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THE MUSIC TRADE
JULY 25, 1925
REVIEW
45
SUPPLY BRANCHES OF THE INDUSTRY
Walnut Suffering From
Inaccurate Designations
"I know the argument will be advanced that
the people would not buy bleached walnut if
we did not give it a foreign name. Then why
bleach it? It costs more to finish it that way
Heavy Stain and Bleaching Processes Lead to than it does to improve its appearance by add-
Wood Appearing to Public as Something ing to its inherent qualities through the applica-
tion of a little stain. Bleaching takes away the
Which It Is Not
inherent qualities of the wood. We never im-
prove on nature's work by taking away what
The popularity of American walnut veneer in nature has done; we can improve only by add-
the piano manufacturing trade has been on the ing to it. Neither can we improve the inherent
increase since the period of the war, and there qualities of American walnut, nor increase its
can be little doubt that its growing favor has intrinsic value by robbing it of its native name.
been deserved. The practice of applying a On the contrary, we lower our native product
heavy stain on figured walnut surfaces has long in the estimation of those who should esteem it
been criticized by leaders in the furniture trade, most. If manufacturers of furniture, to which
and it is therefore an interesting development has been given a foreign name, gain a little by
that this practice is being supplanted by an- so doing, they lose it again by the reaction
other, carrying a new train of evils.
against furniture bearing the native name. That
This new treatment of American walnut is part of the purchasing public that has been
the bleaching process, making it almost impos- taught to believe there is nothing quite so good
sible to recognize the wood. In order to have as 'French' walnut or 'Huguenot' walnut, can-
something new to sell, many retail furniture not possibly appreciate American walnut as
dealers have given the finish various foreign they should.
labels, with no respect for the domestic origin
"Unless something is done to discourage the
of the word itself. A discussion of the "cam-
practice
of giving foreign names to our Amer-
ouflage" of American walnut appears in a re-
cent issue of Veneers by a man signing him- ican walnut, the time will not be far distant
when this wood will be as unpopular for furni-
self Canadian.
ture-making as it was for twenty years prior
"The manufacturers in both Canada and the to a few years ago. These foreign names call
United States," he writes, "have for some time for a finish that is more or less freakish; freak-
been trying to disabuse the public mind of the ish finishes come and go quickly, just as two-
false idea that foreign goods are superior to tone work did, and when they pass away they
the home products, and to that end they have do not carry with them the disfavor with which
been carrying on extensive advertising cam- they succeeded in surrounding the wood on
paigns and labeling their goods 'Made in Can- which they were made. There is no good rea-
ada,' or 'Made in the U. S. A.,' as the case may son why American walnut and oak should be
be. Why should we undo these efforts by try- displaced by any foreign wood, and they would
ing to make of our American walnut something not be displaced if freakish finishes and foreign
which it is not, and then giving it a foreign names were kept away from them and they
name and trying to create the impression that were finished sensibly under their proper
foreign woods are superior to our own?
names."
"There is no cabinet wood in the world that
is superior to American walnut, and its chief
value lies in its color. If American walnut were
the same color as is birch, their value would be
about equal, because in other respects they are
WASHINGTON, D. C, July 20.—The Pratt
sufficiently alike to be readily interchangeable. Read Player Action Co., Deep River, Conn.,
In view of these facts does it not seem unwise, is the owner through assignment by Stan-
to say the least, to rob this wood of its chief ley L. Fisher, Chester, Conn., of Patent
clement of value, reduce it to the status of a No. 1,546,223 for an automatic musical instru-
medium-grade cabinet wood, then try and raise ment.
its value and raise it in the esteem of the pub-
This invention relates to automatic musical
lic by giving it a high-sounding foreign name, instruments, and particularly to that type of
and in that way advertising a foreign country? the same which employ a pneumatic action in
their operations. It is particularly adapted for
use in a player piano or similar type of instru-
ment which employs air under exhaust tension
to operate the hammers or keys, but it will be
apparent to those skilled in the art that the
principle of the invention may be applied with-
out material modification to a piano or wind
organ which employs air under pressure. The
terms "exhaust tension" and "air under pres-
Write for a sample can of Behlen's
sure" are used to designate respectively pres-
Varnish Crack Eradicator and try it.
sures less than and greater than that of the at-
Once you learn how much it means to
mosphere. The invention is particularly con-
you in the saving of time on your refin-
cerned with the provision of an improved device
ishing jobs by eliminating the necessity
for regulating and producing changes in the air
of scraping off old varnish and shellac,
pressure obtaining within the wind chest of the
instrument.
and how much more satisfactory are
the results, because of the better sur-
One object of this invention is to provide a
face it gives to work on, you, like
new and improved expression device for this
others, will continue to use it.
class of instruments.
A further object of the invention is to pro-
Write to-day.
vide an expression device which will produce
New Pratt Read Patent
H. BEHLEN & BRO.
Anilines
Shellacs
Stains
Fillers
10-12 Christopher St., New York
Near 6th AT*., and 8th St.
promptly responsive changes in playing intensi-
ties.
A still further object of the invention is to
provide an expression device which may be con-
trolled with ease and from which the changes in
expression may be obtained by a slight pressure
on the controlling lever.
A further object of the invention is to locate
the expression regulator without the main air
circuit, so that the air drawn from the wind
chest does not pass through the regulating
pneumatic.
Wool Prices Rising
BOSTON, MASS., July 19.—The events of the past
week in the wool markets of the world have
caused the American wool merchants to pause
for a moment to analyze afresh the wool situa-
tion. Naturally, interest has centered in the
resumption of the sales in Australia, which took
place Monday at Melbourne and Tuesday at
Brisbane. These sales were regarded possibly
as more of a criterion of real world conditions
than even the London auctions, and so were
watched with unusual interest both here and
abroad. Reports from Melbourne indicated that
the best Australian wools were selling about
7 per cent above the May levels, with American
interests the chief buyers.
Glidden Increases Capital
The Glidden Co., New York, manufacturer of
varnishes and finishing materials, has recently
filed official notice with the New York Stock
Exchange of its proposed increase in capital
stock from 360,000 to 500,000 shares, subject to
approval by stockholders at a special meeting
next month. It is the intention of the com-
pany to issue 40,000 shares of the new stock to
shareholders on the basis of $20 a share pro
rata. The new stock issue has been under-
written by the company's bankers.
Rubber Prices and Tubing
Price fluctuations in the raw rubber market
have recently reached a crisis, the mid-July quo-
tations on rubber sheets being about $1.20 per
pound, as compared with a price of 18 to 20
cents per pound in July of last year. Practically
the only use of rubber in the piano industry
is the tubing in pneumatic actions, and even
here the amount of raw material required is
rarely more than a few pounds. Despite the
prediction in rubber circles that the price per
pound may reach $1.50 before 1926, there is
therefore little to worry about as affecting the
production cost of player-pianos, although
pneumatic tubing will doubtless rise in price in
proportion with the cost of the raw product.
Consult the Universal Want Directory of
The Review. In it advertisements are inserted
free of charge for men who desire positions.
A CABINET
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Finished Mahogany,
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Write for Catalog.
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213 East 19th Street, New York
Sole Agents for
WEICKERT HAMMER AND DAMPER FELTS
GRAND AND UPRIGHT HAMMERS
Made of Weickert Felt
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