Presto

August 29, 1925.
PRESTO
ANOTHER NEW
PIANO BUILDING
Plans About Completed for the Still Further
Advance of the P. A. Starck Piano Co.'s
Warerooms and Offices on Wabash
Avenue, Chicago.
WILL BE "STARCK BUILDING"
When Completed New Home of Prosperous Piano
House Will Be in Same Block in Which It
Has Continued from Start.
Another of Chicago's prosperous piano industries
will take a step forward in its retail departments. The
P. A. Starck Piano Co. will have an entirely new
building, in the famed Piano Row, in the near future.
It will be at 226-232 South Wabash avenue, and will
present the imposing appearance of the strictly mod-
ern sky-scrapers which have of late years character-
ized the structures erected in Chicago's "loop" sec-
tion.
The new Starck Building will occupy the land
now occupied by the Hartmann Furniture Company's
store, a short distance north of Jackson Boulevard,
and within a few steps of the Steger Building, which
the Starck Piano Co. had secured some time back
by purchase, but which was not delivered because of
some difficulty in completing a satisfactory deed. The
new building will be constructed with special refer-
ence to the needs of the growing piano business, and
it will cost more than $500,000.
The new building will extend the full depth of the
lot, or 172 feet, for two stories, these two floors
having been contracted for by a piano company for a
term. The upper eight floors will be 100 feet deep,
giving to the piano house rear light.
Light Offices.
The offices will be in the rear part of the building,
which, by the plans just referred to, will have 72
feet free, and so arranged as to be insured against
the racket of the avenue, and as light as is possible
in any great city center. The structure to be re-
moved, to make way for the new Starck Building, is
of comparatively recent construction, and the per-
manency of the piano house is seen in the determina-
tion of the owners of the property to improve in the
manner indicated.
The retail trade of the P. A. Starck Piano Co. has,
from the first, been one of the outstanding features of
the Chicago's piano world. It has been so large as
to consume much of the greater proportion of the
Starck instruments produced at the factory of the
company, on the West Side, in Chicago, although of
late the demand for Starck pianos, from outside deal-
ers, has stimulated the manufacturers to enlarge and
increase the factory output to keep abreast of that
branch of its progress.
Just when the new Starck Building will be ready
for occupancy is not yet even intimated. It is un-
derstood, however, that the plans are well along, and
the accompanying illustration, made from the archi-
tect's drawing, gives a good idea of the proportions
and imposing character of the structure.
GERMAN JOURNAL PROTESTS
AGAINST McKENNA DUTIES
Their Re-imposition Is Directed Against Germany in
Particular and Kills Exports of Pianos There
Discussing the re-imposition of the McKenna duties
on musical instruments entering England, the Zeit-
schrift fur Instrumentenbau says: "These become in
practice directed straight against Germany. England
took 63 per cent of her imported musical instruments
from Germany, and 94 per cent of her imported
pianos. It can be understood that the reimposition of
the 33j<3 per cent ad valorem duty on musical instru-
ments in England must do great damage to the Ger-
man musical instrument trade. England has long
been Germany's best market for pianos; and a de-
cline in the business is to be counted on. And as the
prices of English pianos are like those of Germany
it does not appear possible to pass on the duty to the
consumer.
For a time the exportation of musical instruments
to England will be practically nil, as the volume of
this trade before July 1 had been extraordinarily
large.
The journal protests that the reintroduction of the
tax is not in agreement with the spirit of the trade
treaty between the two countries, which states in
paragraph 2 of the protocol—within the limits of
these agreements each party agrees to impose no duty
or tax or to reimpose or to retain such, which may
be particularly injurious to the other party. Further,
each of the two parties agrees in case of variation of
their existing duties, and in fixing new duties, as far
as they affect the interest of the other party, to have
due respect to the reciprocal interests and the devel-
opment of the trade of the two countries under fair
and convenient conditions, according to which the
German Government will duly consider the favorable
treatment which may be reserved for hte goods or
manufactures of German production that may be ex-
ported to the United Kingdom. The journal ex-
presses the hope that the German Government may
succeed in getting the English Government to re-
verse the onerous duties. The article is accompanied
by a tabular statement of recent years' rtade between
Germany and England to illustrate the above
observations.
CHICAGO PIANO CLUB'S
LAST MEETING OF SEASON
Something Special Will Be in Order and Board of
Governors Will Meet.
Next Monday, 12:15, at Illinois Athletic Club, the
Piano Club of Chicago will hold its final summer
meeting. Beginning with the September meetings
regular speaking and musical entertainment programs
will be given in connection with luncheons.
Last Monday another interesting group was pres-
ent, led by Charlie Burtzloff, one of the founders of
the Illinois Music Merchants' Association, and who
is now pushing the organization of an association
of Michigan Music dealers. Ben Duval was on
hand with several corking good piano numbers and
then Harry Lindeman told us of Florida.
There will be a special meeting of the Board of
Governors following the regular meeting Monday,
August 31. All members of the Board are urged to
be present.
REAPPEARANCE OF THE OLD
COMB PIANO IN NEW FORM
Russian
Musician Thinks He Has Invented
Noise-Maker to Replace Piano.
a
A Russian musician, S. Giley, of Moscow, has in-
vented a new musical instrument which, he hopes,
will replace upright and grand pianos.
The instrument, which has an ordinary keyboard,
is in the form of a box one yard wide and weighing
only eight pounds. The usual strings are replaced
by a steel comb, and the little hammers by tiny pinch-
ers which touch upon the teeth of the combs.
Russian composers and musicians, including Ippoli-
tov-Ivanov and Avranek, who have played the in-
strument at the Moscow Conservatory of Music, tes-
tify that it is capable of replacing existing pianos and
that it has a stronger tone and superior intonations
than the ordinary pianos.
The new instrument has been christened "piche-
tone." It is believed it can be produced at a low
enough price to compete successfully with the pres-
ent pianos.
NEWS ABOUT THE MEN
WHO RETAIL THE PIANOS
Brief Items of Trade News Gathered Here and
There in Music Field.
A new branch of the Burton Music Store was
opened recently in the Ingram Arcade, Hollywood,
Fla.
The National Music Co. is a new enterprise in
Hartford, Conn. The business was recentlv ooened
at 1065 Main street, with J. Feinblum as manager.
Mrs. Mabel Prescott has opened a music store at
Gooding, Idaho.
A music store was opened recently in Walnut
Ridge, Ark., by W. J. Veard.
A piano department is being added to the business
of J. H. Malbin & Sons, 74-76 Macomb street, Mount
Clemens, Mich.
The Corley Company, Richmond, Va., has opened
a branch in Greensboro, N. C.
The Eugene Music Shop of Eugene, Ore., has
added a piano department.
VICTOR INCREASES FACTORY FORCE
The Victor Talking Machine Co. is adding opera-
tives to its force. During the past few weeks about
1,500 people have been added to its working forces,
bringing the total up to about 4,500. Additional men
are being taken on at the rate of about 100 a day,
and it is expected that by the end of September a
normal force of 8,000 will be employed.
WILL THIS DEVICE
AFFECT THE PIANO
Boston Scientist and Music Writer Presents
an Invention Which Is Said to Have
Caused Amazement in the Minds of
Critical Hearers.
PIANO GIVES ORGAN TONES
It May "Revolutionize" the Instrument, But at First
Glance It Seems to Be Another of the Count-
less "Attachments" Which Come and Go.
It is not probable that there will be either great
excitement or deep alarm in the ranks of the piano
industry and trade because of the newspaper dis-
patches of last Saturday in which were told the
particulars of a new instrument destined to "succeed
the piano." The invention, as told about in the Chi-
cago Tribune's dispatch from Boston, follows, with-
out the change of a word or comma.
It is interesting—as all such things must be inter-
esting to piano men. There have been others equally
interesting, which came and went with scarcely a
ripple. The fact is that no change of kind, nor
amplitude of volume, is needed in the modern piano.
As to the effects of other instruments that may be
introduced into the piano, that's an old story, often
written.
Here is the story of the "new device on piano-
forte," as it came from Boston last Saturday. How-
ever, Presto is open to conviction and hopes soon to
present the new invention by Mr. Hammond, from
the standpoint of the piano trade as well as the prac-
tical pianist:
An "Amaz ; ng" Invention.
A new principle of niano forte construction which
professional musicians believe is the most remarkable
improvement made in the instrument since it was
evolved early in the eighteenth century, was demon-
strated for the first time this afternoon at the home
of the inventor, John Hays Hammond Jr., in
Gloucester.
An audience of 200 of Mr. Hammond's friends who
gathered in his music room to listen to a recital by
Lester Donahue were amazed at the almost revolu-
tionary effects which the pianist was able to achieve.
Using a concert grand piano to which the Hammond
invention had been added, he obtained much of the
sonorousness and sustained quality of a pipe organ
while retaining all the characteristics of the piano
forte.
Controls the Notes.
In an explanatory, Mr. Hammond said his purpose
had been to give to the player control over the notes
after the keys had been struck. By the use of re-
flectors set inside the instrument and controlled by
a fourth pedal, it has been possible to build up a tre-
mendous sonority, and the tones might be allowed to
escape with any degree of subtlety.
In other words, unlike the notes in an ordinary
piano, which gradually fade after being struck, those
may be sustained and even increased in volume many
times. The results are so astonishing that experts
feel the invention may result in a new type of musi-
cal composition.
While Mr. Hammond has long been known as a
sort of Admirable Crichton in scientific research, his
interest in music was not generally realized. During
the war he invented a type of aluminothermic incen-
diary projectile, which was used by the allies and he
is particularly distinguished as a radio expert, having
applied for some 350 patents, among them one cover-
ing the basic principle of the superheterodyne. He
is consulting engineer to the Radio Corporation of
America, the General Electric and the Westinghouse
companies.
How He Made Invention.
In describing the genesis of his invention, Mr.
Hammond said that it gradually developed as the re-
sult of working for more than six years on the con-
struction of a pipe organ in his home.
Mr. Hammond believes that while his invention
will give a nuance and an atmosphere particularly
fitted to composers like DeBussy, it will be equally
applicable to jazz. There will be a tremulando, and
the piano will "giggle" almost like a saxophone.
HERRIN HAS NEW STORE.
The J. R. Minton Music Company was opened
Saturday of last week at 220 North Fourteenth street,
Herrin, 111., by J. R. Minton. For the last two years
Mr. Minton has been handling the Baldwin pianos
as a representative of the St. Louis store. He will
carry a full line of the Baldwin pianos and will have
one of the most up-to-date music stores in all that
section.
George McLeilan, music dealer of Frederick, Okla.,
has leased a new store for his business.
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