas Preston Brooke, saw what he thought
was a good business opportunity and tried to
induce the manager of the Worcester branch to
stay in Worcester, a-nd with him to continue the
business. But in his proposition he was unsuc-
cessful.
After five years, when the firm of Walberg &
Auge was organized, A. L. Auge died in 1910 and
his interests in the business was bought from
his widow the same year, the firm name being
continued.
DISPLAY OF HORN INSTRUMENTS
A. R. Cummings, small goods manager for
Grinnell Bros.' Toledo store, reports good busi-
ness and is optimistic concerning Fall trade.
Grinnell Bros, featured a striking window dis-
play last week which included a line of horn
instruments. The demand for small goods is
on the increase in Ohio and many piano dealers
have recently added musical merchandise de-
partments.
BUFFALO DRUM DISPLAY WINDOW
Denton, Cottier & Daniels, Buffalo, N. Y., fea-
tured a line of drums in an interesting window
display last week. This company reports a good
demand for small goods and expects business
to be even better in a month or two. John F.
Huber, general manager, is on his vacation.
BEST STRINGS
JOHNFRIEDRICH&BRO.
~ 279 FlfT HAVE.
OSBORN SECURES NEW PROPERTY
Samuel Osborn Mfg. Co., Chicago small goods
manufacturers, last week secured the piece of
property adjoining their present factory on Sac-
ramento boulevard. It will be used for the
present as a lumber yard. The company have
also recently added an assembling room on the
top floor of their factory.
OPENS NEW STORE
A music store has been established at Fort
Laramie, Ohio, by William Danziger, who for-
merly conducted music stores at Minster and
Osgood in Ohio. The Fort Laramie store will
include an extensive line of, small goods.
SMALL GOODS IN DEMAND
Frank Howard, small goods manager for J.
W. Jenkins' Sons Music Co., Kansas City, Mo.,
is in Chicago, where he placed a number of
orders last week. He reports brisk business in
the Missouri city and is optimistic concerning
future business.
MARTEL'S MUSIC SHOP OPENED
J..*H. Marter has opened a music store known
as Martel's Music Shop in Leominster, Mass.
It carries a full line of musical merchandise and
its motto is "A Wonderful Place for Musical
People."
SECURES NEW POSITION
T. A. Curry, for several years with the small
goods department of the Stewart Store, Louis-
ville, Ky., has resigned to accept a position with
the Aromint Co., traveling Southern territory.
OLIVER DITSON CO.
BOSTON. MA8S.
T H E OLDEST AND
LAROEST MUSICAL
MERCHANDISE HOUSE
IN AMERICA
Motor' Distributors
Manufacturers
I m p o r u n and iebban •*
MUSICAL
MERCHANDISE
B. & J. GETS 'CELLO COLLECTION
Buegeleisen & Jacobson, New York City mu-
sical merchandise jobbers, have just secured an-
other exceptionally fine collection of 'cellos.
The 'cellos are rare old instruments of the Strad
type and were secured from a collector in Ger-
many. That the acquisition fills a much needed
want in the trade is evidenced by the fact that
they are going fast, nearly every dealer who
visits tht' Union Square warerooms taking one
or two.
Carl Nelson, president of the Vega Co., Bos-
ton, Mass., called on the trade in Portland, Ore.,
last week.
Black Diamond
Strings
THE WORLD'S BEST
Attractive Specialties
Modern Service
National Musical String Co.
ESTABLISHED 1834
New Brunswick, N. J.
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
JULY 24, 1920
MUSIC
TRADE
37
REVIEW
HIGEL CO. EXPANDS IN ENGLAND
BRITISH PIANO^ ACTION MERGER
Has Great Possibilities and Large Supply Is
Now Available—In Former Years This Wood
Was Popular for All Work
Big Addition Being Built to Piano Action Plant
in That Country—Registered Last Month
About twenty-five years ago, when elm was
being extensively used for basket splints and
rims, and also for slack-barrel staves and head-
ing, as well as for hoops, apprehension began
to be felt that the elm supply would soon be
exhausted, and seemingly because of this, there
was great casting about for other woods to sub-
stitute for elm.
This was the day of the great turning to gum,
and since that time gum has been developed and
exploited until it has become a leader in our cab-
inet woods instead of a neglected forest product,
and meantime the elm has been neglected until
to-day the relation of the elm supply to other
timber supplies is strongly 'suggestive of advan-
tages which might accrue from a turning again
to the use of more elm in veneer and basket
industries, says Veneers, in discussing the lumber
supply question.
\
Illustrative of the present situation, in a recent
interview with a package manufacturer who uses
elm in slat form, he reported that while some
other woods were very scarce and hard to ob-
tain, elm was plentiful. He found it higher in
price, the same as other woods, but the available
supply was much better.
There is more than a hint in this; it is a re-
minder that we should ask ourselves about elm
and give a little more attention to its immediate
possibilities in the veneer world. Elm has many
qualities to commend it for plain veneer work,
and for some purposes it is really a superior
wood. A little investigation of the matter to-
day may help some of the veneer manufacturers
solve at least part of the present raw-material
problem.
LONDON, ENGLAND, July 5.—The Higel Co.,
Ltd., well-known manufacturers of piano ac-
tions, was registered on June 7 with a capital of
150,000 pounds, the shares not being offered for
public subscription. Otto Higel is chairman of
the company and has the controlling interest.
H. E. Gamble is managing director, and the
other directors are Lieut.-Gen. Sir Arthur Slog-
gett, Major-Gen. Lord Edward Gleichen and J.
Richardson Sowerby. The secretary of the com-
pany is A. G. Corbett.
Arrangements have been made to add 4,000
square feet of floor space to the present fac-
tory of the company at Church Walk, Stoke
Xewington, and it is expected that the additional
space will be ready for occupation at an early
date. The factory addition will be of fireproof
construction. It is stated that the plans of the
company call eventually for factory buildings
with 200,000 square feet of space, on the com-
modious site recently purchased.
Group of Piano Men Acquire British Rights of
Schwandler Action From J. Herrburger of
Paris—Rights Merged With Brooks Action
Factory—Company Incorporated for £250,000
USE OF ELM FOR VENEER WORK
Robt I* K«pp. PrMldent
Makers of High Grade
SSsK HAMMERS
Ask for our "Super Strong-" Hammer, the Sides of
which are made double strength by a special process
279 Morris Ave., Cor. East 139th St., N. Y.
FOR YOU
Are you still wasting your time and go-
ing to the expense of scraping off old
varnish and shellac to eliminate the
checks and cracks in order to secure a
smooth surface for refinishing?
Use Behleo's Vamish Crack Eradica-
tor.
It saves time, trouble and incidentally
expense, at the same time giving you as
fine a body surface for the new finish
as you could possibly wish for.
A sample can for trial awaits your
request
li Behlen & Bro.
Anilines >/&x. > «Stains
Shellacs
••P 1 -
Fillers
3 7 ! PEARL*ST., NtwYoRK
WOOL PRODUCTION IN ALBERTA
Consul Samuel C. Keat Prepares Report of In-
terest to Wool and Supply Men
CALGARY, ALBERTA, July 19.—Alberta's wool clip
in 1919 totaled about 2,115,000 pounds, with an
approximate value of $1,225,000, according to es-
timates made by the director for Alberta of the
Canadian Co-operative Wool Growers, Ltd.
Of the total production, the farmers marketed
1,463,859 pounds through the Canadian Co-opera-
tive Wool Growers' Association, and sold about
650,000 pounds direct to brokers. The bulk of
Alberta's wool was sold in the United States
principally in Boston.
The prices obtained by the co-operative asso-
ciation ranged from 40 to 6Sy 2 cents a pound,
averaging about 58 cents a pound. Average
prices obtained in previous years were: 1914,
19 cents; 1915, 27 H cents; 1916, 29 cents; 1917.
60 cents; 1918, 60 cents.
The total amount of wool invoiced through
the American consulate in Calgary for the
United States in 1919 was 243,756 pounds, valued
at $142,594; that through the consular agency
in Lethbridge, 884,177 pounds, valued at $515,-
544; and that through the Edmonton agency,
29,795 pounds, valued at $20,344.
LONDON, ENGLAND, July 5.—Negotiations have
at last been completed whereby the interests
of the Brooks Action Factory have been merged
with the British rights of J. Herrburger of
Paris, maker of the famous Schwandler actions.
The company has been registered at Somerset
and has a capital of £250,000. Shortly after the
formation of the British Associated Pianomak-
ITS a deputation was sent to Paris to secure the
British rights to the Schwandler actions. This
deputation was successful in securing an option
on these rights and in due time negotiations
between Mr. Herrburger and representatives of
the British Associated Pianomakers were com-
pleted. The move was made by a group of piano
men who desired to have an adequate supply of
actions in England.
An announcement made here recently says:
"Herrburger Brooks, Ltd., has been registered
with a nominal capital of £250,000 in £1 shares.
The objects are: To enter into agreements (a)
with J. J. Herrburger and (b) with the Aeolian
Co., Ltd., and the Chappell Piano Co., Ltd., C. E.
Heath and W. J. Mallinson, and to carry on in
the United Kingdom, in the British Dominions,
beyond the seas, Protectorates and Mandatories
under the League of Nations, and in the U. S. A.
and (subject to certain provisions in the agree-
ment first above mentioned in any other part of
the world) the business of manufacturers of
and dealers in piano actions, etc. The first di-
rectors are: C. E. Heath (underwriter, member
of Lloyds, and chairman John Broadwood &
Son, Ltd.); A. J. Mason (chairman Aeolian Co.,
Ltd., and managing director of Orchestrelle Co.,
Ltd.); J. J. Herrburger, Paris, manufacturer of
piano actions and keys; F. W. Shenstone (di-
rector Shenstone & Co., Ltd., and Brooks, Ltd.);
I'".. Brooks, engineer and managing director of
Brooks, Ltd.; F. B. Allen, Gerrards Cross, piano
manufacturer; W. J. Mallinson, director of John
r.roadwood & Sons, Ltd."
INVISIBLE HINGES
"OUT OF SIGHT
HEED OUR ADVICE
And when you're satisfied
that we've the best punch*
ings on the market, cut
clean and accurately from
the best of material in
celluloid, cloth, felt, fibre,
leather, paper, rubber or
whatever you want, give
us credit and send your
orders to
C. F. GOEPEL & CO.
137 E. 13th STREET
NEW YORK
EVER IN MIND"
When you fail to
see an unsightly
Hinge protruding
you know "SOSS"
is the answer.
Soss Hinges
emphasize beautiful
wood finishes as
there is no project-
ing metal on either
side of door.
Made in
numerous sizes.
Send for Catalog "S*
SOSS MANUFACTURING CO
Grand Are. and Bergen St.,
BROOKLYN, N. T.

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