June-July, 1935
PRESTO-TIMES
PRESTO-TIME
THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADES JOURNAL
The Modiform Verti-Type
ISSUED THE
FIFTEENTH OF
PUBLICATION MONTH
Almost from the time when the upright replaced the square there have been
attempts to modify the form and in some ways the construction of this type of
Editor
piano. Likewise for years names upon names have been suggested as better suited FRANK D. ABBOTT
Telephones, Local and Long Distance, Harrison 0234.
for the title of the vertical model than the established name upright which it
Phones to all Departments. Cable Address (Com-
now bears and was given the instrument when it superseded the square, but the Private
mercial Cable Co.'8 Code), "PRESTO," Chicago.
name continues as the representative instrument of the vertical type of piano.
Entered as second-class matter April 9. 1932, at the
The square piano which had practically ceased of production fifty years ago Post
Office at Chicago, 111., under act of March 3, 1879.
became immediately succeeded by a vertical type of construction and called up-
Subscription, $1.00 a year; 6 months, 60 cents; foreign,
$2.00. Payable in advance. No extra charge in United
right, a name that has come to represent the vertical class of piano manufacture States
possessions, Cuba and Mexico. Rates for adver-
in contradistinction to the grand or horizontal class. There are then two arbitrary tising on application.
forms in piano construction, the vertical and the horizontal; possibly three. Inas-
much as really the square, the grand and the upright are each distinct in building
PRESTO PUBLISHING CO.
and all three differ in the action, so much so that you could not apply any different
Publishers
actions than what they are provided with as they all differ in construction. How-
417 So. Dearborn St.
Chicago, ILL
ever, the change from the horizontal square to a vertical type which then became
known as the upright was sure, quick and easy. The old square was lifted a quarter
circle and practically speaking with proper changes in stringing became an up-
Should a new form of "upright grand" or
right. By a similar metamorphosis the little grand, the baby grand so-called, "grand upright" evolve from present experi-
may be said to have evolved from the square through stretching out and elongat- mentation, names characteristic of the grand
ing to triangular shape the old square case so as to fit for housing the work of the as well as of the upright will be required, but
failing in coining a suitable name for a new
little grand. . . .
type of piano such as the recent models indi-
German piano manufacturers have experimented long and often in endeavor- cate they may be, makers can always fall back
ing to change the shape or materially modify the form of the established upright. on diminutives for their individual require-
Design after design were brought out over there and several have been shown in ments. Such names, for instance, as Kimbal-
this country. Illustrations have been printed, some of them showing models ridicu- lette, Winterette, Steinette, the Straube
or the John Brown Duo-pianette,
lous in appearance and awkward when placed in the home. With the illustrations pianette
etc., etc., ad lib.
shown abroad, stories and propaganda aiming to bring about radical changes in
At any rate a new seller is going on the
the vertical type or upright piano have been distributed. Within the past year a market and the quicker interested manufac-
Mr. Frederick Hager came to this country from Germany, bringing designs and turers get to the front with the goods the
to offer a vertically built model. Whether any manufacturers negotiated with quicker they will reap their part of the har-
vest. At this writing not one in fifty, probably
Herr Hager, we have no record, but he brought designs which were handsome not
one shop in a hundred where pianos are
and unique.
on sale, salesrooms, studios, shops, one-man
In the hey-day of piano manufacturing by the Waltham Piano Company, Mil- agencies has had their first (or seen one) new
waukee, Wis., then under the general management of Paul Netzow, a changed" model vertical type piano. It has been recently
model of upright was brought out which resembled considerably some of the de- stated on good authority that not one-half of
one per cent of piano sales today, the country
signs that have come to Presto-Times attention. Much money was expended on over,
big towns, small towns and no towns at
the Waltham design, and on the few instruments that were put out, but the prop- all, are of the new console type, and such as
osition of a drastic change in the upright at that time fell flat and the attempt at a are sold supplied by just two factories, Winter
and Haddorff. This does not take in the sev-
"startling innovation" was unsuccessful.
This Waltham episode is only one of several endeavors to produce something eral colonial type miniature horizontals, nor
does it include the spinet piano, the Spinet
out of the ordinary in the vertical scale type that would help along sales and cre- Grand
of Mathushek, which is a grand piano
ate some new business. In Europe, especially in the Great Britain, the changes in put into the design of the glorious spinet piano
piano case appearance have been a "worked over" upright and not so radical in of the seventeenth century. Within thirty to
change as in this country. Eavestaff & Sons, Robert Morley & Co. and Brasted, sixty days from now there will be, not a whirl-
of London, are prominent in new model manufacture. Names of their product are wind of these pianos ready for delivery to the
"Minipiano," "Claviano," "Pianette." Very little seems to have been done over there trade but a good supply.
A piano man, one of the distinctly astute and
toward replacing the small grand with new designs of vertical-scale instruments observing
kind of his profession, visited
and the conclusion still holds good that nothing so far exactly replaces the hori- Presto-Times' office a few days ago and came,
zontal grand for wide expansion in tone production.
as he said, to offer his observations on a ten-
Along with attempts at drastic changes in case and construction have been day trip covering points in Indiana, Illinois,
suggestions for a name to replace that of upright, most of them coined by the pre- Missouri and Iowa. "I visited 24 towns and
cities," he said, "called on 94 dealers and
fix verti to the noun, as vertiform, vertishape, vertiscale, vertistring, verticase, others
handling pianos and saw an even dozen
vertical, vertitype and, if we mistake not, "vertichord," which the Haddorff Piano of the new form verti-type piano and these
Company of Rockford, 111., recently adopted for its new vertical type piano.
were in five of the 94 stores I visited."
Here is opportunity for computing percent-
In putting on the market an instrument out of the ordinary shape and gen-
eral design, the makers' aim should be that no impairment in tone quality or tone age ; five per cent of the stores visited had
new models, a few sales had been made
production ensue. After this its appearance and adaptability to home surround- these
and sharp cut prices were offered to unload
ings and architecture must be observed. If such requirements cannot be met let regular uprights. "Most of the representative
well enough alone rather than attempt to better what we already have. To build dealers are going to carry the new models
an instrument just for appearance sake; to exploit a model mainly attractive to and get them in stock early so as to have
the eye and made salable because of novelty in appearance is a futile pursuit; un- them in case of emergency and not miss a
piano sale," remarked this traveler.
profitable and sure to run a race short and ill-timed.
If any appreciable reaction favorable to these modiform pianos results, it is
Players, makers and everyone in music and
well that consistent prices prevail; prices reasonable and consistent with the stand-
ard upright and the smallest grands, and based on at least a fair normal produc- musical instrument making, may well bear in
mind that June is the birth month of Cristo-
tion as against limited output. Some such uniformity would be good for this fori,
Bartolomeo Cristofori who 270 years ago
phase of the piano business at this time, prices as maintained, of course, by indi- rigged together some lengths of wire and a
vidual manufacturers.
wooden box in which a new system of play-
ing music and musical sound came into being,
The activity of the manufacturers who have started to put remodeled uprights resulting in the pianoforte of today.
on the market, and these number a considerable proportion of the ones now carry-
ing on, indicates that there will be no "exclusive" right or monopoly but competi-
With the advent of two systems of organ
tion plenty in any new form of piano no matter how extraordinary the case de- construction operated by electric current mo-
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