Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1923 1919

PRESTO
20
AMERICAN
PIANO SUPPLY
COMPANY
Felts, Cloths, Hammers,Punchings,
Music Wire, Tuning Pins, Player
Parts, Hinges, Casters
A FULL LINE OF MATERIALS for PIANOS and ORGAN
When in Need of
SUPPLIES
Communicate with Us
American Piano Supply Co.
110-112 E. 13th St.
New York
SCHAFF
Piano String Co.
Manufacturers of
Piano Bass Strings
2009-2021 CLYBOURN AVENUE
Corner Lewis Street
CHICAGO
May 5, 1923
PHASE OF CITY SELLING
How the Corps of Cosmopolitan Salesmen
Make the Best of Music Goods
Sales Opportunities.
In L'VITV big American city the yet unmeltcd units
in the melting pot are prospective buyers of phono-
graphs and musical merchandise of one kind or an-
other. And all the time the active salesmen are talk-
ing up the goods and closing the deals with these
unabsorbed materials for citizenship. Do the sales-
•inen who operate in the foreign sections of the big
cities consider their selling proposition a "problem"?
They do not.
A problem to the salesmen in the foreign sections is
something impossible; something insoluble like the
bottom of the melting pot. They have a job of pros-
pect chasing, but no problem. But finding customers
in the polyglot colonies remains a problem to the big
retail houses downtown. Daily newspapers do not
get the foreigner's eye, nor does the hopeful salesman
of the average kind get his ear.
The salesmen who sell the talking machines, ac-
cordions, and stringed instruments in the foreign
sections of the big cities are not of the average kind.
They know the way and the persuasive means to ef-
fectively interest the thrifty foreigners who are build-
ing homes, raising families and educating them in fine
schools provided by the municipalities. And that
way is on the social side of Hans, Antonio, Ole, Se-
bastian, Jaroslav, Nicolaus, Wladislaw, Abraham and
the rest.
Certain sections of the big cities are found inhabited
by people of one race almost to the exclusion of all
other nationalities. They preserve a good many of
their national customs and the general use of the
native language in social and business conversations
gave the enterprising salesmen from the downtown
stores, who addressed them in Piano Row English,
the chilly feeling of exclusion. When they got a
negative shake of the head or shrug of the shoulders
in reply to a polite inquiry at one door it was hard
to come up smiling at the next one. So Mr. Average
Salesman from the downtown stores quit what he
morosely calls the shrug sections.
But the opportunities were too good to be neg-
lected. There was a way to the ear of the foreigner
and a way to his pocketbook. And the means the
big houses downtown and the smaller houses in the
outskirts employed was the organization of a polyglot
corps of salesmen; a band of cosmopolitan mixers
who now get the business where Mr. Average Sales-
man got the shrug.
They understand the various meanings of the shrug,
which is more eloquent than words.
Equipped with a knowledge of the language and
customs they are a part of the social life of the sec-
tions. In church, club, singing society, civic and social
function they are in evidence. In canvassing, the
shrug is not considered a final rebuff. It has shades
of meaning that the salesmen understand. At one
time it may mean disbelief and at another acquiescence
to the selling plea. They can interpret the motion of
hands and bodies, the lift of the eyebrow, the ex-
pression of the face. They understand these signs of
the feelings of the people as well as the language in
main stem, dialect and patios. On the, abilities of the
cosmopolitan corps of salesmen in the foreign sections
depend the sales of music goods.
WEST WANTS EDUCATOR ROLLS
Demand for Series by Trade and Player Owners
Amazes Q R S Western Manager.
The Educator Rolls of the Q R S Music Co., Chi-
cago have won California as the}' have won every
state in the Union. But the testimony of A. L.
Quinn, western manager for the company, with head-
quarters in San Francisco, is the result of first-hand
information from progressive dealers who ''find the
Educator Rolls undeniable business makers."
Of course it is only natural for a good roll state
like California to see the merits of the Educator
series. On his return recently from a trip to southern
California points, Mr. Quinn said the favor for the
Educator Rolls was growing bigger every day. In
fact, the eager manner in which they are being sought
by player owners and stocked by dealers is an amaz-
ing feature of the trade.
IN FIDDLE TOWN.
Visitors to Markneukirchen who remember Ger-
many in the days before the great war of course arc
able to make comparisons. But the man who sees it
today for the first time sees an interesting place and
interesting people, says the Kansas City Star. Most
of the eight or ten thousand inhabitants are still
engaged in making fiddles or stringed instruments of
one kind or another. But the fiddle makers comprise
by far the biggest group. In every house is a musi-
cal instrument maker and in some there are many.
The workers are of all ages and the female fiddle
makers are as deft as the males. Saturday is the
day of greatest interest and picturesqueness, for on
that day the instruments made in the homes are
brought to the dealers and the people make it a holi-
day event.
T. L. Bumpass, formerly manager of the Fort
Smith, Ark., branch of J. W. Jenkins Sons' Music
Co., is now associated with the R. C. Bollinger Music
Co., Fort Smith.
Established 1867
Strauch Bros.
All Well-posted Piano Dealers, Sales-
men, and the Piano Buying Public
recognize the value of this name on a
Piano Action,
For more than 55 years it has been associ-
ated with the best products of the Piano
industry- It has always represented
PERFECT PUNCHINGS
A QUARTER CENTURY OF
Quality and Merit
AT
TUNING PIN MANUFACTURING MEANS
Quality, Service and Value
When a Piano Action bears the name of
Strauch Bros, it is an additional guarantee
of the quality of the instrument containing it.
Used in the World's Finest Pianos
STRAUCH BROS.,Inc.
GF.GOEPEUCO.
T
137 E A S T I3 -* ST.
NE.W YORK
AMERICAN MUSICAL SUPPLY CO.
451 Communipaw Ave.
Comstock, Cheney & Co.
Ivory Cutters and Manufacturers
Piano Keys, Actions and Hammers
IVORY AND COMPOSITION-COVERED ORGAN KEYS
The only Company Furnishing the Keys, Actions, Hammers and Brackets Complete
Telegraph and R. R. Station: Essex, Conn.
Office and Factories: Ivoryton, Conn.
JERSEY CITY, N. J.
Piano Actions, Hammers and Repairs
327 t o 347 Walnut Ave., a t 141*t Street
NEW YORK
WESSELL, NICKEL & GROSS
Manufacturers of
PIANO ACTIONS
HIGHEST GRADE
ONE GRADE ONLY
The Wessell, Nickel & Gross action is a
guarantee of the grade of the instrument
in which it is found*
FACTORIES:
M r / 1 1 7 V T l P kT
45th St., 10th Ave. & W 46th. H I-« • •
1 V / I \ I\.
OFFICE:
457 W . 45th
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/
^ wi
PRESTO
May 5, 1923
IVORY PRICES AND SUPPLIES
Production of Raw Ivory Has Never Reached the
Figures Common Before the Great War.
Jvory prices in the primary market have increased
from 300 to 400 per cent since 1914, according to the
Foreign Buyer, which says that the great war not
only stopped the commerce in ivory, but also removed
the ivory hunters from their usual haunts and occupa-
tion in various parts of Africa. The offerings from
South Africa are disappointing and the ivory supplies
from East Africa, from the Soudan and from the
Congo have never approached anything like the pro-
portions before the war.
Naturally with the revival of commerce in Europe
and the growth of the ivory requirements in the
United States, the prices of the limited supplies
offered went to unprecedented heights. That fact in
a measure stimulated the hunt for ivory and increased
production was noticeable in recent sales in Antwerp.
PROFIT AND GENNETT RECORDS
Popularity of Line with Phonograph Owners Makes
It Desirable for Dealers to Handle.
Everywhere the favor of Gennett records grows
and big sales show the power of the records to attract
customers and hold them. Progressive dealers see
in them a line of popular commodities profitable in
themselves and with the power to draw trade to their
stores. For one thing the Starr Piano Co., Richmond,
Ind., which produces them is generous in advertising
them in the newspapers, magazines and on billboards,
in railroad stations and other public places. But in
the intrinsic merit of Gennett records lies the great-
est power to make them popular.
Every element requisite to the production of a
well recorded, well made and well advertised record
is used by the Starr Piano Co. The Starr recording
laboratories in New York are in the musical center
of the city with ready access to the latest musical hits
at all times. Therefore when the demand is newest
and greatest Gennett records reach the dealers in
weekly releases.
In the Blue Label Gennett records are found the
latest popular songs, dance hits and standard num-
bers. Their timeliness, wide range and high quality
have given them tremendous popularity the country
over. Hits are released in Gennett records when
thev are hits, when the demand for the numbers is
greatest and the possibilities for profits from their
sale the best.
Gennett records, released under the Green Label
represent the highest attainment in the art of sound
recording. The best standard numbers come under
this label, which assures variety in selection, perfect
reproduction and the real musicianship of the artist.
The appeal of the Green Label Gennetts is excep-
tional and is evidence of the masterful work of Gen-
nett artists who record them.
PERFECTION BENCH CO. MOVES
New Home of Perfection Piano Bench Company
of Chicago Reflects Firm's Expansion.
The Perfection Piano Bench Mfg. Co., Chicago,
is this week completing an important step toward
greater success. The removal of the company to its
new factory, at 1514 Blue Island avenue, was finished
this week. The old factory was at 618 S. Canal street.
The company's new headquarters show the^ great
expansion of the company. Where the former fac-
tory occupied but one floor, the new factory occupies
the entire building. In fact, the floor space in the
new home of the Perfection piano benches is almost
four times that of the old place.
F. S. Smith, president and treasurer of the industry,
is well pleased with his new location and has great
hopes for the company's future, in which he is justi-
fied by the success already attained.
THE AMPLIPHONE MOVES.
Chicago offices of the Ampliphone Phonograph Co.
have changed location. They are now in 820 Repub-
lic Building, State and Adams streets. A full line
of the favorite phonographs are on display and among
them will be found the new console designs which
have grown into great favor in the trade. President
Frank Knight, of the Ampliphone Phonograph Co.,
has made a success of his enterprise and the big fac-
tory at Brazil, Ind., is going full handed. Mr. Knight
divides his time between the factory and the Chicago
offices. Dealers are invited to visit the new Chicago
headquarters in the Republic Building, at any time.
Often it will pay them well to do so.
TUNERS"
BASS STRINGS
Special attention given to the needs of the tuner and
the dealer
OTTO R. TREFZ, Jr.
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
The Piano Repair Shop
PRACTICAL PIANO MOVING SUPPLIES
INCREASE SELLING POWER
One-Man Steel Cable Hoist; Two-in-One
Loaders, Trucks, Covers, etc.
Get Our N«w Circular* and Price*
PIANO MOVERS SUPPLY COMPANY
BUCKINGHAM, PA.
Facts in Various Lines of Commodities Which Enter
Into Musical Instrument Manufacture.
Wool consumed by 610 manufacturers in March
totaled 53,790,287 lbs. of which 28.1 per cent was
domestic, the U. S. census bureau announces. In
March last vear 52,361,000 lbs. were used and in
February this year 50,117,528 lbs.
The "veneer makers everywhere report a big busi-
ness. In Evansville, Ind., several manufacturers are
operating day and niyht.
Lumber is moving freely from Chicago yards and
there is a renewed disposition to advance prices,
especially for hardwoods, distribution of which in the
first quarter was double that in the first three months
of last year.
A firm of importers in Italy requests the names and
addresses of manufacturers of strings for musical
instruments according to the Bureau of Foreign and
Domestic Commerce. The Italian firm desires to be
accorded the agency for Italy in the lines.
AN EDISON VIEW.
"People are far more willing to pay for being
amused than for anything else," said Thomas E.
Edison in a recent interview. "That is one reason
why the phonograph has been so universally adopted.
Jiut another reason is its simplicity. A child can
operate it. Most people are careless and many in-
ventions are unsuitable to them. The phonograph is
practically foolproof and its operation extremely
simple. The absence of mechanical worries in using
it makes it suitable to everybody."
LEATHER
FOR
PLAYERS
ORGANS
PIANOS
PNEUMATIC LEATHERS A SPECIALTY
Here are
2110 Fairinount Avenue
SITUATION IN SUPPLIES
Pianos and Phonographs Rebuilt by
Expert Workmen
Player-actions installed. Instruments
rehnished or remodeled and actions and
keys repaired. Work guaranteed. Prices
reasonable.
Our-of-town dealers' repair work solic-
ited. Write for details and terms.
THE PIANO REPAIR SHOP
425 South Wabaah Ave.
Packing, Valves, All Special Tanned
Bellows Leather
T. L. LUTKINS, Inc.
40 Spruce Street
NEW YORK
DEALERS AND TUNERS!
Big Cut in Prices Piano Key Repairing
Celluloid, Complete Tops, Set Keys
$7.00
Ivorine (grained), Complete Tops, Set Keys 8.00
Composition, Complete Tops, Set Keys... 10.00
Sole manufacturers and distributors of H. P.
& O. K. Co. famous Ivory White Glue. Needs
no Heating. Applied Cold. Sent anywhere in
U. S. P. P. $1.00 can.
HARLEM PIANO & ORGAN KEY CO.
121-123 E. 126th St.
New York Citj-, N. Y.
Chicago
MAG0SY(& BUSCHER
PERFECTION
PLAYER ROLL CABINET
Furnished in 5 ply veneered 1 3 / 1 6 stock in
Mahogany, Oak and Walnut
Designed and
Manufactured
Our Hammered Cymbals are as Good as Turk-
ish Cymbals in Sound, and they don't cost as
much.
Drum Major Batons in Wood and Metal.
Perfection Piano Bench Mfg. Co.
Makers of the BESTONE Banjo Reso-
nators
We Can Manufacture Any Specialty in
Our Line to Order.
614-618 So. Canal St.
232 Canal St. and 118 Walker St., NEW YORK
By
Capacity, 150 Rolls
First Class
OVAL AND ROUND METAL
SPINNERS
Makers of high-grade hammered Cym-,
bals in Brass and German Silver, from 2
to 18 inches; Brass Mutes for Cornets,
Trombones, French Horns.
CHICAGO
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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