PRESTO-TIMES
June-July, 1936
A VISIT TO DE KALB
Addition to the Factory Advertising and Publicity
Headquarters Transferred from Cincinnati—Every
Department of Piano and Accordion Factories Busy
—May Sales Exceed April and June Is Running
Ahead of May, Says Sales Manager Hugh Stewart.
A visit at DeKalb and to the Wurlitzer factories
and offices recently put a Presto-Times representative
in touch with some very interesting goings on out
there.
To begin with, operations have started on building
the addition to the factory. It was given out a while
back that an addition would be built to the big fac-
tory, and now that report—which had been kept very
quiet—has materialized and work has started.
The space for general offices of the Wurlitzer Grand
Piano Co. is more occupied, more space taken up and
greater activity shown at each visit this correspon-
dent makes there. Now, with the general advertising
headquarters of the entire Wurlitzer organization
transferred from Cincinnati to DeKalb, one has to
almost plow through a series of desks and various
salesmen's equipments to get to the offices of Cyril
Farny, general manager, and Hugh Stewart, sales
manager, which are still at the east main entrance.
Certain it is that a "full house" condition exists at
the Wurlitzer Grand Piano Company headquarters
at DeKalb.
Hugh Stewart has been tremendously occupied since
he returned from a long western trip and it is one
of the wonders of piano manufacturing enterprise that
he accomplishes as much as he does "get away with"
day after day. Mr. Stewart says that he never
attempts to "load up" dealers, and now since his re-
turn from the West orders and duplicate orders are
coming in by almost every mail, as a result of his
sales and contacts made.
From a vast lot of correspondence Mr. Stewart
lias had excerpts made from many of these letters
complimenting the Wurlitzer line of pianos and tell-
ing of the advantages derived from a Wurlitzer agency.
Mr. Stewart showed this writer two galleys of closely
set type of quotations from these letters. It would
require an entire Presto-Times page to print this
entire list, but at a moment when Mr. Stewart was
called to answer a telephone call from Mr. Stotler at
Tulsa, Okla., a hurried computation of the quotations
was 48 different excerpts—17 referring to grand
pianos, 11 to standard uprights, 11 to Spinettes and 9
to special Wurlitzer models.
Reference was made to the report of May ship-
ments of pianos as sent out by the secretary of the
Piano Manufacturers' Association, showing a falling
off in May from April shipments. Of this condition
Mr. Stewart said that their May sales were materially
ahead of those for April; that May grands were 27
per cent ahead of April and uprights 20 per cent in
advance of April—figures that do not include com-
putation on new verticals.
When some weeks ago it was given out that plans
for an addition to the Wurlitzer piano factory at De
Kalb had been submitted and that work on the new
building would soon start it was presumed that the
addition meant just an ordinary "addition to factory,"
as a newspaper had it. But it turns out that this
"addition" is a great big structure of itself, the first
unit of which is under way as fast as workmen can
keep it going. The dry kiln capacity is being in-
creased and the mill room is being doubled. The
capacity of the assembly and finishing departments is
likewise doubled. The photograph herewith gives
some idea of this work.
"On the first floor the offices and general space have
been completely re-designed and re-built; something
that had to be done to care for the handling of the
additional volume of business that is continually pour-
ing in. Incidentally, while the thought is in mind, the
Wurlitzer piano sales for June, just past, were more
than double those of June last year, and Wurlitzer
piano business had then taken a rapid move upward.
The general advertising department of the Rudolph
Wurlitzer Company is now at the De Kalb plant, and
now is the general advertising headquarters not only
of the Wurlitzer Grand Piano Company, but for the
Wurlitzer retail stores and hundreds of dealers all
over the country.
In passing through the Wurlitzer factories several
new Wurlitzer piano creations were pointed out, most
of them the work of that noted piano technician and
sound construction expert, Mr. Ralph W. Sperry, who
for many years was scale draftsman and technical
supervisor at the Packard piano factory, Ft. Wayne,
and who now is in charge of a similar activity with
Wurlitzer. One of Mr. Sperry's creations in particu-
lar will be shown at the Music Trade Convention, the
Wurlitzer style 221, the case design of which is by
William Zaizer, of New York, now a member of the
Wurlitzer staff of experts.
HARPS
by LYON & HEALY
This phrase "Harps by Lyon & Healy" could
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Send for our new illustrated Harp Catalogue free
LYON & HEALY
Wabash at Jackson
Chicago
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2.00
SURE-SET PIN BLOCK RESTORER
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One large can
Postpaid
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Two large cans
3.00
•
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Enough for three pianos with brush $1.10
What one tuner says about SURE-SET PIN BLOCK
RESTORER:
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Dept. One of the largest in the State of Iowa.
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SURE-SET PIN BLOCK RESTORER and find it the
greatest money saver to the piano repair dept.
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not had to change a pin. Will never be without
SURE-SET."
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1719-21 Mondamin Ave., Des Moines. la.
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GROTON, CONNECTICUT
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