PRESTO
PRESTO
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C A. DANIELL and FRANK D. ABBOTT
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Entered as second-class matter Jan. 29, 1896, at the Post Office, Chicago. Illinois,
A
under Act of March 3, 1879.
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scriptive character or other matter appearing in the news columns. Business notices
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14, \9\2.
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Issues have the most extensive circulation of any periodicals devoted to the musical
Instrument trades and industries In all parts of the world, and reach completely and
•ffectually all the houses handling musical instruments of both the Eastern and West-
ern hemispheres.
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The Presto Buyeis' Guide is the only reliable Index to the American Musical
Instruments; it analyzes all Pianos and Player-Pianos, gives accurate estimates m
their values and contains a directory of their manufacturers.
& Items of news, photographs and other matter of general Interest to the must*
trades are invited and when accepted will be paid for. Address all communications to
Prtst* Publishing Co., Chicago, III.
SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1920.
TO CORRESPONDENTS.
PRESTO IS ALWAYS GLAD TO RECEIVE NEWS OF THE
TRADE—ALL KINDS OF NEWS EXCEPT PERSONAL SLANDER
AND STORIES OF PETTY MISDEEDS BY INDIVIDUALS. PRESTO
WILL PRINT THE NAMES OF CORRESPONDENTS WHO SEND IN
"GOOD STUFF" OR ARE ON THE REGULAR STAFF. DON'T SEND
ANY PRETTY SKETCHES, LITERARY ARTICLES OR "PEN-PIC-
TURES." JUST PLAIN NEWS ABOUT THE TRADE—NOT ABOUT
CONCERTS OR AMATEUR MUSICAL ENTERTAINMENTS, BUT
ABOUT THE MEN WHO MAKE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND
THOSE WHO SELL THEM. REPORTS OF NEW STORES AND
THE MEN WHO MAKE RECORDS AS SALESMEN ARE GOOD. OF-
TEN THE PIANO SALESMEN ARE THE BEST CORRESPONDENTS
BECAUSE THEY KNOW WHAT THEY LIKE TO READ AND HAVE
THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR FINDING OUT WHAT IS "DOING" IN
THE TRADE IN THEIR VICINITY. SEND IN THE NEWS-
ALL YOU CAN GET OF IT—ESPECIALLY ABOUT YOUR OWN
BUSINESS.
WESTERN PIANOS
Unfortunately for the Western piano, it made its first record on
a quantity basis.. The Western factories became famous for their
large outputs and the dealers acquired the habit of presenting eastern
pianos as their leaders and filling in with western instruments when
something less expensive was wanted. But today that is no longer
so to any appreciable extent. For there are western pianos that have
won places at the top, and are recognized in the East just as surely
as are the leaders from New York or Boston.
Piano men of experience know just what Western instruments
have contributed to the elevation of the Western piano. They know
that the A. B. Chase, the Bauer,' the Baldwin, the Starr, the Packard,
the Chase Brothers, the Haddorff, the Steger, the Acoustigrande, the
Schumann, the Conover, the French & Sons, the Starck, the Bush &
Gerts, the Story & Clark, and a few more of the Western pianos,
have won their places because they have consistently aimed high
and have developed upward. No matter how they started—and most
of them started as high grade products—they have all kept out of
the highway of "commercialism" and followed the upward road to
artistic attainment.
A few days ago a prominent Eastern piano man was discussing
this very subject in Presto offices. "If I had control of a certain
Chicago piano," he said, "I'd make the quickest fortune in the history
of the piano industry." And, in reply to the natural inquiry, he said
that the piano he had in mind is the new Bauer. "That creation of
Mr. William Bauer's he continued, "has greater possibilities than any
instrument in existence. It is practically of all-metal construction;
it is simplicity itself in its details, and it possesses a most remarkable
tone. Besides, while a high-class instrument, under certain condi-
tions it can be manufactured for less money than any other of its
class in the world!"
That was an enthusiastic estimate. And it was sincere, even if
April 10, 1920.
comparatively few are familiar with the remarkable instrument to
which the tribute was paid. West of Chicago, less than a hundred
miles, is a piano industry as comparatively new as the Bauer is old.
It, too, is producing a remarkable line of instruments. The Haddorff
has literally forced its way upward by the strength of its peculiar
merits. The Haddorff started less than twenty years ago and, al-
most instantly, the originality of its cases attracted attention in the
trade. Steadily the musical powers of the Rockford instruments
improved and Mr. Chas. A. Haddorff began to be a figure in the in-
dustry. His scales commanded favorable criticism and the novelty
of the case designs was eclipsed by the character of the Haddorffs
as instruments of music. In time the pianos from Rockford found
ready demand in the far West, and the East also began to know and
want them. There is today no piano center where the Haddorff is
not a favorite, and the trade everywhere wants it because of the
quality that wins success and holds it.
The Packard, of Ft. Wayne, is one of the oldest of the Western
pianos. It has been a representative instrument from the first, and
it has never known any suggestion of a slip from leadership. The
same may be applied to the Chase Brothers, from Muskegon, Mich-
igan. In the half-century since it first appeared, there has been only
the ambition of quality and never of quantity. It would be mere
repetition of words to refer to all of the pianos whose names we have
mentioned, with any view to their classification. From the old Story
& Clark to the Starr, the Western pianos present a series of interest
ing histories. Some of them are like fairy tales in their almost in-
credible development.
The Starr, for instance reveals a remarkable story of pluck, per-
severance and steady progress. It is probable that Mr. Henry Gennett
could write a book more fascinating than fiction, to piano men, in
which the central thought would see the growth of the Richmond
industry from the little factory by the Whitewater to the giant plant
that spreads for miles along the foothills to the thriving Quaker City
of the West.
But the point of it all is that the Western piano has pushed its
way forward until there is no longer any discrimination as between
Chicago or Cincinnati, or Ft. Wayne or Richmond and Boston or
New York or elsewhere. Fine pianos are now made all over the
country—at least wherever pianos are made at all. Western pianos
are sold in New York just as New York pianos have for so long
been sold in Chicago. It is no longer a matter of locality. It is al-
together a question of quality. And today the Western pianos, in
some instances, have their executive offices in the East, even if the
big factories continue to hum in the smaller cities of the West. For
the pianos' names have become universal.
HOW DIFFERENT
A few short years ago factory travelers were going about the
country responding to the demands of the dealers for "even money"
pianos. There was a time when a fool trade paper induced a piano
manufacturer to openly announce his instruments for $75, with a
discount for cash with order. Can you imagine such a condition
today? Doesn't it seem like a fairy tale? But "even money" pianos
were plentiful enough in the early 90's, and they kept coming until
the world began to tremble and the things of peace threatened to be
swallowed up in the upheaval.
But today how different! Piano dealers who once calmly com-
plained because they were asked as much as $120 for a good instru-
ment, and who had the nerve to offer $10 less with a privilege of
four months' "renewal," are now glad to pay nearly three times as
much for the same piano, and pay the cash at that. The piano buy-
ing public is no longer led to understand that pianos belong to the
"cheap" things, in which a sort of semi-fake plays a leading part. It
is now an article of art, and the old-time competition has faded away
into a memory. And how has the change affected this business
generally?
It is noticeable that failures in the piano business are almost
unknown. This year is nearly one-fourth gone and there has been
no notable break in the ranks. Most of the dealers are making money,
and their only complaint is that it is difficult to secure stock. Their
customers are impatient, but in many cases the dealers find it easy
to deliver whatever they may have in store. The old way of consult-
ing catalogues and selecting the very style that isn't on hand, is no
longer popular. The dealer now sells the instrument he has on hand,
gets the money for it and delivers it at a fair profit. No more dollar-
down and same every week business! No more $25 a quarter, some-
times paid and sometimes not! No more quibbling about interest
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