JULY
21, 1923
·THE
MUSIC
TRi
.J
REVIEW
5
Service for the Reproducing Pianos
The Necessity for Educating the Tuner and Repairman in the Dealers' Organization and the Independent
Tuner and Repairman on the Technical Side of This Instrument- Co-operation of Both Dealers
and Manufacturers Needed in Achieving This Vitally Important Task
A piano merchant in the East who, while do
ing a substantial business, has up to this time
refused to handle reproducing pianos, stated as
a reason for his attitude that he feared to face
the trouble and expense of keepin g the instru
ments adju sted, declaring that some deal er
friends of his are bewailing the cost of bringing
experts from the factory to make necessary ad
ju stments to instruments in the customers'
hom cs. He maintains that if the customer is
called upon to pay for the repair work he kicks
and often turn s from a booster for into a knocker
of that parti c ular make of reproducin g instru
lIlent. If, on the other hand, the dealer him
self pays the bill to save argument he soon finds
a deep hole dug into his profits . The dealer
also claimed that it was necessa ry to ge t men
from the factory becau se of the inability of
local tuners to handle adjustments and repairs
on reproducing instruments properly and effi
ciently.
The Manufacturers' Viewpoint
In checking up this phase of the question with
the head of a prominent manufacturing hou se
featuring reproducing instruments strongly
Th e Revi ew was informed that, while the atti
tude of that particular dealer wa s unjustified,
the experience of all too many dealers in han
dlin g reproducing piano adjustments and repairs
is due to a lack of co-operation with the service
departrnen t of the manufacturers, parti c ularly
t ho" e manufacturers of reproducing pianos who
lIlaintain crews of service men under competent
direction to travel about th e country continu
ously ca lling on dealers at regular intervals and
in s tru ctin g members of th e de a lers' repair de
partment in the co nstru ction and adjustment of
th e reproducin g action. These service men also
v isit the deal e rs' customers and take care of
repair jobs that are considered beyond the
ability of the retailer's own workmen. These
serv ice departments are operated at heavy cost
and it has been estimated in on e case at lea st
that the cost of repairs and adjustments aver
a)!;es a goo d su m per instrument during the
~o urse of the year.
The Question of Co-operation
Regarding the question of co-operat ion, this
particular manufacturer said if the retailers are
to handle reproducing pianos continuously and
successfully they must g ive real thought to the
question of service, and build up units in their
own organizations to take care of this work,
for they cannot expect the manufacturers to
maintain large and expensive crews of service
m e n indefinitely.
"What the dealer must do is to gather around
him one, two or three competent mechanics
naturally piano tuners-according to the volume
of business he handles, and see to it that these
men are thoroughly trained by some member
of the service crew of the manufacturer, " said
this manufac turer. "If the dealer believes that
hi s business is not sufficiently large to warrant
the ma;ntenance of a large servi ce of his own
he should see to it that local independent tun ers
who handle his work have opportunities of
studying the particular action he is using so
that they may be able to make adjustments
without calling th e factory head. Unfortunately,
some of the dealers are narrow-minded and are
afraid that information imparted to tuners do
ing work for other dealers, as well as for them
selves, may be used to their individual di sa d
vantage_
Co-operation-Not
"Not long ago one of our service men visited
a Western town for the purpose of giving a
lecture and demonstration on adjustment and
rep a irs. In ord er that the dealer mi g ht get the
grea test value out of the visit th e se rvice man
suggested that not only the dealer's tuners and
repairmen, but also the independent tuners in
his vicinity, be invited to visit the store and hear
the lectures and witness the demonstrations.
This the dealer absolutely refused to do, de
claring that he did not want his com petitor s
to know the source of the trouble in the in stru
ments h e handled and thu s be in a position to
kill sales.
"The point is that th e great bulk of repair
m e n mu st of necessity learn the details of the
r e producing act ion and anything that the indi
vidual dealer can do in co-operation with the
factory service m e n to see that that instruction
is given Fully and properly is going to revert
directly to his own benefit.
"We all rememb er when the player-piano first
b ecame a factor in the trad e ie"" tuners were
able to make e,:c n sim ple adjustments to tho se
instruments. As a matter 0.£ fact, a good many
of th em absolutely refu sed to study the player
on the plea that the repa ir work to ok so much
time and did not produce sufficient income ; yet
to-day the tuner who cannot take care of an
ordinary player action is not co nsid e red com
pet e nt in his profession.
"The majority of manufacturers of reproduc
ing pianos furnish charts a nd full detail ed infor
mation for the gu idan ce of repairmen. When
th ese individuals come in contact with a regular
factor y service man and have va rious questions
cleared up personally, th ey are in a position to
take care of Illost of th e troubles found in the
r eproducing instruments. It is to be remem
bered that both the player-piano a nd rep rodu c
ing piano have been perfected to the point
wh e re th ey are practically fool-proof, but any
m ec hanism so delicate as that whi ch enters into
a really good reproducin g action is bound to get
out of adjustment occa sio nally. I n many case s
a repairman who und e rstand s his business can
put the instrument in perfec t working order in
a quarter or half an hOUL
An Example
"A case in point: We recentl y rec eived a
hurry ca ll from a dealer in the :Nliddle \lIf es t
located several hundred miles from our factory
He wanted a se rvice man and wanted him
quickly, declaring there was no loc a l tuner capa
ble of handlin g the situation. As our neare s t
service man could not possibly get to this deal
er's place for a fortnight at least and would
then have to travel some hundred miles, w e
wrote to find out just wh a t was the trouble. It
developed that the reroll mechanism on two
instruments sold by the dealer was not function
ing properly. The chief of our service depart
ment sent him a chart with det a iled information
for remedying the trouble and the dealer him
self fixed both instruments in short order.
" The great majority of the leading dea lers in
reproducin g piano s hav e already realized the
necessitv and wisdom of training service men
of their own either through lectures and demon
strations by factory experts or by sending the
J~len to the Factories for short periods for inten
sive training. There are a great many dealers,
however, who appear to believe that the manu
facturer is going to keep his se rvice crew per
manent and ab sor b the expense. The service
crews are maintained not simply to tak e care
of deale r requirements, but primarily to instruct
the dealers' men or independent repairmen gen
erally in the mysteries of the reproducer. When
they consider that work has been accomplisl1C:1
the service crews will b e Cll t down materially
and there will only be one or t wo men in eac h
factory to handle those few repair troubles that
are beyond the ability of even the trained local
repairmen.
The Question of Compensation
"There is ano ther angle that th<: dealer must
consider in buildin g up hi s se rvice for repro
ducing pianos and that is that if he expects the
repairman to study the reproducer and becomc
expert in its adjustment he must be ready to
compensat e him properly for that expert knowl
edge. In talking with one tuner recently he de ·
clared that after he had spent two weeks at the
factor y and , by st udyin g in hi s own time, had
ma stered the deta ils of thl' r ep roducing piano,
hi s employer had, with ill g race, increa se d hi s
wages $2.
"The deal er who is doin g a substantial re pro
ducing piano bu s iness must realize t.hat he must
spe hd suffi cient money in hi s service departlllent
to mea sure u p to the importance of the business
he is handlin g. The success of the r ep rodu cin g
piano sale lies in keeping the instrument con
stantly r eady for playing and playing properl y.
If an owner mu st see th e instrument s tanding
practicall y useless for a month while th e fac
tory servi ce man is com ing to fix it he can nat
urally be expected to become di sg usted. The
sa me thin g holds go od if through the work
of a n in competen t rep a irm an the instrument
must be adjusted at frequent inte rvals.
"The man who ca n adjust and repair a repro
ducin g piano and keep it in pl aya ble shape is
worthy at least of a fair me c hanic 's salary, an
amount eq ual to that paid to the ave ra ge auto
Illobil e mech a nic."
USE CARE IN ACCEPTING BONDS
Chamber of Commerce Warns Against Mer
chants Accepting Liberty Bonds Registered
in the N ames of Minors
Music mer c hant s s hould be careful when ac
cepting re gister ed Lib erty bonds to see that
th ey wer e not registered ori ginally in the name
of a minor. L' nder the present interpretation
of th e regulation s of th e Treasury Department
a bond r egis ter ed in th e nam e of a minor can
not be assigned by parent or g uardian to a
music merchant in part payment for musical
instrument s used in th e musi ca l edu ca tion of
th e minor, be ca use th e Treasury Department
does not consider "m usical education" as com
ing within the provision s of the sixth supple
ment to Department circ ular No. 141, which
provides that such assignment can be made
under certain con ditions , if proc eeds ar e neces
sary for the support or educatio!1 of the minor.
The Music Industries Chamber of Co mmerce
has alr ead y tak en steps to convince the Treas
ury Departm en t that a mu sical ed ucation is an
esse ntial part of general education and, there
fore, that the Department should allow the
assignment of bonds of minors for the pUr
chase of musical instruments necessary to a
mu s ical education. Pending a successful out
come of this co ntroversy, however, merchants
should be exceedingly careful in accepting reg
ister ed bonds from minors; In fact, even though
the Chamber is successful in getting the Treas
ury Department to consider musi ca l education
to be an essential part of general education,
registered bonds of minors should be accepted
only after careful inve st igation, as regulations
with re~pect to their assignment are very com
plicated. Upon r eq uest the Ch a mber would be
glad to provide a co py of th e sixth s upplem e nt
t o Treasury Department circular No. 141, co ver
ing this subject.
.