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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, SEPTEMBER, 19 Ul
OW, if tone is taken for granted, it
can be assumed by both customer
and dealer that a piano spotted on
the rug of a 15 x 10 living room,
back to the wall and blending in a group of
furniture, draperies, etc., will sound much
better than when played in the center of a
35 x 65 dealer's store.
N
NE could ask the president of any
piano factory making 15 models,
and he would tell you that those 15
models have 15 characteristic tones,
but when these pianos are spotted around
the United States, with 200 dealers, ar-
ranged in all sizes of stores and demon-
strated under many different conditions, he
will find that he is making a line with 2,000
tones, or as many as the surroundings give,
according to the acoustical conditions in
which the pianos are played. The side com-
ment is that church architects design beau-
tiful curches, but generally the acoustics are
so bad that it is difficult to hear clearly on
account of the constant reverberation. It is
probable that few piano dealers demonstrate
pianos under home conditions, where the
piano must be played for years. So what
would happen if the presentation of tone
were really done comprehensively?
O
ANY more will agree with me on
the foregoing that will try the idea
of styling first, for "their custo-
mers are different." The whole
thing might sound whimsical to some of the
old-timers. But recently in declaring that
less than half the public knows how many
notes that are on the piano, when most
dealers thought that everyone knew. That it
is resulting in more detail copy now, to tell
what a piano is. I know "positively," as they
saw in New York, that if a dealer covered a
concert grand, everything except the key-
board and offered the instrument for $295,
that if it were the first piano demonstrated,
the customer would turn such a piano down.
The tone probably would be too loud. In fact,
we suspect that one piano in 20,000 is bought
immediately after the demonstration, pro-
vided this particular instrument is the first
one shown. People don't know much about
tone and come into the store to be educated.
They are skeptical because they don't know
tone, but after the playing of a few pianos,
the prospect begins to feel at home. He
M
thinks he is putting something over on the
dealer by posing as a tone expert, and per-
haps winds up in more cases than one buy-
ing an inferior piano.
HILE tone has served its pur-
pose for many years, we doubt
if the most beautiful tone in the
world would be taken unless the
piano itself harmonized with the interior
furnishings of the room. Harmony from the
planting of the right kind of piano design,
stands head and shoulders over harmony
from hammers striking strings in a piano
case if the design botches the artistry of the
room. No person will mar the appearance of
a delightfully furnished living room for a
piano whose sole claim to distinction is tone,
so if this is true, why is the industry working
backwards to put tone first and design
second for retail work when the wholesale
promotion as well as the news releases to
the public are all based on styling?
W
C
OMING on November 17th will be a
magnificient page in colors in life,
featuring Wurlitzer Pianos. This will
be thoroughly merchandised both be-
fore and after appearance by both Life and
Wurlitzer. The "bare" cost of this page is
$11,886.00, reaching close to 3,000,000 per-
sons. Those who have seen or used the four-
color mailing cards of pianos in rooms will
be amazed to learn that over 1,500,000 have
been mailed by dealers to prospects.
S
TEINERT, Boston, features: "300
pianos always on display at Steinert
Hall." This covers 75 new Steinway
Grands and Spinets. There are 125
other new pianos, including Knabe, Lester,
Jewett (claimed biggest selling piano in
Boston) and 100 rebuilt pianos of all types.
In one room are exhibited 40 different types
of Spinet pianos. The Steinert pride is that
but 5 other stores have similar displays of
such magnitude. Here is a presentation of
at least $150,000 in pianos, a real "Steinert
Piano Fair" of such impressive character-
istics that the purchase of an instrument
must appear "incidental" to the customer. It
is overwhelming evidence that a dealer has
faith in what he is selling, and is an example
of piano service to the public of astonishing
scope.