Music Trade Review

Issue: 1954 Vol. 113 N. 4

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
PRACTICAL PIANO TUNING
By ALEXANDER HART
Formerly with Steinway & Sons Tuning Department, Instructor in
Piano Tuning, Teachers College, Columbia University, N. Y.
Registered Member of the
National Association of Piano Tuners
Notes of Interest on Tuning
QAHALLEL and in keeping with this
• column. I have decided to devote
this month's space to an account of an
organization which is playing a major
part in developing and furthering our
fine art of Piano Tuning and Servic-
ing in the United States—(not to men-
tion far-off points as Alaska, the West
Indies, Hawaii and Israeli). This or-
ganization is right here in New York,
namely: The Piano Crafts Department
of the New York Trade School, in
Manhattan, under the tutelage of Earle
M. Turner.
Many of you readers will recognize
the name of Earle Turner, for he is
"Piano Man" to the core, a man of
great ability and wide experience, hav-
ing spent more than forty years in the
business, twenty of them traveling con-
stantly with great artists. He is a man
who holds strong ideas about Tuning
and about what's right (and wrong)
with the piano business in general—
and who has the courage of his con-
victions. As a matter of fact, when I
asked him if I could do a piece about
him and the school in my column with
a picture of him included, he smiled
wryly and said, "I guess I'm one of
the most-hated men in the piano busi-
ness. Because I teach men to be tuners
and make their way in the piano field,
a lot of piano men think I'm taking
bread and butter out of their mouths
—at a time like this, when there is a
shortage of 5,000 technicians right at
this moment! You're welcome to a pic-
ture of my boys (the class) but I'll be
happier if you leave me out!" Mr.
Turner is a graduate Electrical Engi-
neer, and is one of the few piano
tuners in the country who can success-
fully challenge the Stroboconn . . .
which speaks for his ability.
Trade School 73 Years Old
The Mew York Trade School itself
has a fine record of 73 years of teach-
ing young men how to work with their
hands and their heads, and how to
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, APRIL, 1954
THE PIANO CRAFTS CLASS AT THE NEW YORK TRADE SCHOOL
apply that work. Each instructor is
required to complete the State Teach-
er's Course at the University of the
State of New York.) It is the oldest
trade school in the U. S., being en-
dowed and non-profit making. Not
only does this endowment maintain the
school; it actually contributes to the
cost of each student's tuition. With
its fine record of service, it is not
strange that when the leading piano
manufacturers decided to start i
school for technicians they chose the
.New York Trade School to sponsor it.
Being acquainted with the School,
and particularly the Piano Crafts De-
partment, and knowing what it is,
what it does, and what it means to a
student to be under* the guidance of an
outstanding instructor like Mr. Tur-
ner, I can well congratulate students
who have graduated as Piano Tuners
and Technicians from the New York
Trade School; dealers throughout the
country can be sure that when they
need a good reliable man. all they
have to do is order him and put him
to work; for the breadth of instruc-
tion offered these young men is typi-
fied by the sign which first meets the
eye on entering the Piano School:
"Everything that happens in the
Piano world happens here."—And
graduates arc found in every branch
of the business, from chippers to store
owners and agents handling our finest
makes of pianos.
Begins Ninth Year this month
The Piano Crafts Department begins
its ninth year this month (April, '54).
It occupies 5,124 sq. feet of floor
space, divided into shop, lecture room,
action-regulating room, and seven
tuning booths. The shop is equipped
with work benches, cleaning tables, ac-
tion racks, booths for small work,
machinery and spray gun equipment.
25
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
Here pianos are overhauled, remod-
eled and refinished. New action-, sound
hoard and pin block installation is
routine; at this writing 52 pianos are
in the school awaiting complete over-
haul, 14 of them grand pianos.
Mr. Turner earnestly believes that
the success of the piano industry ul-
timately must depend upon fine tuning
—and therefore upon not only the
ability, but also the integrity of the
service man. As might be expected, his
course stresses a definite and "self-
proving" system of tuning, and em-
phasizes related theory in all work.
Not everyone is able to become a
fine tuner and technician, of course,
and to help in picking the best of
the applicants, Mr. Turner requires
AMERICAN PIANO
SUPPLY CO.
Headquarters








For
Action Bolts
Ball Bolts
Piano Casters
Music Wire
Paper Punchings
Cloth & Felt Punchings
Miscellaneous Felts
Tuning Pins — Imported
Present Class of High Caliber
AMERICAN PIANO SUPPLY CO.
Division of
HAMMACHERSCHLEMMER&CO.
889 BROADWAY
(N. W. Cor. 19th St.)
NEW YORK 3, N. Y.
GRamercy 7-4540
MCNftY WICKMAM.
Ftunder
that, besides having a personal inter-
view, each would-be student answer a
questionnaire which includes 20 ques-
tions which when answered clearly
prove the aptitude of the applicant.
If a man successfully passes these
hurdles, he is admitted to the first of
two five-month semesters and is put
to work at chipping, tuning, regulat-
ing (upright and grand), stringing,
cabinet work, used-piano repair, re-
finishing, business fundamentals, or
any of the varied and fascinating
skills necessary to becoming a well-
rounded piano technician. During his
course of study, the student completes
a total of 1,200 hours of practice and
is marked on Attendance, Neatness,
Accuracy, Theory, Handling of Tools.
Desire to Learn, School Rules, Tuning
Progress, Class Room, Written Exami-
nations. His record is totaled weekly
and gives a good indication of his
progress, and of his final status at the
end of the course. At the present writ-
ing there are 20 men in the Day class
and 11 at night.
While visiting the Piano School I
addressed the students in class and
also spoke to them individually. I was
much impressed by the atmosphere of
sincerity, industry and enthusiasm
which pervades the school. We piano
men all know that the service end of
the piano business, at least, is at a
pretty low ebb right now. The public
often can't get even a poor tuner, let
alone a good one! But I really felt
very much encouraged during my visit
with Mr. Turner and his students. I
was impressed by the caliber of his
"boys", as he likes to call them. I
felt that here was an answer to the
ESTABLISHED 1685
INCORPORATED 1903
desperate shortage of technicians in
the piano industry today, and that
here was a "Man with a Mission", if
Mr. Turner will allow me; that here
was a group of men taking a firm hold
on the unprecedented opportunity of-
fered the skilled technician in the field
of Service to the Piano Industry and
to the Public today.
My hat is off, in this column, to
Earle M. Turner, the Piano Crafts De-
partment, and the New York Trade
School'
10 Kimball Pianos For
Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Schools
After making a careful study of
many makes of pianos, the Music De-
partment of the Fort Lauderdale
School System, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.,
selected ten Kimball Studio pianos.
The music teachers of this school sys-
tem report that, after a thorough trial,
these Kimballs are giving perfect sat-
isfaction. The Braman Studios, an af-
filiate of the Braman Piano Company,
Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., who sold these
pianos to the public school system,
also uses Kimball pianos to train its
more than two hundred students.
FRED L. SHOOP
Fred L. Shoop died February 11,
1954 at his home in Kingston, Pa., at
the age of 68. For the past eight years,
he had been head salesman for the
Snyder Piano Co., Wilkes-Barre, Pa.,
selling Weaver and Wurlitzer pianos.
Mr. Shoop had a long and honorable
career as a piano salesman. Among
the pallbearers was Mr. Holden Shoop,
who operates the Sunbury Piano Com-
pany at Sunbury, Pa.
GRAND LEGS
alway* in itock with
top piecti bored for
metal fitting* — all ei-
pertlr sandpapered. AWo
furniihed with caateri.
ferrule* and platca on
order*.
Kiln-Dried Lumber u*ed exclusive
ly. Write for detail*. Be« price*
and immedi te (hipment.
Round, Square, Octagon, or ipe-
cial deiigned leg* made to order
from your (ketch, or (ample, (01
•pinet or upright piano*.
Paragon Woodtumiof Co., Inc.
431 W. 2Bth St., N. Y. 1, N. Y.
"KEYS THAT SATISFY SINCE 1890"
PIANO KEYS RECOVERED WITH
C E L E B R A T E D WICKHAM P L A T E S .
I V O R I N E
Regular type
Waterfall type
Plastic Sharps
$ 9.50 set
$13.50 set
% 4.50 set
IVORINE PIANO KEY CO.
1201 Stirling St.
26
Tel. 1241 Coat»svllle, Pa.
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, APRIL. I954

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