Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1920 1757

8
PRESTO
belongs to them. But the question as to the smallest piano store in
the world would not be so creditable, so the answer might not be
forthcoming. The smallest store of any kind in the world is at
Columbus Circle, in New York, a city noted for the vast number of
its "vest-pocket" stores, owing to congestion and consequent high-
rental values of space. This smallest store is a fruit shop, occupying a
space twelve feet long and two feet wide, and the rental is $100 a
week.
* * *
Mr. C. B. Evans, Chicago financial writer, classifies three types
of working people with reference to the uses they make of cash:
"Persons of sense, persons of no sense and persons of nonsense. The
first class use savings banks, then pass on to bond or stock; the second
class save never; the third class buy gewgaws." When one of the
second class fortunately gets into the piano installment purchaser
class, he often finds it a means towards qualifying for first class. Be-
cause of the third class named by Mr. Evans the bumstencil piano
became a problem in the trade.
* * *
Argentina makes a few commodities and is careful about for-
eign attempts to undersell by the price-cutting method in the home
market. An anti-dumping bill has been presented to the Argentine
Chamber of Deputies whereby all foreign goods entering in+o compe-
tition with domestic goods and sold at a price lower than their selling
price in the country of origin at the time of exportation, shall be sub-
ject to a surtax equal to the difference in the selling price increased
by 30 per cent. The South American republic has named an effective
method for keeping tab on the dumpers.
* * *
There is a relation between national and universal happenings
and piano trade events. The Autopiano Company, New York, is such
a believer in this theory that it issues a weekly news letter to its
dealers. The New York manufacturers hold that momentous political
occurrences react on business, the piano business as well as the others;
that "issues" in the making or made affect the national life and so
the affairs of business. The Autopiano Company's letter is a pres-
entation of the best "news prophecy" available in Washington and
elsewhere.
* * *
The spiel of the piano salesman is sometimes original and in-
genious and sometimes it is made up of what one sales manager calls
"mouthfuls of old stuff." One classic condemned to the cannery is
"This piano is so good it won't need tuning," or words to that effect.
This habit of the blithe salesman is alluded to in a recent bulletin of
the Gulbransen-Dickinson Co., Chicago, which says the statement
March 25, 1920.
should be turned completely around to the frank one: "Because your
piano is a good one, it deserves and needs tuning."
* * *
The president of the Chicago Piano & Organ Association, Mr.
Adam Schneider, believes it is the duty of every member to be present
at the monthly meetings of the association. And in pointing out the
plain duty, Mr. Schneider also reminds members that it is a pleasant
one. A formal luncheon is usually an accompaniment to the business
of the gatherings. The significance of the reminder is obvious when
Mr. Schneider's genius as a menu constructor is considered.
Last week's issue of the Saturday Evening Post contains another
of the instructive advertising pages of the Gulbransen-Dickinson Com-
pany, Chicago, from which every subscriber of that widely-read
weekly will learn some important facts about the functions of player-
piano pedals in general and the Gulbransen player pedals in particu-
lar. The art of the ad is in the clever manner in which a technical
fact is treated. More than a million people will learn from it the
peculiar merits of the Gulbransen "pedal touch."
* * *
The problem that stands out from all the others today is that
of increasing the production of American products. It is one that
concerns the piano industry as well as all others. The fact is recog-
nized in the preparations for the eighth annual meeting of the Cham-
ber of Commerce of the United States of America to be held in
Atlantic City, next month. The theme of the meeting is to be "In-
creased Production" and the subject will be considered in all its
hearings.
Dead timber is so regrettably common in editorial chairs that the
discovery of a "live wire" is consoling aand refreshing. C. M. Tre-
maine, director of the National Bureau for the Advancement of Music,
has discovered a music page conductor in Atlanta, Ga., whom he
characterizes as a "live wire" who has been quick to grasp the pos-
sibilities of the music page in the Atlanta Herald in exerting a pow-
erful influence in the city's musical development.
If some of the piano sale prospects are hanging fire, or the player-
piano instalments acting like the well-known molasses in winter, put
it down to the income tax. When a man with a $3,500 net income
has to pay $175 of it in State and Federal taxes in these days of high
rents and foods, it means that somebody has got to wait for hisj
money.
:|; ;|<
>|:
It sounds paradoxical to say that a good many advertising writers|
would say more if they said less.
PIANO FELTS AND HOW THEY ARE MADE
(Continued from page 5.)
the wool fibre close together without the aid of any
adhesive material or substance.
When the sheets are thus formed, they are felted,
or rather hardened down on a steam heated iron
platen, either by a man working over it with his
hands, or by a wooden cover, having an oscillating
motion. Since the side of the sheet which lays on
the steam heated platen will naturally harden quicker
than the side on which the top works, it is neces-
sary to turn the sheet over quite often, in order to
get both sides of the sheet equally hardened as far
as possible with such a process.
In hardening the thickness of the sheet is reduced
from the original ten inches to about one inch in
bass, and just as soon as the sheet has been worked
down to that one inch thickness, the hardening
process is completed.
THE FULLING PROCESS.
The fulling process, which follows the hardening,
consists mainly in rolling and kneading the sheet
over a round stick, great care being taken that it is
always saturated with soap.
This kneading process is continued until each
sheet has shrunk to the proper size and attained the
necessary firmness.
The water and soap in the now finished sheet is
extracted with the aid of a centrifugal machine, and
the sheets are then exposed to a heat of 150 to 200
degrees for the final drying.
The above described process is very crude and
consequently unreliable, making it almost impossible
to have two sheets alike, because at almost every
stage guesswork is the only guide, there being no
scientific basis for any part of the working.
In 1874 Alfred Dolge invented a process by which
the wool is fed through the cards in accordance with
a correct mathematical calculation, so as to form on
an apron the correct thickness and taper required.
• The card delivers the fine webs upon an endless
apron which passes through two rows of oscilleiing
rollers, which rollers have the same effect as the
oscillating platen in the old process, working how-
ever with much greater nicety, and since the tem-
perature can easily be kept even all over the ma-
chine, each web as it comes off the carding machine
is closely felted on to the other, so that when the
sheet is finished, the inner part of the sheet will be
as well felted together as the outer parts.
SIX SHEETS AT ONCE.
While in the old process of hardening on the
platen only one sheet could be done at a time, this
endless apron used on the roller hardener makes it
possible to form and harden six sheets at one time.
These six sheets contain enough felt for about 100
sets of piano hammers, and consequently a positive
uniformity is assured under all circumstances for
100 sets of hammers made out of such a sheet of felt.
From this hardening machine the sheets are trans-
ferred to a rotary fulling mill, which fulls or shrinks
the felt up to its proper length; after this the large
sheet is cut into six single sheets, which are then
fulled to their proper width in so-called hammer
mills, so constructed that the tenor part gets com-
paratively harder worked than the bass in order to
attain the relatively greater firmness required for the
brilliant tenor hammers as compared to the bass
hammers of a piano.
Since piano hammer felt has necessarily to be
made out of the finest and most carefully selectee
Merino wools, and in the process of manufacturing
very expensive machinery has to be used, it naturj
ally commands the highest prices of any kind of felj
made, which accounts for the high cost of the fin]
ished piano hammer.
In the early days of piano building the hammed
were covered with elk or deer skin; later on th covering of felt about % in. thick was used in placi
of the elk and deer skin. The smallest hammei
made at present has a felt covering of not less thai
34 in. thick.
LEATHER-COVERED HAMMERS.
While the old style leather covered hammer!
could easily be made by hand, the present style rel
quires most complicated and very powerful machinef
to glue this heavy felt on to the wooden mouldings
Several firms make a specialty of covering har
mers for the piano trade, and many piano mam
facturers make their own hammers, but the gre<
majority of hammers are made by the felt mam
facturers.
Every piano manufacturer has his own ideas
to the size, form and weight of his hammers, accorc
ing to the particular scale which he has designed ft
his pianos, which fact complicates the manufac
ture of piano hammers, and makes a standardizinl
of form or shape impossible. Each make of pianl
requires an individuality in the making of pianl
hammers, and the cost of the piano hammer therq
fore depends not only on the quality of felt used, bij
even more upon the special requirements as
weight, size and form.
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/
PRESITO
March 25, 1920.
FINDING THE ULTIMATE.
"From the remotest period of time the quest of
man has been for music that would still the soul. In
its refinement he has found the responsive vibra-
tions of joy and gladness," says Hanton's Music
Store, Columbus, O. "Today, the ultimate is found
in the Gulbransen playerpiano. an instrument that is
supreme for hand-playing. Equally responsive when
playing with record rolls. So delightfully easy that
even a babe can operate it".
Republic Player Roll
Corporation
April Advance List
No.
37218
37318
37518
37418
37«18
Title
Writer
SWANEE
(One-Step)
Played by J. Milton Dflcamp
Adam Carroll
I,A VEEJUA
(Castillian Fox-Trot)
Played by J. Milton Delcamp
Adam Carroll
THE ROSE OF WASHINGTON
(Midnight Frolic). (Novelty
Trot)
Played by J. Milton Deleamp
Adam Carroll
CAIRO TOWN
(Oriental Fox-Trot)
Played by Adam Carroll and
Foster
VENETIAN MOON
(Fox-Trot) . •
Played by Adam Carroll and
Gersehwin
and
Alden
and
SQUARE
Fox-
Hanley
and
Fisher
Xan
An Important Consideration in the Choice of
Location Was the Proximity of
Employes' Homes to Plant.
Seventy per cent of the 750 employes of the Bald-
win Piano Co.'s factory live within walking dis-
tance of the present site on Gilbert avenue, opposite
the Eden Park entrance. That was a determining
factor in the choice of the site for the million dollar
piano factory now being erected by the company.
The railroad facilities, the city's highly satisfactory
labor market and the fact that it is one of the
largest lumber markets in the world, were other
facts. The engineers—Lockwood, Greene & Co. of
Boston, Chicago and Detroit—also made surveys of
Cincinnati to determine upon the best site for the
factory here and recommended that it be built on
the present site of part of the plant of the Baldwin
company.
Work has already been begun on the south hall
of the proposed structure, which is expected to be
finished by September 1. The entire building will
be completed by January 1, according to calcula-
tions. The four other factory buildings of the
Baldwin plant, facing Eden Park entrance road and
the Hunt street playgrounds, will not be disturbed,
but the building on the Gilbert avenue site will be
torn down to make room for the new structure.
When completed it will be used for assembling and
finishing high-grade pianos, particularly Grands.
Architecturally the new factory will be one of the
most novel and most beautiful in the city, it being
the conviction of the president of the company,
George Armstrong, and the other officers, that high-
class buildings and fine surroundings have a bene-
ficial effect on the employes. The new plant will
mean the addition of about 500 employes, according
to Lttcien Wulsin, the treasurer. Tt will have a
frontage of 370 feet along Gilbert avenue, and wi!i
extend west 84 feet to the N. & W. railroad. It will
consist of seven stories and a basement, and the
plans provide for a spacious roof garden, which will
in all probability be used for a cafeteria and recrea-
tional purposes. A striking feature will be a tower,
40 feet square and 175 feet high, at the top of which
will be a four-faced clock, 12 feet square, illuminated
at night and visible for miles around. The struc-
ture will be of reinforced concrete, faced with red
pressed brick. There will be ornamental Rookwood
tile panels between the windows. The basement
and first floor will have stone facing. Altogether
there will be 234,000 square feet of floor space, or
more than five acres.
Goldberg
considered; it was too soon for that. The company's
factories are at Berkeley and Van Nuys, Cal., and
Highland, 111.
BIG MINNESOTA MEMBERSHIP
FOR TUNERS' ASSOCIATION
Thirty New Members Gained in Twin City Trade in
One Week of Activity.
Last week hris been a record one for the National
Association of Piano Tuners in the way of securing
members in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn. Thirty
Twin City tuners have been admitted to membership
within the six days ending last Saturday. The first
regular meeting of the Minneapolis division of the
national association was held there March 20 with
a large attendance. A permanent organization was
effected, offices elected, a charter applied for and
arrangements made for the systematic distribution
of association pamphlets to piano owners in that
territory, in connection with which an effort will be
made to secure the co-operation of local piano mer-
chants.
The Metropolitan Music Co., Minneapolis, has
placed an order with the tuners' association for 5,000
pamphlets on the nature and care of the piano, to be
distributed among the patrons of that house.
The following officers were elected: H. F. Cur-
tis, chairman: S. R. Dilger, vice-chairman, and C. T.
Backus, secretary and treasurer.
CHICAGO PIANO & ORGAN
ASSOCIATION TO MEET
Regular Monthly Gathering and Luncheon Set for
March 25 at Automobile Club.
On Thursday, March 25, at 12:30 p. m. the regu-
lar monthly meeting and luncheon of the Chicago
Piano and Organ Association will be held at the
Chicago Automobile Club, 317 Plymouth court, Chi-
cago. Peter Reinberg, president of the Cook County
Board of Commissioners and of the Forest Preserve
Board, will be the guest on this occasion and will
give a talk on subjects of interest to members.
Possibly the license committee, as well as th •
legislative and other committees will have some-
thing of importance to present at the monthly meet-
ing. The officers are making every effort to make
these monthly meetings interesting and should be
encouraged by the presence of all the members who
are requested to present their views when matters
concerning the trade are presented.
Another speaker is Frederick Rex, of the Mu-
ricipal Reference Library, whose subject is "Work-
ings of the Removal Ordinances Recently Passed
by the City Council."
Nan
37718
AJ-L, THAT I WANT 18 \OV
(Ballad)
.Monaco
Played by Victor Lane
37818 ISIJB OF (iOLUEN DREAMS
(Waltz Song)
Blnufuss
Played by J. Milton Delcamp
37918 I'D LIKE TO KNOW WHY I FEKL IN LOVE
WITH YOl"» ( Fox-Trot)
Timber*
Played by Victor I,ane
38018 WHO'LL TAKE THE PLACE OF MARY?
(Waltz Song)
(iaskill
Played by J. Milton Delcnmp
38118 MYSTIC NILE
(Oriental Fox-Trot)
Pf-nroo
Played by Nan Foster and Victor Lane
3S2I8 C'HINtt A LINCJ'S JAZZ BAZAAR
(Fox-Trot)
Smith
Played by Cal Adams anil Nan Foster
38318 IIOliNil IN MOROCCO
(Fox-Trot)
Herscher
Played by ,T. Milton Deloamp and
Adam Carroll
38418 BELL HOP BLUES
(Blue Fox-Trot)
Cnodman
Player by Adam Carroll
38518 BLUE DIAMONDS
Fox-Trot)
Caddigan & Story
Played by Nan Foster
381! 18 RAILROAD BLUES
(Blue Fox-Trot)
Roberts
Plaveil bv J. Milton Delcamp
38718 WILD FLOWER
(.Syncopated Waltz)
, . . .Earl
Played by J. Milton Delcamp and
Adam Carroll
38818 CRAZY BLUES
(Crazy Fox-Trot)
Bradford
Played by Cal Adams
38918 MELODIOUS JAZZ
(Jadazabo Fox-Trot)
Jerome
Played by Victor T,ane
38018 COME ON AND PLAY WIZ ME
(One-Step)
Ruby
Played by Cal Adams and Victor T^anc
37118 LONE-STAR
(Blue Fox-Trot)
Bernard
Played by Nan Foster
39118 I'LL ALWAYS KEEP A CORNER IN MY
HEART FOR TENNESSEE
(Fox-Trot)
Donaldson
Played by Victor T^ane and Xan Foster
REPUBLIC PLAYER ROLL CORP.
PAUL B. KLUGH, Pres.
75th St. and Broadway, New York City
PLAYER Mk^
FACTS IN CHOOSING THE
BALDWIN FACTORY SITE
ROLLS
H A N D ^ - s7^PLAYED
STRICKEN ON THE ROAD,
W. R. McARTHUR DIES LATER
A PLAYERPIANO ESSENTIAL.
The requirements of American manufacturers of
playerpianos and playerpiano actions have increased
the American demand for the commodity. The re-
turns of the rubber shipments from the Sumatra
Traveler for Photo Player Company Will be Missed East Coast for the first 10 months of 1919, just pub-
lished, indicate that the United States are the largest
in Many States.
buyers. The figures of America's proportion are,
W. R. McArthur, one of the most popular whole- however, not quite accurate as no allowances are
made for the rubber shipped to Singapore on a local
sale men in the musical instrument industry, died
at 2 o'clock Saturday afternoon in his home at the bill of lading although destined for the United
States, and therefore appearing in the returns as
Kellshore apartments, Irving Park boulevard and
Sheridan road, Chicago, of acute intestinal trouble. a Singapore import. It is thought that at least 75
Mr. McArthur, who was about 45 years old, leaves per cent of the total exports go to the United States.
a widow but no children. The couple had been
married about 15 years.
TRADE GOOD AT SEEBURG'S.
Mr. McArthur, who was sales director of the
Walter Hogans has been promoted to the place
Eotoplayer department of Lyon & Healy's and
left vacant by the recent death of James W. Larson
pipe organ traveler, was ill only two days, although
and is now wholesale sales manager of the J. P. See-
his health had been imperfect for some years. He
bu-.g Piano Company, 419 West Erie street, Chicago,
was on a trip and was taken ill on Thursday last and is making good in his new line of work. "We
at Davenport, Iowa, and was assisted aboard a are taking care of our old customers, but not making
train for Chicago by Mr. Bennett of the Bennett any new connections," said O. Nelson, general man-
Piano Company, of Rock Tsland, 111.
ager of the company, to a Presto representative on
Monday of this week. "And we are very busy."
Mr. McArthur, who was over 6 feet in height
and of a very friendly disposition, hailed originally
from Knoxville, Tenn., where his father, D. W. Mc-
SUCCESSFUL SPECIAL SALE.
Arthur, for many years conducted the McArthur
The
Taylor Music Company, Columbia, Mo.,
Piano Company and where his brother is still m
business as the proprietor of the East Tennessee has just closed a special sale at its Mexico, Mo.,
Music Company. His father, who was at St. Pe- branch, which was a great success in the number
tersburg, Fla., at the time of his son's death, was of sales. W, J. Dorgan, vice-president of the com-
pany, was in charge of the sale and was actively
notified by wire and arrived in Chicago Monday
^ided by E. M. Finley and E. W. Parker. The
night, in time to attend the funeral.
Schiller, Milton and Schaff Bros.' pianos and players
W. R. McArthur came to Lyon & Healy's from
are scheduled in the line of the Taylor Music Co.
California. He had been a piano salesman for
Eilers Music House in San Francisco, and for a
FIRE IN GREAT FALLS, MONT.
time was Eilers' sales manager.
The store of Orton Brothers, piano dealers, Great
A. L. Abrams. vice-president of the American
Photo Player Company, out of whose office. Room Falls, Mont., was one of eleven stores destroyed by
814 Lyon & Healy building, Mr. McArthur traveled, a fire which consumed the Steele building recently
said no successor for Mr. McArthur had yet been The total loss is estimated at $280,000.
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/

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