Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1924 1959

Page 8 Text:

PRESTO
presto
THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY.
Published Every Saturday at 417 South Dearborn
Street, Chicago, Illinois.
C. A. DANIELL and FRANK D. ABBOTT
• Editors
Telephones, Local and Long Distance, Harrison 234.
Private Phones to all Departments. Cable Address (Com-
mercial Cable Co.'s Code), "PRESTO," Chicago.
Entered as second-class matter Jan, 29, 1896, at the
Post Office, Chicago, Illinois, under Act of March 3, 1879.
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1; Foreign, $4.
Payable in advance. No extra charge in United States
possessions, Cuba and Mexico. Rates for advertising on
application.
Items of news and other matter are solicited and if
of general interest to the music trade will be paid for
at space rates. Usually piano merchants or salesmen
in the smaller cities are the best occasional corre-
spondents, and their assistance is invited.
Frrms dose at noon every Thursday. News mat-
ter should be in not later than eleven o'clock on the
same day. Advertising copy should be in hand before
Tuesday, five p. m., to insure preferred position. Full
page display copy should be in hand by Monday noon
preceding publication day. Want advs. for current
week, to insure classification, must not be later than
Wednesday noon.
Address all communications for the editorial or business
departments to PRESTO PUBLISHING CO., 417 South
Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1924.
FROM 407 TO 417.
The offices of Presto Publishing Co. have been re-
moved just one door south of former location on
South Dearborn street, Chicago. The new number
is 417 South Dearborn street, and only change of the
0 to 1 is required to have it correct. Presto has been
within fifty feet of its present location for nearly
thirty-five years. In its new and larger quarters it
will be better than ever equipped to meet the require-
ments of a steadily increasing business. Remember
to change your records to—
PRESTO PUBLISHING CO.,
417 South Dearborn Street, Chicago.
PRIZE PROBLEMS
Emulating the example of another distin-
guished journalist with advertising instincts,
the publishers of a New York trade paper have
offered a cash prize for the best solution of a
vexing problem. The purpose of Mr. Bok's
prize offering of $100,000 is well known to
everyone. The aim of the trade paper's $500
bait for intellectual straining is to discover the
best disposition of the trade-in by retail piano
dealers.
Both propositions are profoundly impor-
tant. One has in view the peace of the world;
the other the peace of the piano trade. And, to
follow the analogy further, both are about as
impractical as possible. But the trade-in
piano is the proposition which directly con-
cerns this writing.
No one can hope to earn the $500, even if
any one gets it, unless it be on the basis of
literary attainment, for no one can settle the
trade-in problem for the whole trade any more
than any one can decide upon a world-peace
plan acceptable to the nations by which war
may be brought about. But the contests are
interesting and the results must have some
bearing upon the conditions by which they are
suggested.
This week's Presto contains the solution of
the trade-in problem which, had it been pre-
pared for the piano trade and submitted for
the purpose of capturing the trade paper's
prize, should carry off the five hundred bones.
It is the article bv an automobile distributor
who said that the "value of a used car is what
the buyer will pay for it." And he might have
added that he had never heard of a buyer pay-
ing too much for a car that was good enough
to demonstrate and sell at all. This may be
an insecure rule, but it seems to fit the piano
as well, if not better, than the automobile.
The trade-in's value depends upon what the
dealer puts into its repairs, and other items,
plus what he allowed for it. And usually he
doesn't allow very much.
The problem of the trade-in is too large for
any $500 solution. It cannot be made the sub-
ject of a creed or fixed equation. Seldom does
the same estimate apply to two old pianos
alike. It must remain a question of the deal-
er's honesty, and the buyer's intelligence, until
the time comes when the scrap-heap gets its
due and the too-much traded-in meets its well-
deserved doom.
THE GULBRANSEN COMPANY
The story of the increased power of the Gul-
bransen Company, which appeared exclusively
in last week's Presto, was one of the most im-
portant announcements of recent trade signifi-
cance. It showed that the Chicago industry
continues to grow and that it is now stronger
financially and better than ever prepared to
keep abreast with every possible facility for
continued progress, and the kind of service by
which customers of the "nationally priced"
may also keep moving ahead.
The story of the Gulbransen industry, from
its beginning to the present-day giant dimen-
sions, would make an instructive and absorb-
ing chapter in American industry. It is not
known to very many, and there may come a
time when it can be told in a way to inspire
other and lesser spirits than that of the man
who, from a very small start, has created a
name as well as a towering industry of unique
character.
In the report of the change from the old cor-
porate name to that of the man who has, above
all others, been instrumental in the upbuilding
of the big Chicago industry, there was a great
deal of intimate material reflecting not only the
largeness of the factory, and its importance in
productiveness, real assets and future proba-
bilities, but equally a note which appeals to the
retail piano merchants who have profited by
Mr. Gulbransen's genius and persistent en-
deavor.
There have been few parallels in any line of
industry to that of the Gulbransen, which to-
day stands a tower in the department of indus-
trial and musical life of the nation. It is, to
employ a commonplace simile, a monument to
the man who has built it, of which any trade,
or any department of business might be proud.
February 9, 1924.
portion to the quantity, or number, of copies pur-
chased of jiny piece of music. Thus, if the
"marked price' was indicated by a figure 6, the
wholesale price would be one-half off on a single
copy, with an extra discount of ten per cent on
orders of five copies, and a special discount of
five per cent—a kind of surplus to encourage
larger orders.
The custom of marking sheet music in the man-
ner indicated wis designed to permit of a good
profit upon publications which attained to popu-
larity. If a song, or piece, met with such general
approval that it was ordered in great numbers,
the publisher had his discount price based upon
large orders, and the retailer had the full sum
per copy which was indicated by the numeral upon
the title page.
Of course, the large majority of publications
are not expected to do much more than pay for
the plates, paper and printing. And it was cus-
tomary, in times past, for even the most reputable
publishers to put forth the efforts of amateurs
who aspired to fame as composers, upon some
basis of so much for one hundred copies, by which
to give the song or piece a start.
The new plan of marking music at the price
for which it is to be sold is, no doubt, a good one.
But it will require some time for the trade and
public to get used to it. And, even then, there
is little probability of the retailers selling for just
the prices indicated upon the title pages. But
everything that changes old mistakes in business
must be commended, and the publishers of sheet
music need corrective suggestions as badly as
those in any other line of good business.
NEW BUFFALO STORE
OPENS WITH GENERAL LINE
Owners of Escher Music Shop, 17 E. Mohawk
Street Are Clever Musicians.
The Escher Music Shop, a completely stocked
music store, opened February 1st at No. 17 East Mo-
hawk street, Buffalo, N. Y., opposite Loew's State
Theater. A general line of music goods and sheet
music is carried. Teachers' supplies in sheet music
and music books are featured. The store also carries
a fine assortment of instruments, including violins,
banjos, saxophones, drums and ukuleles.
Mr. Escher, who is a violinist of note, being a
product of the Vienna Conservatory of Austria, will
have charge of the violin music and instrument de-
partments. Hobart R. McCoy, the manager of the
departments for pianos, etc., is a clever pianist,
also a very promising young teacher, he having
turned out some pupils of note at Pittsfield, Mass.,
and vicinity. These two capable managers will have
complete charge of the store, and will assure the
people of Buffalo intelligent and courteous service
in music.
MUSIC SOOTHES TOILERS.
An Indianapolis item says that acting on the theory
that music has a soothing and restful effect and that
clerks and other toilers would be able to perform a
better afternoon's work after hearing a few musical
numbers, Mayor Lew Shank, of Indianapolis, has
suggested that plans be made for concerts to be
given at the noon hour each day during the summer.
OLD CUSTOMS CHANGE
From almost the very first publication of sheet
music in this country, it has been customary to
mark the retail prices by figures indicating dimes.
If a piece of music was intended to carry the retail
price of fifty cents, a figure 5 would appear within
a diamond, or circle, usually at the right side of
the title page. The idea was to fix the maximum
selling price of the sheet, and from that price it
has always been customary to predicate the whole-
sale price by a uniform discount, agreed upon by
the trade, or publishers.
For many years it was customary to allow teach-
ers a discount of one-third off the marked price.
The dealers have been accorded discounts in pro-
ACCIDENT TO C. E. LUCORE.
Friends of C. E. Lucore, manager of Xeal-Clark-
Neal, of Buffalo, will be sorry to learn of an acci-
dent which befell that gentleman recently in New
York City. During the recent cold snap, Mr. Lucore
slipped and fell during a visit to Manhattan and has
been confined to his room most of the time since.
He expects to be about again soon.
ADOPTS NEW NAME.
D. M. Hooker, the Hoopeston, 111., music dealer,
now confines his line of pianos to the Baldwin prod-
ucts, and styles his business, ''The House of
Baldwin."
The Heifetz Music Co., on North Broadway, Los
Angeles, Cal., has been added to the list of agencies
of the Wiley B. Allen Co.
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/

Page 9 Text:

February 9, 1924.
PRESTO
THINGS SAID OR SUGGESTED
Go After It.
Of course it is easier to sit around the store in the
winter time and wait for trade to walk in.
But when it does not walk in, let the extra man
explore the unknown places of your town or city.
You will find that you had no conception of the re-
sources of your fellow townsmen in the remote places.
There they were, all the time, not reached or
touched hy the influences of your store.
* * *
The Quitters.
Men of spasmodic achievement, men who quit a
project in the same sudden and determined way as
they begin, do not make the permanent piano dealers
or manufacturers.
They are the comets of the piano firmament. True,
they live for a day in a fool's paradise, despising those
who have put in many years of uninspired drudgery.
And they are shocked and dazed a few months or
years later to find that they and their methods are
not in demand.
* * *
Make 'Em Pay.
Go after the man who seems to have completely
forgotten his liability.
Approach him understand-
ingly, not as though he had attracted undesired at-
tention as a voluntary dead-beat, for you may find
upon investigation that he may have been worrying
considerably over his debt to you.
Use severe measures only after you are satisfied
that he belongs to the defiant; only after you discover
that he has an appetite for rows and likes the sound
of breaking glass.
* * *
Exclusive Styles.
The fear that they should duplicate somebody else's
piano has deterred many a woman from buying one
right ''off the bat."
Exclusive design is uppermost in the mind of such
a woman, who is not hard to convince that she her-
helf is of the most exclusive design of any mortal.
So she is. So is any piano she may find in your
store or in your city.
Tell her that every piano is exclusive, even though
a hundred duplicates, seemingly, of it were made at
the same time in the same factory. Only one was
sent to your city, but this one, like all the others,
has its own voice, its own pieces of wood and metal,
its own appearance all through; its own keys from
elephants with an individuality that herded exclu-
sively in their own exclusive jungle.
Assure her that the piano has hundreds of voices
in it that may be brought out by exclusive players,
no two of them of similar talent; that this piano,
therefore, is exclusive in a hundred ways.
And if she has any sense, of humor she will see
what you are driving at and will buy it without fur-
ther question.
* * *
Courtesy Wins.
The knaves who go out and sell bogus oil stocks
find that their dupes like courtesy. Here is a lesson
for the honest men who sell well-made pianos and
benefit the homes.
Be courteous always, for people who are not dupes
like courtesy as well as the too-credulous stock-pur-
chasers.
* * *
Big Men Wanted.
The piano trade needs an exciter, a big man of
broad ideas who will start the blood of the trade cir-
culating livelier. It needs a man who believes in the
vastness of things that can be accomplished in the
piano line.
Some of the attempts to capture trade in recent
years have been pathetically ludicrous. The adver-
tising was done in a splendor of publicity by men
who believed in the infallibility of their judgment.
And perhaps some of them thought it profitable,
although most of them found it not permanently so.
* * *
Factory Locations.
Conditions for extensive production of pianos exist
only in a few localities, or so it seems. One of these
spots on the earth's surface is in the southern part of
the Bronx, New York, where pianos form the basis
of business and conversation, of regrets and hopes, of
fortune and of life.
Space, shipping facilities, the nearness of skilled
mechanics and proximity to markets are the principal*
considerations in setting in operation a large establish-
ment.
The late Melville Clark once said that mechanics
did finer work if the factory were in a large city.
Later he removed his plant from Chicago to DeKalb,
111., because he had changed his mind about the size
of the town for the workmen.
The answer is no longer made that the size of the
city makes any difference. It's the men who make
them that count.
* * *
How It Happens.
A goodly proportion of the successful piano men
were thrust into the business by force of circum-
stances. The thing happened before they knew it
was happening, and now, looking back at it, .they
think it is funny because it is true.
There is nothing more interesting, as things fall
out, than the development of a piano man. His
longest step is from the point where he thinks him-
self efficient to the place where he becomes efficient.
It takes an undisguised test of unweakened vision to
make this step.
* * *
Piano Advertising.
The great advancement in piano advertising has
not been due to the handling of theme or thesis. Art
and common sense have done it. Interest in the piano
man's problems has served to sharpen the adman's
apperceptions of the rest, for piano advertising is a
distinct art.
He who seeks more to come in touch with the
genius of this art will discover its beauties and
difficulties, and not until then is he prepared to create
an ad.
* * *
The English Way.
Playerpiano and phonograph are the long-estab-
lished universal names in this country, with, already
almost obsolete, the "olas" and other endings sub-
sumed beneath them.
Yet the dictionaries published in England, bidding
a vain defiance to American universality, use as the
universal names "piano player," which is applied in
this country only to the old cabinet that was wheeled
up to the piano. And they use "graphophone," which
is a trade-mark name, for our word, phonograph.
The only explanation is, "it isn't done, ye kneow,
except in crude H'america."
* * *
How Salesmen Succeed.
Heartened by the assurance that prospects are in
certain corners of your city, gay salesman, why not
go after them? Go out and see what you may see.
Vague but insistent rumors have reached you that
they are there. You are astonished. Well, my boy,
astonishment stimulates thought. Thought touches
the springs of action.
What does it mean to you? Good money, per-
haps; at least adventure. Men who have not seen a
battlefield can hardly image it.
If at first you don't succeed in your old clothes, buy
a new suit, make a display of prosperity in advance,
and try again. Make a bluff of living in enviable
magnificence.
You will not get at your best customers without
good clothes. The trouser creases must be sharp.
No wrinkle on your vestments. Your linen must
glisten white.
Yankee assurance will carry you far. Never mind
the weather. A rainy day catches the women at
Jiome. The need to make sales is your stimulant;
then measure your fortune by that need.
* * *
American Piano Co. Stock.
A month ago, or less, the American Piano Co.
placed 13,500 shares of new stock of that industry
upon the market. It is announced that the entire
offering was taken by investors within less than three
weeks after issue.
The announcement of the new American Piano Co.
stock appeared as an advertisement in eastern news-
papers. We read it in the New York Times. It
was a succinct statement of the company's financial
condition and intimated that one of the purposes of
the issue was to pay for the newly acquired Mason &
Hamlin, which will henceforth be a "division" of the
American Piano Co. The statement was signed by
President George Foster, by whose clear-headed en-
terprise the acquisition was made. The avidity with
which the large block of American Piano Co. stock
was taken presents a remarkable proof of the con-
fidence the investing public has in the piano industry.
ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT GULBRANSEN.
B. A. Trestrail, president of the Mutual Sales Serv-
ice, Ltd., Toronto, Canada, takes enthusiastic inter-
est in watching the success of the Gulbransen Regis-
tering piano, made by the Gulbransen Company,
Chicago, of which instrument his company is the
distributor in the Dominion.
REPAIR MAN MOVES.
Max Giersch, well known Davenport musician and
specialist in musical instrument repairs, has moved
his shop from the H. H. Willey music store, 307
West Third street, to 319 Brady street. The new
location is in the Davenport Phonograph and Ac-
cessories store.
Why Dealers Find the Small
Miessner So Profitable!
There are seven big sales fields in which dealers are
cashing in on the small Miessner Piano. Every sale is
extra profit in these fields. It does not cut in on the
regular business and regular profits. For these buyers
can use only the compact Miessner.
We have prepared, a special booklet telling about
these sales fields and how dealers can cash in on them
with the Miessner.
Send for this and for complete information about
the 3 ft. 7 in. high Miessner, the original small piano
which is today first in development and perfection.
The attached coupon brings this information.
MIESSNER PIANO COMPANY
Milwaukee, Wis.
Miessner Piano Co.,
126 Reed St.,
Milwaukee, Wis.
Gentlemen:
Send me, without obligation, a
copy of "How to Get Business in
New, Untouched Fields with the
Miessner Piano."
THE LITTLE PIANO WITH THE BIG TONE
Name of Store
Street and Number
City
State
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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