Presto Buyers' Guide
Analyzes and Classifies
All American Pianos
and in Detail Tells of
Their Makers.
PRESTO
£ * ^ » . w /•** THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY
Presto Trade Lists
Three Uniform Book-
lets, the Only Complete
Directories of the Music
Industries.
/« c. n( . ( $IM * r ~
CHICAGO, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1923
WHERE DOUBTS ARE < DISPELLED
GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY
OF SCHAEFFER PIANO
Under This Head Presto Will Answer Any Question Pertaining to Pianos, or
Other Subjects of Direct Interest to the Trade and Musical Public
Price & Teeple, Chicago, Celebrate Founding of
Instrument Now Produced by Them.
Inquiries must bear the signature and address of
writer in order to receive attention. Answers thought
to be of general trade interest will be published. If an
answer is not of general interest it will be mailed pro-
vided stamp is inclosed.
ABOUT SOHMER PIANOS.
Winchester, 111., February. 10, 1923.
Editor P'rcsto: Will you please tell me what make
action the Sohmer & Cc.npany, of New York, use
in their different Grand pianos?
Have they a wholesale or retail dealer in Chicago?
If so please send me their address.
I wish you would also send me a late copy of the
Presto Buyers' Guide and let me know what it costs
and I will send you the amount. I wish you would
answer this as I have a prospective buyer for a
Sohmer Grand piano.
Would it be asking too much for you to request
one of the Sohmer dealers to send me a catalogue
of the Sohmer Grand Pianos at once.—M. L. Mc-
Donough.
The action used in the Sohmer pianos is WcJ-.-.ell,
Nickel & Gross which, undoubtedly, stands as high
as any piano mechanism the .world over. In fact,
the Wessel, Nickel & Gross action is so distinguished
and so universally recognized for its excellence that
whenever a piano contains that mechanism it is ac-
cepted at once as one of the highest class.
Of course, we need not add that the Sohmer piano
is distinctly a fine one with a reputation running
back through the years, which reputation is fully sus-
tained at the present time. The Sohmer piano with
the Wessell, Nickel & Gross action leaves nothing
for the most discriminating to desire.
The Sohmer piano is represented in Chicago by
the Wade-Twichell Co., 311 So. Wabash Ave., and
we have asked that house to mail a catalogue to
your address.
* * *
PIPE ORGAN INSTALLATION.
Franklin, Ind., February 17, 1923.
Editor Presto: We desire to know of all the "Pipe
Organ" manufacturers, we will greatly appreciate
your reply by return mail giving us a list of these
manufacturers. Also as to which ones you would
recommend preferably.
Please send us Trade Lists Nos. 2 and 3. Also
give us detailed information regarding the usual man-
ner selling pipe organs; what about the installation?
In giving bids on a deal does the manufacturer, the
dealer, or the consumer, pay these installation ex-
penses? About what is the average expense of in-
stalling a $5,000.00 organ being installed in a new
building.—J. E. Nash & Son.
At the present time there are in this country ap-
proximately 50 pipe organ industries. A complete
list of them appears in Presto Trade Lists No. 3,
the price of which is 25c. Among the better class
of pipe organ makers we may name the following:
Austin Organ Co., Hartford, Conn. Coburn Or-
gan Co., 220 No. Washtenaw Ave., Chicago. Estey
Organ Co., Brattleboro, Vt. Hook & Hastings Co
Kendall Green, Mass. Geo. Kilgen & Son 3817
Laclede Ave., St. Louis, Mo. W. W. Kimball Co.
300 S. Wabash Ave., Chicago. M. P. Moller,
Hagerstown. Md. Henry Pilcher's Sons, Louisville
Ky. Schuelke Organ Co., Milwaukee, Wis.
Answering your questions: Circumstances must,
very largely, regulate the conditions of sale. The
maximum terms usually are 10 per cent of the price
agreed upon at the time contract is signed; 10 per
cent when the organ is completed and the balance
spread over two years. Of course, shorter terms
if possible but those here mentioned are customary.
In making bids on pipe organs it is customary
for the manufacturer to bear the expense of installa-
tion. The dealer, of course, should adjust this item
m making his estimate. The expense of installation
is in the wiring, the motor and the placing of the
blow pipe. That cannot be accurately adjusted in
advance but must be left contingent so far as the
purchaser is concerned.
The cost of setting up an organ costing about
$5,000 in a new building is about 10 per cent of the
selling price. This is, of course, part of the builders'
work, and it should be adjusted in making the esti-
mate.
Should you have a customer for a pipe organ it
might be well for you to put these same questions up
to the manufacturer whose instrument you have de-
cided upon. We have already given you a list of
good organ builders from which to select.
* * *
CABINET MAKERS.
Sparta, Wis., February 10, 1923.
Editor Presto: Will you kindly give me the names
of some phonograph cabinet manufacturers?—S. E.
Cremer.
.
The following concerns are manufacturing phono-
graph cabinets to order:
Chicago Phonograph Mfg. Co., 5127 S. State
Street, Chicago; Italian Art. Furn. Co., 16 N. Ada
St., Chicago; Frank A. Knight, Brazil, Ind.; Nel-
son-Wiggen Piano Co., 224 N. Sheldon St., Chicago;
Curtis N. Andrews, Court & Pearl Sts., Buffalo,
N. Y.
Of course there are very many more, but perhaps
you may find what you want by addressing the ones
we have here named.
* * *
REED ORGANS.
Paola, Kansas, February 9, 1923.
Editor Presto: Will you kindly advise us where
Ave can buy reed organs?—J. B. Lindemood.
As you probably know, there are very few reed
organ industries at the present time, and in our judg-
ment about the best place for you to apply is to
S. N. Swan & Sons, Freeport, 111. That concern
is producing a remarkably good line of reed organs
and without doubt you can find there just what
you want.
The Estcy Organ Co., Brattleboro, Vt., is making
a good line of reed organs, and the Adler Organ Co.,
Louisville, Ky.. is still active.
* * *
PIPE ORGANS.
Texarkana, Ark.-Tex., February 10, 1923.
Editor Presto: I would be pleased to receive the
names and addresses of the best pipe organ manu-
facturers, and would like to know if the Berchoff
Church Organ Co., of Pomcroy, Ohio, is still in busi-
ness?—W. W. Ward.
There are many pine organ industries in this coun-
try, and among them we suggest the following are
distinctly reliable in every way:
Austin Organ Co., Hartford, Conn. Estey Organ
Co., Brattleboro, Vt. Hook & Hastings Co., Kendall
Green, Mass. Kilgen & Son, 3817 Laclede Ave., St.
Louis, Mo. W. W. Kimball Co., Chicago, 111.
Robert Morton Co., San Francisco, Calif. Schuelke
Organ Co., Milwaukee, Wis.
A complete list may be found in Presto Trade
Lists No. 3, the price of which is 25c. Carl Barck-
hoff is now located at Basic City, Va.
* * *
ADVERTISING RECORD.
Richmond, Virginia, February 15, 1923.
Editor Presto: We have an inquiry for a small, in-
destructible Record, made for advertising purposes
—probably, about three inches in diameter—and.
would Tike to get in touch with the manufacturer of
such a record. If you can give us the information
enabling us to do so, we assure you it will be very
highly appreciated.—H. Wallace Carner.
According to our understanding, there are several
manufacturers of records who are now manufactur-
ing discs for commercial purposes. One of the best,
as we understand it, is the Independent Recording
Laboratory, 102 W. 38th St., New York.
The year 1923 is the Golden Jubilee anniversary
of the Schaeffer piano, now a product of the Price
& Teeple Piano Co., Chicago, but originally made
by William Schaeffer, beginning in New York in
1873. The exact day, week or month is not known,
so the celebration is fixed at the year 1923, and at
various times thru the year circulars and blotters
are mailed to the trade. A catalog of the Schaeffer
models which was issued recently tells briefly the
history of the Schaeffer instrument:
Wm. SchaerTer, the founder of the Schaeffer piano,
wasjiorn in Wiirttemberg, Germany, and learned the
a.rt of piano making under the tutelage of 'Schied-
maycr at Stuttgart, and later pursued his vocation
with Plcyel-Wolff & Co., in Paris, both famous old
world piano makers. Thoroughly grounded in the
basic principles of piano-building, he came to Amer-
ica and applied his art in the factory of Steinway &
Sons.
In 1873. he began to build the Schaeffer piano in
a., humble way in a small factory at 472 West Forty-
third street, New York City, where he produced the
Schaeffer piano >:cale, and was one of the very first
to succesfuly manufacture and market upright pianos.
In 1878, Wm. Schaeffer, proud of his achievements,
exhibited the product of his genius at the Paris Ex-
position, which won for him the Diploma of Honor.
New York being so distant from the best materials
necessary to the building of fine pianos, the Schaeffer
business was moved to Chicago in 1888.
The merit of the Schaeffer piano soon made a
larger factory necessary, and a third factory was
built at Riverside, 111., near Chicago. In 1903, this
factory was destroyed by fire.
The present model factory of the Schaeffer Piano
Works was built at Kankakee, 111., the location be-
ing selected because of the unusual shipping facilities
and also, the exceptional opportunity to secure
craftsmen.
Ample time and careful thought were given to the
erection of the present plant, and the installation of
improved machinery of the most up-to-date and ap-
proved type, and we can say with pardonable pride,
that nowhere will be found a more complete system
for
the manufacture of high-class pianos and player-
p : anos."
An advertisement of the Schaeffer piano, origin-
ally published by a big Kansas City music store,
Wunderlich's, is the reproduction of the blotter is-
sued by the Price & Teeple Company, which will be
mailed to the dealers next week. "The buying of
your piano is serious," we read in this ad. "Future
enjoyment and satisfaction depend on your selection.
Make sure of deriving true pleasure from your in-
strument by putting a Schaeffer piano into your
home."
P. WYMAN DROPS IN.
A breezy caller in Chicago this week was Publicity-
man P. Wyman, of the Baldwin Piano Co., of Cin-
cinnati. Mr. Wyman has made a good record by his
work in promoting the interests of the distinguished
industry whose factory on Walnut Hills forms one
of the greatest and most picturesque plants associated
with the piano the world over. Unlike most pub-
licity men, Mr. Wyman is a practical piano man in
the broad sense. He has worked at retailing, in the
factory and in making good copy for the trade papers
—and other papers. In short, he's a good man doing
good work for good pianos.
BRINKERHOFF TRAVELER.
W. S. Lanz, travelling salesman for the Brinker-
hoff Piano Co., Chicago—jocularly known as Brink-
erhoff's ambassador—is spending a few days in the
Chicago office after being tied up by ice for forty-
eight hours in Wisconsin on his way to Chicago. His
trip found everyone in need of goods, he says.
COL. LINDSAY BACK.
Lt. Col. Norman J. Lindsay has returned to the
piano business in Winnipeg, Man., and has been ap-
pointed sales manager for the Winnipeg Piano Co.
Previous to the great war he was head of the Lind-
say Piano Co., and one of the most active proponents
of piano sales in that growing section.
ST. LOUIS DEALER.
A. F. Mengel, of the Mengel Music Co., St. Louis,
Mo., was in the Chicago wholesale piano market this
week. Mr. Mengel reported that business has been
very good in St. Louis, and that the year has a
very good start.
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