Music Trade Review
Issue: 1896 Vol. 22 N. 3 - Page 7
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
From a Traveler's Note Book.
OCCASIONAL RAYS OF SUNSHINE ON THE TRADE CHESS BOARD
TALK UPON THE SUBJECT OF CHEAP PIANOS
TRADE AS A WHOLE IS QUIET
HAS THE CRAZE GONE B\ ?
A
IS THE CHEAP PIANO
SOLD IN ITS CLASS?—A WELL KNOWN DEALER'S OPINION—THE DEMAND DYING OUT.
KELLER BROS. & BLIGHT—PROGRESS MADE IN THE INSTRUMENTS—A VISIT TO
THE
STERLING
THE
FACTORY
HUNTINGTON
BUILDING
PIANOS
PIANO
RETAIL
BUSINESS WITH
ULAR
THAT
HAVE WON A PLACE.
FACTORY—A
TRADE
IN
NEW
SHONINGERS—A
MAGNIFICENT
HAVEN.
POP-
HOSTELRY—STUCK ON
A
SAND
HERE are now and then bright
rays of sunshine across the
shadowed trade chess board.
Occasionally I find a manu-
t
facturer, a dealer, a traveler
and a salesman who waxes
eloquent over the particular activity which
he has personally encountered, but taken as
a whole the condition of the country, as I
wrote last week, is much depressed.
I am rather inclined to believe the state-
ment made to me the other day by a friend
who is far from being an admirer of
Cleveland. He said:
"We may expect a continuation of just
this sort of thing, until Cleveland bids
farewell to the Presidential chair. He is a
Jonah."
There is no doubt but what Cleveland
has been censured, and as far as my belief
goes, justly so, for many of his official
actions. But it occurs to me that he does
not stand alone in this matter of censure.
He has been surrounded by a coterie of
men whose inability to successfully direct
Governmental and financial affairs is pain-
fully apparent.
The week has started in as a record
breaker. Fires and failures in the lead.
There is no mistaking the fact that de-
pressed business conditions are prevalent
everywhere during the opening months of
1896.
The cheap piano has become a prominent
factor in the music trade of this country.
Travel where you will, and you will find
that almost every dealer has a cheap piano
in his warerOoms.
It is true that while he is showing you
his different makes he does not care to men-
tion that he handles so-and-so's only in the
way that "it is just because he has to keep
in line, you know, because his neighbor
has a cheap piano, and he must keep a line
also in order that he may meet successfully
that kind of cheap competition."
It was only the other day, while chatting
with a well-known dealer in one of the
Eastern cities, the question of cheap pianos
was touched upon. He said:
" I am like thousands of other men; I
have been • tempted to purchase cheap
pianos in large quantities, simply because
they held out alluring inducements. For
a thousand dollars I could purchase a goodly
number of them. We could sell them at a
good round profit—sell them quickly—and
BAR.
as I am in business for money, I have gone
into the cheap piano business extensively.'
"And," I asked, "have you found after a
year's experience that it was a profitable
business for you? Have you not found
that the original profit, which was large,
has been materially reduced by subsequent
expense, for instance, have you not found
it necessary to spend a good portion of
your time in conciliating some of the
people to whom you have sold cheap
pianos? Have you not found it necessary
to frequently send 'piano doctors' to pre-
scribe for some of the cheap pianos which
you have placed out?"
"Yes, I have; and to tell the truth, I am
not pushing the cheap piano as much as I
was a year ago. I have become convinced,
as has also my leading salesman, that it
would pay us better to push instruments
which create a healthy demand for them-
selves—instruments which once sold cease
to be a matter of expense, and the original
profit is not diminished by certain little
affairs which in the cheap piano have to be
constantly explained."
"Let me ask you another question," I
said. "Now, I do not wish to be personal
in this matter; but do you not think that
there has been a vast number of the cheap
pianos sold at a price which should entitle
the purchaser to become the owner of a
good piano? In other words, has the cheap
piano been sold at retail in its class?"
He replied: " I will answer your question
by saying this, If it were sold at about the
some percentage of profit as we usually
make on a first-class or medium piano,
would we all have gravitated to it so
rapidly?"
There is the whole matter in a nut shell.
Numerous dealers, although they claim not
to have pushed the cheap piano, have sold
them in large numbers because they paid a
large profit. They have not always been
sold in their class, hence many purchasers
who have paid a price which should have
entitled them to the ownership of a good
piano have become dissatisfied with their
bargain, and the result, a reaction has set
in. Yes, a reaction, because many dealers
who have been subjected to considerable
expense and annoyance in the matter of
looking after some of their cheap pianos
have concluded that it would pay them
better to purchase a piano of a trifle higher
grade, which would cause them less
annoyance, while I have seen many dealers
who sort of stumble and hesitate when you
ask them about the sales of the cheap
piano, they speak guardedly and almost
cautiously of the instrument, as if they
were in a sense ashamed to be connected
with it; still, results show that they as a
whole have made enormous sales of instru-
ments of the cheap class. If not true, why
was there such a percentage of cheap
pianos in the piano output of last year?
Of course, every dealer must carry a
stock which will enable him to compete
successfully with his neighbor, but I have
discovered already a different feeling exist-
ing toward the cheap piano than I saw
evidenced the first two months of '95.
* *
*
Up at Bridgeport, Conn., there is located
a piano factc^, the product of which has
been steadily increasing in quantity, and I
may add, in quality as well. Because no
one can compare the Keller Bros, piano of
today with those of a few years back
without becoming convinced of the steady
improvement in the tonal qualities of these
instruments which has taken place each
year. It is that spirit of progression which
is making the Keller Bros, piano better and
more favorably known in the music estab-
lishments cf this country.
It was a fortunate combination between
Keller Bros, and W. M. Blight. Mr.
Blight possesses the business qualifications
necessary for the management of a success-
ful business enterprise, while the Keller
Bros, are pronounced experts in the line of
mechanics.
*
Talk about piano manufacturing con-
cerns; did anyone ever visit Derby, Conn.,
without carrying away with them a feeling
of admiration for the Sterling plant, and
the forces which have directed its upbuild-
ing? Think of a plant over 600 feet in
frontage from which are sent out a number
of instruments approximating 5,000 an-
nually.
The Sterling pianos have fairly won "a
place" in the trade. With their enormous
facilities, and by the purchase of stock in
numerous quantities, the utilization of the
latest mechanical appliances in the produc-
tion of pianos, the Sterling Co. have been
enabled to place on the market instruments
which have constantly advanced and become
more and more entrenched in trade esti-
mation.
The Sterling pianos are built on advanced
lines, and possess a merit which is indis-
puted. If the Sterling Co. by their method
of manufacture in disposing of pianos have
not pretty closely solved the piano problem
of to-day, then to what other firm belongs
the honor?
I took a drive with Mr. J. R. Mason,
from the Derby factory over to Shelton,
Conn., to view the new building soon to be
occupied by the Huntington Piano Co.
The building, which is to be the factory
home of the Huntington piano, is the
finest factory in Shelton, being built of
brick with bruised stone trimmings, five
stories and basement, surmounted by a
handsome tower. It is built in the most
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
From a Traveler's Note Book.
OCCASIONAL RAYS OF SUNSHINE ON THE TRADE CHESS BOARD
TALK UPON THE SUBJECT OF CHEAP PIANOS
TRADE AS A WHOLE IS QUIET
HAS THE CRAZE GONE B\ ?
A
IS THE CHEAP PIANO
SOLD IN ITS CLASS?—A WELL KNOWN DEALER'S OPINION—THE DEMAND DYING OUT.
KELLER BROS. & BLIGHT—PROGRESS MADE IN THE INSTRUMENTS—A VISIT TO
THE
STERLING
THE
FACTORY
HUNTINGTON
BUILDING
PIANOS
PIANO
RETAIL
BUSINESS WITH
ULAR
THAT
HAVE WON A PLACE.
FACTORY—A
TRADE
IN
NEW
SHONINGERS—A
MAGNIFICENT
HAVEN.
POP-
HOSTELRY—STUCK ON
A
SAND
HERE are now and then bright
rays of sunshine across the
shadowed trade chess board.
Occasionally I find a manu-
t
facturer, a dealer, a traveler
and a salesman who waxes
eloquent over the particular activity which
he has personally encountered, but taken as
a whole the condition of the country, as I
wrote last week, is much depressed.
I am rather inclined to believe the state-
ment made to me the other day by a friend
who is far from being an admirer of
Cleveland. He said:
"We may expect a continuation of just
this sort of thing, until Cleveland bids
farewell to the Presidential chair. He is a
Jonah."
There is no doubt but what Cleveland
has been censured, and as far as my belief
goes, justly so, for many of his official
actions. But it occurs to me that he does
not stand alone in this matter of censure.
He has been surrounded by a coterie of
men whose inability to successfully direct
Governmental and financial affairs is pain-
fully apparent.
The week has started in as a record
breaker. Fires and failures in the lead.
There is no mistaking the fact that de-
pressed business conditions are prevalent
everywhere during the opening months of
1896.
The cheap piano has become a prominent
factor in the music trade of this country.
Travel where you will, and you will find
that almost every dealer has a cheap piano
in his warerOoms.
It is true that while he is showing you
his different makes he does not care to men-
tion that he handles so-and-so's only in the
way that "it is just because he has to keep
in line, you know, because his neighbor
has a cheap piano, and he must keep a line
also in order that he may meet successfully
that kind of cheap competition."
It was only the other day, while chatting
with a well-known dealer in one of the
Eastern cities, the question of cheap pianos
was touched upon. He said:
" I am like thousands of other men; I
have been • tempted to purchase cheap
pianos in large quantities, simply because
they held out alluring inducements. For
a thousand dollars I could purchase a goodly
number of them. We could sell them at a
good round profit—sell them quickly—and
BAR.
as I am in business for money, I have gone
into the cheap piano business extensively.'
"And," I asked, "have you found after a
year's experience that it was a profitable
business for you? Have you not found
that the original profit, which was large,
has been materially reduced by subsequent
expense, for instance, have you not found
it necessary to spend a good portion of
your time in conciliating some of the
people to whom you have sold cheap
pianos? Have you not found it necessary
to frequently send 'piano doctors' to pre-
scribe for some of the cheap pianos which
you have placed out?"
"Yes, I have; and to tell the truth, I am
not pushing the cheap piano as much as I
was a year ago. I have become convinced,
as has also my leading salesman, that it
would pay us better to push instruments
which create a healthy demand for them-
selves—instruments which once sold cease
to be a matter of expense, and the original
profit is not diminished by certain little
affairs which in the cheap piano have to be
constantly explained."
"Let me ask you another question," I
said. "Now, I do not wish to be personal
in this matter; but do you not think that
there has been a vast number of the cheap
pianos sold at a price which should entitle
the purchaser to become the owner of a
good piano? In other words, has the cheap
piano been sold at retail in its class?"
He replied: " I will answer your question
by saying this, If it were sold at about the
some percentage of profit as we usually
make on a first-class or medium piano,
would we all have gravitated to it so
rapidly?"
There is the whole matter in a nut shell.
Numerous dealers, although they claim not
to have pushed the cheap piano, have sold
them in large numbers because they paid a
large profit. They have not always been
sold in their class, hence many purchasers
who have paid a price which should have
entitled them to the ownership of a good
piano have become dissatisfied with their
bargain, and the result, a reaction has set
in. Yes, a reaction, because many dealers
who have been subjected to considerable
expense and annoyance in the matter of
looking after some of their cheap pianos
have concluded that it would pay them
better to purchase a piano of a trifle higher
grade, which would cause them less
annoyance, while I have seen many dealers
who sort of stumble and hesitate when you
ask them about the sales of the cheap
piano, they speak guardedly and almost
cautiously of the instrument, as if they
were in a sense ashamed to be connected
with it; still, results show that they as a
whole have made enormous sales of instru-
ments of the cheap class. If not true, why
was there such a percentage of cheap
pianos in the piano output of last year?
Of course, every dealer must carry a
stock which will enable him to compete
successfully with his neighbor, but I have
discovered already a different feeling exist-
ing toward the cheap piano than I saw
evidenced the first two months of '95.
* *
*
Up at Bridgeport, Conn., there is located
a piano factc^, the product of which has
been steadily increasing in quantity, and I
may add, in quality as well. Because no
one can compare the Keller Bros, piano of
today with those of a few years back
without becoming convinced of the steady
improvement in the tonal qualities of these
instruments which has taken place each
year. It is that spirit of progression which
is making the Keller Bros, piano better and
more favorably known in the music estab-
lishments cf this country.
It was a fortunate combination between
Keller Bros, and W. M. Blight. Mr.
Blight possesses the business qualifications
necessary for the management of a success-
ful business enterprise, while the Keller
Bros, are pronounced experts in the line of
mechanics.
*
Talk about piano manufacturing con-
cerns; did anyone ever visit Derby, Conn.,
without carrying away with them a feeling
of admiration for the Sterling plant, and
the forces which have directed its upbuild-
ing? Think of a plant over 600 feet in
frontage from which are sent out a number
of instruments approximating 5,000 an-
nually.
The Sterling pianos have fairly won "a
place" in the trade. With their enormous
facilities, and by the purchase of stock in
numerous quantities, the utilization of the
latest mechanical appliances in the produc-
tion of pianos, the Sterling Co. have been
enabled to place on the market instruments
which have constantly advanced and become
more and more entrenched in trade esti-
mation.
The Sterling pianos are built on advanced
lines, and possess a merit which is indis-
puted. If the Sterling Co. by their method
of manufacture in disposing of pianos have
not pretty closely solved the piano problem
of to-day, then to what other firm belongs
the honor?
I took a drive with Mr. J. R. Mason,
from the Derby factory over to Shelton,
Conn., to view the new building soon to be
occupied by the Huntington Piano Co.
The building, which is to be the factory
home of the Huntington piano, is the
finest factory in Shelton, being built of
brick with bruised stone trimmings, five
stories and basement, surmounted by a
handsome tower. It is built in the most
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).