Presto

January 31, 19
PRESTO
presto
asset he had to offer to him—the salesman—
the reply, given almost with surprise, was a
generalization such as has already been alluded
to. But the salesman in turn replied that there
was no asset at all, to him, in what was pre-
sented. He wanted the good will of people
who had already bought of the house. He
THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY. didn't care for the thumbed cards of "pros-
Published Every Saturday at 417 South Dearborn pects." He wanted to know what old cus-
Street, Chicago, Illinois.
tomers thought about the house. He would
build his own business upon their judgments,
C. A. DANIELL and FRANK D. ABBOTT - - Editors
which would be based upon the way the house
Telephones, Local and Long Distance, Harrison 234
had treated them—how the house had re-
Private Phones to all Departments. Cable Address (Com-
mercial Cable Co.'s Code), "PRESTO," Chicago.
sponded to minor complaints, and how it had
Entered as second-class matter Jan. 29, 1896, at the helped the piano buyer to keep his instrument
Post Office, Chicago, Illinois, under Act of March 3, 1879. in such condition as justified its cost and the
uses to which it was intended when it was
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1; Foreign, $4.
Payable in advance. No extra charge in United States
purchased.
possessions, Cuba and Mexico. Rates for advertising on
application.
That is good will—the kind of good will that
Items of news and other matter are solicited and if
of general interest to the music trade will be paid for the intelligent salesman wants, and must have,
at space rates. Usually piano merchants or salesmen in order to make good himself. Do retail
in the smaller cities are the best occasional corre-
piano dealers, as a class, ever think of good
spondents, and their assistance is invited.
will from this standpoint?
Forms close 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, JANUARY 31, 1925.
A BIG ASSET
What is the greatest asset in the retail piano
business? Put that question to a dozen re-
tailers and note the diversion of views. One
will tell the line of instruments carried. An-
other will say that he has been in business for
many years. Another will boast that his
credit is good at any bank; and still another
may say that he is a large advertiser, and that
his name is a household word throughout the
entire county. But what is, after all, his best
asset as a going business man?
The question just suggested was recently
put by a salesman to the head of a large piano
house in Michigan. And the answer was not
merely one of those given above. It was a
combination of them all. And still it did not
cover the very item by which the real value of
a retail piano business may be measured.
The trouble with the piano trade, too often,
is that the best of all assets doesn't exist, in
any marked degree. It is not even recognized
by the men who, of all men, should under-
stand it and hold it with almost sacred con-
sistency. And the asset is something that
doesn't really cost anything, and yet is above
price. It is Good Will—not merely public
good will, as commonly understood. It isn't
the good will that comes from public spirit,
and the enterprise that prompts a business
man to subscribe liberally to a grand opera
scheme, or to any other movement of broad-
cast interest. It is the good will that pertains
to the welfare of the satisfied customers of the
merchant.
In the retail piano business that kind of good
will is not often placed at the proper estimate.
The average piano dealer seems to feel that
selling the piano is the end of the transaction.
The good will of the customer who has closed
the purchase and paid the price is not consid-
ered. But the buyer who has bought and paid
is the carrier of the best kind of good will.
In the case of the young salesman who asked
his prospective employer what was the best
AN ENGLISH METAL ACTION
An item in London Music Trades Review
tells of a new metal action in these words:
"Early in the year we announced one of the
most revolutionary inventions of recent years
—the Waggett Metal Action, shortly to be
placed on the market, and which will mark an
epoch in the evolution of the pianoforte."
Strangely enough, that is just about what was
said forty-two years ago by 'the American
trade papers about a metal piano action which
had appeared in Boston. It was the metal
action invented, and applied to upright pianos,
by Chickering & Sons.
The Boston metal action was, we believe,
first introduced in a dainty little piano desig-
nated by the famous industry as Style Ten.
And for a time it promised to develop into
something really "revolutionary." But even-
tually it turned out to be almost disastrous, in
that the beautiful little uprights containing the
metal action were called back, in many cases,
to the factory, and the actions extracted as
rapidly as possible.
•*..
If the Boston metal action proved anything
of importance aside from its inaptitude for
pianos it was that the old house of Chickering
& Sons was as ready to "make good," in the
event of disappointment, as it was to introduce
revolutionary inventions when the conditions
suggested that they were due. Of course we
do not know w T hat the London metal action is.
It may be vastly different from the one of the
Chickerings in 1883. But if it is a metal
action, then it must be subject to the same dis-
appointments as the American metal action,
and so we can not quite believe that it is to
make so deep a mark "in the evolution of the
pianoforte."
Metal is the best possible material for some
parts of musical instruments. No doubt about
that. But, so far as experimentation has gone,
it does not seem to have proved the very best
material for parts of pianos so delicate as the
action must be. Metal improvements have
been made—minor parts, as the Billings brass
flange for instance—but the Boston incident is
sufficient to cause doubt when it comes to
metal actions as really "valuable outstanding
events."
While not really great, the figures quoted
on another page concerning last year's musical
instrument exports, will prove surprising. It
is made clear that Australia and Mexico are
our best foreign piano buyers, with Australia
leading.
* * *
Carry cheap pianos in stock, for you will
have cheap customers. But instruct your
buyers to want something as good as they will
buy and you will make friends and build a
better business.
* * *
Great changes in piano trade methods are
more imaginary than real. The installment
plan of selling is the same today that it was
sixty years ago.
* * *
It is predicted that more grand pianos will
be sold and delivered to the people's homes
during 1925 than in any three years that have
gone. Is it too big a guess?
It's right to carry cheap pianos in stock.
They will be called for and not every customer
who wants a piano can pay the price of a fine
one, or often if he can he won't.
* * *
As long ago as 1864 there were five piano
factories in Chicago.
30 YEARS AGO IN THE TRADE
From the Files of Presto
(January 31, 1895.)
It is characteristic of the enterprise of Uncle Sam
that the heaviest advertisers in the English music
trade papers are the American piano and organ manu-
facturers.
In a recent lecture on the Ideal Newspaper Mr. C.
A. Dana gave a few maxims to editors, one of which
seems peculiarly applicable to one of the music trade
papers at this time. It is this: "If you find you have
been wrong don't fear to say so."
The flood of orders that rolls in for the "Awards
Souvenir" of the Musical Instruments at the World's
Fair proves the widespread interest taken in that
work. It will be ready for delivery in about two
weeks. Every member of the trade should have a
copy.
Another Chicago piano will soon appear with a harp
and mandolin attachment. This latest addition to
what promises to grow into a large family of tinkling
auxiliaries to the piano is made upon a somewhat
different principle from either of the two attachments
now familiar to the trade.
Nestled almost snowbound in the valleys of the
Adirondacks, the village of Dolgeville was alive with
merriment and cheerful with the warmth of fellow
feeling last Saturday night. For several days pre-
viously the employees of the factories of Alfred Dolge
& Son had been preparing for the coming of the
annual reunion, which has been a regularly recurring
fete day at Dolgeville almost from the establishing of
the village itself.
20 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
(From Presto February 2, 1905.)
Harry E. Freund, editor of the Musical Age, New
York, was in Chicago on Monday and Tuesday of
this week. And so was Editor Lyman Bill of the
Music Trade Review.
The manner in which the demand for the Radle
piano has grown since the opening of this year has
caused the spacious F. Radle factory, on West
Thirty-sixth street, New York, to become one of the
busiest piano plants in the trade.
"What is this piano worth?" It was a stranger
who had escaped the salesman and strayed into the
business office to make a purchase. The dealer
scratched his head, hunted the books, consulted the
office lady and finally said: "Our price is $300, but
it is worth a great deal more; only a salesman could
tell just how much."
It will be interesting to know what effect the dis-
covery that gold can be distilled from the sea may
have upon the gold-string pianos. With pure gold
as free as salt water, and with two oceans to skim
it from, what may be the result in lowering the prices
of Col. Gray's gold-string pianos, from Philadelphia,
for instance?
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