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THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW,
February,
13
WM. R. STEINWAY TO MAKE
HEADQUARTERS IN HAMBURG
HARDMAN, PECK & Co.
Manufacturers of the Hardman
Piano for 90 years
Hardman, Peck & Co., 433 Fifth Ave.,New York
ANNUAL CONVENTION OF
GRINNELL ORGANIZATION
The twenty-ninth annual convention of
branch store and department managers of
Grinnell Bros.' Music House opened Mon-
day morning, January 11, at the headquarters
of this organization, 1515-21 Woodward
avenue, Detroit, Mich.
This gathering, which is held each year
at about the same time, continued for three
days. Morning and afternoon sessions were
held at which the business of the past year
was reviewed, various phases of operation
discussed and plans for the future thorough
ly gone over.
Grinnell Bros, have branch stores at
Adrian, Ann Arbor, Bay City, Birmingham,
Flint, Grand Rapids, Hillsdale, Jackson,
Kalamazoo, Lansing, Monroe, Muskegon,
Pontiac, Port Huron, Saginaw, Wyandotte
and Ypsilanti, Mich.; Windsor, Ontario and
Toledo, O., as well as a number of Detroit
branches.
The following members comprise the Grin-
nell board of directors: A. A. Grinnell,
president; E. W. Grinnell, vice-president
and treasurer; S. E. Clark, vice-president
and secretary; Jay Grinnell, vice-president
and assistant secretary; H. W. Rapp, vice-
president and assistant treasurer; L. G. Grin-
nell, assistant secretary, and Leonard E.
Grinnell, assistant treasurer. E. W. Grin-
nell acted as chairman of the various ses-
sions.
The convention closed Wednesday evening
with a banquet at the Hotel Tuller, at which
one hundred and eighteen were in attend-
ance as guests of the firm. Jay Grinnell
presided as toastmaster, and various mem-
bers of the Grinnell directorate, as well as
others, were heard in highly interesting ad-
dresses.
Grinnell Bros, report considerable increased
activity at their various stores since the first
of the year, and their managers are highly
optimistic as to the business outlook for 1932.
chairman; Bernard Brown, A. C. Green and
II. L. Barnes. The constitution and by-laws
of the organization were passed on favorably
and after two more readings will be adopted.
A number of applications for membership
have been received from tuners in the metro-
politan district and these will be acted upon
following the adoption of the constitution.
The board of directors plan to carry on an
earnest study of piano manufacturing meth-
ods during the forthcoming meetings and ex-
pect to build a grand piano along revolution-
ary lines.
DR. W M . BRAID WHITE
LECTURES ON THE PIANO
On Thursday, January 14, Dr. Wm. Braid
White, director of Acoustic Research of the
American Steel & Wire Co. spoke in the
Assembly Room at the Polytechnic Institute,
Brooklyn, N. Y., on "The Pianoforte, or
Engineering Applied to the Art of Music."
This lecture was arranged jointly by the
student branches of the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers and the American
Institute of Electrical Engineers. The lec-
turer discussed the construction of the in-
strument from two standpoints, first, as a
problem in mechanical engineering, and
second, as a problem in applied acoustics,
the two combining to produce a work of art
quite unique. The lecture was illustrated
not only with a piano and various models
furnished through the kindness of Steinway
& Sons but also with apparatus for the visu-
alization of sound waves, developed in the
laboratory of the American Steel & Wire
Co., with the cooperation of the Westing-
house Electric & Manufacturing Co. The
acoustic properties of the pianoforte were
shown and relations between touch, mechan-
ism and tone quality were developed.
H. Herbert Blish
H. Herbert Blish, president of the Harger
& Blish Co., prominent radio wholesalers in
Des Moines, la., and formerly active dis-
tributors of phonographs and musical instru-
W. F. GOULD NOW HEADS
ments generally, died in a hospital in that
PIANO-TUNER TECHNICIANS
city on January 11, after a short illness. He
was sixty-nine years old.
The Piano-Tuner Technicians' Association
Mr. Blish was the founder and first presi-
of New York City recently elected the fol-
lowing officers for the year 1932: President, dent of the Edison Jobbers' Association and
r
w as very active in trade, civic and fraternal
W. F. Gould; vice-president, F. E. Lane;
secretary, Carl Schneider, and treasurer, A. circles. He is survived by his widow, one
C. Kline. Board of Directors: A. F. Howe, son, H. Harger Blish, and one daughter.
On January 1, Wm. R. Steinway, who,
for a number of years has been European
general manager for Steinway & Sons, mak-
ing his headquarters in London where he
also acted as manager of the London house
of the company, relinquished the latter post
and went to make his future headquarters
at the Steinway factories in Hamburg, where
he will continue as European general man-
ager.
John Eshelby, who has been connected with
the Steinway interests in Europe for the past
thirty years, has, been promoted to the post
of manager of the London house.
BUTLER MUSIC CO. WINS
PRIZE FOR PIANO SALES
Edwin J. Butler, manager of the Butler
Music Co., Marion, Ind., and a past presi-
dent of the National Association of the Music
Merchants, was recently awarded a beauti-
ful antique chest as first prize in a nation-
wide contest conducted by the Wurlitzer
Grand Piano Co. The Butler Company
sold more pianos of Wurlitzer make than
any other dealer in the country on a com-
parative population basis. The presentation
was made by Gordon Laughead, general
sales manager of the Wurlitzer Co.
E. A. NICHOLAS NOW RCA
VICTOR CO. VICE-PRESIDENT
E. A. Nicholas, until recently general sales
manager of the RCA Victor Co., Camden,
N. J., has been elected vice-president in
charge of sales.
Mr. Nicholas is 38 years old and began
his radio career as a messenger boy for the
United Wireless Co. twenty-three years ago.
He became a wireless operator and rose rap-
idly in the RCA Service, becoming assistant
to David Sarnoff, then general manager, in
1924.
A Piano's Secret
An Advertisement by S. L. Curtis
As men who live by knowing pianos, we probably
have our own ideas about the ideal instrument—-
the kind you and I would build if it were practical.
In the Grottian-Steinweg, which I "discovered" for
myself in Europe and promptly brought to the
American piano market, we lind our ideals crys-
tallized.
Our Grotrian-Steinweg is all that the perfect' piano
should be; a marvelous creation of beauty for the
eye, plus a mechanism that is the last word in
100 years of piano building.
Rare woods; metals so fine tii.it yo.i wonder ar the
exquisite finish of the very screws; felts of a su-
perlative quality; Ivory, well, rhe choicest part
only of the tusk. And workmanship! Yon dream
about this kind of hand cr.ift': five yenrs to create
each Grotrian-Steinweg.
But our piano is more than an artistic masterpiece.
The exclusive patent sounding-board, the effortless
action, the acoustic design, the scientific engineer-
ing, all represent 1932 laboratory science, 1932
research. Not a vestige of 1880 piano "features"
in this supreme instrument,! Therein is the real
secret of the tone.
Please ask for a copy of our publication, The Musical
Truth, for the complete story of the Grotrian-Stein-
weg.
S. L. CURTIS
117 West 57th Street, NEW YORK