February 19, 1927.
PRESTO-TIMES
CHRISTMAN
"The First Touch Tells"
FOOLISH CLAIMS OF
PIANO IMMORTALITY
Manufacturers and Dealers Who Claim Long-
Enduring Harmonious Careers for Up-
rights and Grands Help to Perpetuate
• a Harmful Fallacy.
HURT BY HEIRLOOM PIANO
Trade and Industry Today Sutterirg from Pernicious
Propaganda of Past Generations Which
Promised too Much.
By A. G. GULBRANSEN,
President Gulbransen Company.
THE CHRISTMAN
Reproducing
Grand
Equipped With
THE
Is the highest attainment in the instru-
ment that reproduces, with absolute
accuracy, the performances of the
World's Master Pianists. It is the
finest creation of Christman artistry,
in which is installed the most famous
cf all piano-playing mechanisms.
THE CHRISTMAN
LINE
is complete, from the small upright to
the famous Studio Grand and the
Concert Grands. With this line the
dealer has the variety of sizes and
styles requisite to a complete piano
house.
Has No Superior and Few Equals in
Tone, Construction or Beauty
Write for full particulars and illus-
trated catalogues.
"The First Touxih Telb"
Reg. U. S. Pat. Oft.
Christman Piano Co.
597 East 137th St.
New York
There is a popular notion on tlie part of the people
that there is practically no end to the life of a p : ano.
It is regrettable that this is the case, but even more
regrettable that manufacturers and dealers themselves
are helping to keep that idea alive in the minds of
the people. There has of late been a wave of adver-
tising along the lines of "you need never buy an-
other piano"; "a piano that you can hand down to
future generations," and so on. I have heard sales-
men, without any necessity at all, tell customers that
"this piano will last a lifetime."
How can we ever hope to increase the replacement
of old pianos in the face of such propaganda on the
part of the trade itself? How can we ever hope to
get rid of the old pianos that are musically and archi-
tecturally a curse to our business? How can we hope
to improve the musical ear of the nation if we nur-
ture and cherish the old pianos and permit them to
be accepted as the standard?
Hurting the Industry.
Even if it were possible to build a piano so fine that
it could be handed down to the next generation with-
out impairment of its musical qualities, I feel that it
would be a poor service to our industry to do so.
Heirlooms are not popular. The cry is for new
things, new models, improvements, changed appear-
ance.
Every day, homes, office buildings, theaters are torn
down to make way for the new. The old ones would
probably do service for scores of years, but they
have outlived their usefulness—and so they must go.
Married folks make one, two, three or more
changes in their furniture over a period of ten to
fifteen years. From leather suites they go to over-
stuffed suites, to mahogany trimmed mohair suites,
then to velour, then to something else. But always
a change. It is part of the spirit of progress of the
American people. Right now every discriminating
woman either has already or hopes to have, painted
bedroom furniture.
An Old Fallacy.
How can it be expected that lacquered pianos,
pianos of fancy design, small uprights, small grands,
roll-played pianos and all the other modern pianos
will meet with greater demand as long as the thought
is still kept alive that pianos are different from any-
thing else and should go on looking like back-num-
bers in the midst of their modern surroundings.
Progressive people, seeing old pianos in the homes
of friends, will get the idea that pianos are way be-
hind the times and will leave them out of considera-
tion altogether in the famishing of their own modern
homes.
Burn the Old Pianos!
We have said repeatedly: "Burn the Old Pianos."
I am glad to say that our dealers, in many places,
have taken up the propaganda locally. They have
changed their attitude toward the old pianos. They
are shaming people out of "donating" their cast-off
pianos to a defenseless church, orphan home or
school. Etude Music Magazine now recognizes that
the old pianos are harming the cause of music and
retarding music progress.
A campaign running
through the whole of 1927 has been worked out.
This is commendable. It represents progress in the
movement. And yet in our own trade advertisers and
salesmen continue to inculcate the thought that there
is something reverential about age in a piano, that a
person should choose one with one's great-grand-
children in mind.
An Abomination.
In public places everywhere, in homes, you hear
pianos that grate on your ears. You hear singers say
that it is a shame they are expected to sing well to
the accompaniment of a piano that has lost all the
musical quality, it may have possessed at one time.
This is true of the most expensive as well as cheaper
instruments.
You see pianos with barely any varnish left on
them, scuffed, scraped, and with scroll work backed
by a dusty piece of cloth in the upper panel. You see
pianos that are oversize, large, hideous, unattractive.
Why shouldn't their owners hold on to them when
the men who make them are authority for the state-
ment that they may be handed on from generation to
generation? One of the things needed now is a
strong, aggressive campaign, to modernize the pianos
in homes and institutions. The accomplishment of
this will not only increase the volume of piano busi-
ness, but will do an incalculable amount of good in
putting over the piano as a modern musical instru-
ment entitled to a just share of the family's home fur-
nishing funds.
TELLS AMAZING GROWTH
OF BALDWIN SALES
New Bulletin Issued to Dealers Foints Out
Continuous Increases in Distribution
from 1921 to 1926.
A bulletin mailed to the trade this week by the
Baldwin Piano Co., Cincinnati, gives a remarkable
record of sales of pianos for six years. The follow-
ing are the comparative figures: 1921, $9,004,699.03;
1922, $10,705,036.38; 1923, $12,938,923.64; 1924, $13,-
459,779.76; 1925, $15,683,001.99; 1926, $16,154,629.64.
The sales record for 1926 is notable, not only for
the increase over 1925, but particularly for the amaz-
ing growth in sales of Baldwin, Ellington, and Ham-
ilton pianos.
The bulletin gives the scope of national advertising,
convention displays, window display material and
program and newspaper electros provided for dealers,
special local sales plans, radio publicity, and free sell-
ing helps generally.
"More aggressive educational and promotion work
will be conducted by us this year at national and
state conventions of the Federated Women's Music
Clubs, music supervisors, National Educaf'on Asso-
ciation, music teachers, piano tuners, and many
others, whose favor and influence benefit oar dealers."
VARIED CHARACTER OF
HENRY GEARMAN'S ABILITIES
In Addition to Ability to Sell Pianos He Can Tune
and Repair Them.
The versatility of Henry Gearman, who recently
joined the Chicago offices of the Kohler Industries,
adds to his value to the organization. Because he
can tune, regulate and repair so many kinds of actions,
he has done valuable work servicing pianos and giv-
ing demonstrations. He is among the experienced
piano men who believe that the playerpiano has the
largest sales possibilities of all types of pianos.
Mr. Gearman has extraordinary qualifications for
his work. He is a practical piano man as well as a
piano salesman of long and successful experience. As
a boy he served an apprenticeship in piano construc-
tion under the supervision of his father in the factory
of Kranich & Bach. Later, when he went with Adam
Schaaf, Chicago, he brought to that concern expert
knowledge of how good pianos are fashioned, a
knowledge which, during his long term of service
there, was put to splendid use in both factory pro-
duction and in field work. Many improved methods
were devised by him, one of which is worthy of spe-
cial mention—that of the method of installing the
Welte-Mignon (Licensee) Reproducing Action in the
Adam Schaaf grands. He is a thorough mechanician
with the typical curious mind of the inventor who
cannot resist the "how" and "why" of any piece of
mechanical work that successfully achieves the result
for which it is designed, and more especially if the
result can be improved.
In addition to his strong belief in the musical merit
of the player-piano and its sales possibilities, Mr.
Gearman is a piano man with constructive ideas. He
has the ideal temperament for his job, backed by
practical experience. He will prove a great help to
the many dealers who, in the near future, will get to
know him, and the more they know of him the more
they will appreciate his worth.
AMPICO SCORES ON COOK TOUR
The Ampico installed on board the "Franconia"
for the Around the World Cruise Tour has already
made its presence felt and taken unto itself a person-
ality which makes it a very important member of
the ship's company. J. W. Kirk, manager for the
tour on board the "Franconia," writes under date of
January 26: "The Ampico has been a source of great
pleasure on the cruise and our guests use it contin-
uously. Your man came on board and tuned the
instrument at Balboa and found it in splendid shape.
I wish you would mention this to Mr. White next
time you see him."
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