Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1928 2205

Page 11 Text:

•K iiSTO-TIMES
November 3, 1928
PROMINENT MINNEAPOLIS
DEALER'S GOOD REPORT
H. G. Gerdsen, Energetic Straube Piano
Dealer, States Business Conditions Are Im-
proving with Outlook Favorable.
H. G. Gerdsen, Minneapolis, Minn., the Straube
piano dealer, reports business conditions improving
and a favorable outlook for the continued sale of
thought that on account of it being only 4 feet 4
inches long it would look 'stubby,' but the style is
very attractive. That is certainly a wonderful little
instrument. Because of the ample string length which
the Straube Duplex Overstrung Scale permits the
tonal quality is excellent and very even."
Another Straube piano interesting Minneapolis is
the Conservatory Model Straube grand piano, which
is a larger instrument with a wonderful tonal quality
and the action is perfect. "It is even better than many
other makes that I have seen at much more money.
These instruments have a very strong attraction for
the public. Everyone is interested in the unusual
method of construction Straube employs because it
indicates progress and improvement in piano manu-
facture," said Mr. Gerdsen. "I find that by presenting
instruments of the type that people are actually inter-
ested in, that sales continue in a gratifying way. Fur-
thermore I expect to see piano sales increase as there
is every reason to believe that the piano is now enter-
ing a new era of activity."
Mr. Gerdsen has been in business for the past 29
years and has developed a wide and favorable reputa-
tion. Part of his time he has devoted to tuning and
technical work which has qualified him very thor-
oughly in judging the structural as well as musical
qualifications of a piano and which are subjects which
must now more than ever before be discussed in an
intelligent way when selling pianos.
SEEK OLDEST TRAVELERS.
H. G. GERDSEN.
pianos. "The piano situation now," stated Mr. Gerd-
sen, "is somewhat different from what it has been here-
tofore during the many years that I have been in busi-
ness. The public is more musical, which also means
more critical. People seem to prefer nationally adver-
tised, nationally priced goods. They have more con-
fidence in the stability and worthiness of pianos mer-
chandised in that manner. Something of an unusual
nature likewise arouses their curiosity and interest."
The Sonata Model Straube grand piano makes a
strong appeal to Minneapolis, according to Mr. Gerd-
sen. "Before seeing that piano," he said, "I myself
Committees of salesmen and employers of travel-
ing salesmen, organized in 203 cities, are helping
in the hunt for the two oldest traveling men. When
they are found, no matter what section of the
country they are in, they will be brought to the
Hotel Astor, New York, with all expenses paid by the
National Traveling Salesmen's Foundation, from a
special fund given for this purpose, to attend a ban-
quet on December 4 which will inaugurate a drive to
endow a $3,000,000 home and hospital for aged, indi-
gent and incapacitated traveling salesmen. The home
will be built on a 1,000 acre tract at Winston-Salem,
N. C , donated for the purpose.
Committees of salesmen and employers of travel-
ing salesmen, organized in 203 cities, are helping in
the hunt for the two oldest traveling men.
WESSELL, NICKEL &
GROSS PERMANENCE
Appearance of a Familiar Advertising Phrase
in Old Presto Buyers' Guide Recalls
Its Origin to Editor.
The force of Presto-Times at work on the issue
of Presto Buyers' Guide for 1929 had occasion to
refer to the book issued in 1903. In searching
through the pages of the twenty-year-old Presto Buy-
ers' Guide, a phrase at the head of a display ad of
Wessell, Nickel & Gross attracted the eye of the
editor and awakened in his memory the creation by
him of a good slogan. This appears in the ad of
twenty years ago:
"A good piano is no better than its action, and
there is no better action made than the Wessell,
Nickel & Gross."
The appearance of the sentence in the old book
points to a noteworthy fact which distinguishes the
famous grand and upright piano actions of Wessell,
Nickel & Gross—the permanence of the qualities that
makes it the choice of manufacturers for use in the
finest pianos. The phrase originated at that remote
period has since been made familiar by its use in
about all of the other music trade papers. The phrase
has been applied to the Wessell, Nickel & Gross
product because it fitted and continues to fit the
famous action.
A. P. CO. IN GREENWOOD, MISS.
The city of Greenwood, Miss., has been awarded
the American Piano Co. franchise in that city. The
Jordan-Holmes Piano Co., Inc., is to handle the en-
tire line, including the Mason & Hamlin, the Chicker-
ing, and the Knabe; also the J. & C. Fischer and the
Foster pianos. Mr. Holmes states that the new
pianos will be in stock within the next ten days, ship-
ment having already been made from the factory.
F. A. Shiflet, proprietor of the Shiflet Music Store,
Middleport, Ohio, has purchased the frame house,
corner of North Third and Race streets, and will
move his business there this week. He will add, as
soon as the work can be done, a new garage and fit
up a new office.
" ' ',"
IT'S IN THE TONE
Radle Tone Has Won the Sale for Every
Dealer who has Permitted his Customers
to Compare it with any other.
Radle Tone Wins Wherever Radle Pianos
and Radle Player-Pianos Are Sold.
LET YOUR CUSTOMERS HEAR THE
RADLE TONE
And Examine the Beauty of Radle Construction and the Sale Will Be Closed
F. R A D L E , I n c .
609-611 W. 36th Street
NEW YORK
i
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 12 Text:

12
November 3, 1928
P R E S T 0-T I M E S
W. S. BOND'S VIEW ZENITH AUTOMATIC TICKLES "OUR GANG"
OF PIANO TRADE
President of the Weaver Piano Co., Inc., York,
Pa., Points to Condition in Other Lines
and Deducts a Lesson for Piano
Men.
Writing in The Weaver Dealer, W. S. Bond, presi-
dent of the Weaver Piano Co., York, Pa., quotes the
following four paragraphs from the Wood Workers
Clearing House at Chicago dated July 25, 1928:
Times change. Can we ever forget the days
when a large volume of business rolled into
wood-working plants upon which a good sub-
stantial profit could be realized without extra
effort?
It seems that some manufacturers can not.
They continue to look back upon those days as
being normal and because they do not return,
they are prone to discuss the so-called bad busi-
ness conditions and wonder what the outcome
will be.
There can be only one answer. Business will
undoubtedly improve to some extent sometime in
the future. But—a manufacturer who does not
progress with the times may never live to see it,
or profit by it, if he does.
MR. BOND'S COMMENT.
Commenting on the above Mr. Bond says:
The above indicates that other lines of business are
going through the same sort of changes as the piano
business and that the man who goes into some other
business to find something easy is liable to suffer dis-
appointment.
There are men in the piano business today who
started twenty, thirty or forty years ago with very
little capital. Back in those days, business conditions
were not nearly so good as now. By living econom-
ically and keeping down business expenses—by work-
ing strenuously and putting in long hours, these old
pioneers in the piano trade established a business that
proved increasingly profitable.
They formed habits of thrift and industry during
the former periods of business depression and con-
tinued those habits during the more prosperous peri-
ods which followed and today many of them are
worth from fifty thousand to several hundred thou-
sand dollars.
Some Retire.
Having passed the age when their former vigor and
ambition gave them the urge to follow the game vig-
orously and strenuously, many of them are now liqui-
dating their business and will spend their declining
years in a well-earned period of comfort and satis-
faction.
Others of them are still in business, but because
pianos cannot be sold as easily now as during the
few years immediately after the World war, many
of them are allowing their business to decline and
are, therefore, very weak competitors. Others of
them are infusing new blood into their organizations
and are developing increased success in their busi-
ness.
The New Kind.
A new group of red-blooded dealers and salesmen
is also springing up, full of ambition and ability to
sell pianos successfully and profitably and we take
off our hats to them. They are bringing a new pros-
perity to the piano business.
Business conditions do change, but they move in
cycles and this new generation of successful piano
dealers are establishing themselves largely in the
TheCABLECOMPANY
Makers of Grand, Upright
and Inner-Player Pianos,
including Conover, Cable,
Kingsbury, Wellington and
Euphona.
Chicago
Zenith automatic tuning made a great hit with ''Our
Gang," Hal Roach's famous comedy kids of the
movies, during their last visit to Chicago. "Just
pwess the button and there she am," said Farina in
demonstrating its amazing simplicity to the rest of
the gang. Zenith radios have long been a favorite in
Hollywood, many of the most notable stars being
enthusiastic owners of Zenith sets.
same manner as the former generations did, who are
now enjoying their accumulated wealth. They are AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
willing to dig in and pay the price for success and
they will enjoy the fruits of their labors in future
years.
Red-Blooded Builders.
We are anxious that every representative of the
Weaver line shall belong to the ranks of these vigor-
ous, red-blooded builders of prosperity and shall build
up establishments over a period of years that are
just as successful and prosperous as those of the pred-
ecessor above referred to.
The superior qualtity of the Weaver line of p : anos,
the stimulating effect of our direct mail service and
the proper use of our compiled proof of quality, as
well as our economical plan of financing for those
who need it, will all contribute to that success.
Let us all join hands and take a fresh start on our
way to the New Piano Prosperity which has already
dawned on many.
HEAR MISS SIRAGUSA
Perhaps no one of the younger artists of the city
of Chicago can boast of such endless array of press
notices and successful public appearances as Miss
Johanna Siragusa. Besides being the winner of the
$1,000 prize awarded in the Herald-Examiner piano
contest last year she has been heard at the Auditorium,
at Orchestra Hall and other places of note, always with
distinction. She is a natural born musician and be-
sides being a pianist of unusual attainment she plays
the violin well and sings with a coloratura soprano of
excellent quality. Sunday afternoon, November 4, she
will play the Hungarian Fantasie with the Chicago
People's Symphony under the direction of P. Marinus
Paulsen at the Eighth Street Theater, Chicago. It
will be the occasion of the third concert of the sea-
son, at which Miss Elizabeth R. Conner, soprano, as
well as Miss Siragusa, appears.
Wanted: Ibung Men!
—to become specialists in a field which will not
only pay them exceptionally well but which
will give them social standing and prominence!
r
p o young men looking for such an opportunity we
J. have an unusual offer. Right now in numberless
cities and towns in the United States, there is a great
shortage of piano experts, technicians and tuners.
The few masters there are, are earning large salaries
for this exceptionally pleasant work. Their time is
•mceT
theirown.
They meet the best peo-
n
rKCC
P'e » .
tele. We can fit you fur this profession
Send for frer book- in approximately 12 short weeks' time!
let which tells al
N o w don . t ssy
a r e n o t a musician!
about our practical Y o u d o n . t nee< f ^ b c . I n f a c t , B 0 per
and thorough train- cent of our graduates never took a rouaic
i .1ST course. Send i e s s o n And now th*y are earning from
for it now!
J250 to $500 a month!
This 19 the opportunity you are looking for. Pull yourself out
of the rut. Make a place for yourself among the
bestpeople. Our complete course in our new $86,-
000.00 laboratory fits you for a real p»yine pro-
jackinKthan you have'. Find out the facts anyway.
POLK COLLEGE OF PIANO TUNING
Polk Building. D«p(. i o
I like the ide
La Port*, Ind.
?iano Tuning, La Porte. Ind.
B a copy of your free booklet,
of becoming: a professional
CHICAGO AIR SERVICE.
Chicago's position as an air transportation center
became more secure this week when the Stout Air
Services, Inc., announced a passenger service to be
opened on November 1 between Chicago and Detroit.
The schedule calls for one trip a day from each city,
a plane leaving both Chicago and Detroit at 2 p. m. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
daily except Sunday. The fare will be $30 one way or
$50 round trip. Transportation between downtown
and the airports is included and each passenger may
carry twenty pounds of baggage free.
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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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