Music Trade Review
Issue: 1897 Vol. 24 N. 16 - 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.
PIANO MANUFACTURING BY SECTIONS SCATTERED FROM MAINE TO CALIFORNIA —NEVER HAS
THRIVED ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE CONFINED IN THE MAIN TO THE GREAT CITIES OF
NEW YORK, BOSTON AND CHICAGO I9OO WILL BE THE PROPER TIME TO TELL HOW
FAR WESTWARD THE STAR HAS MOVED — WHY PIANO MAKING WOULD NOT
SUCCEED IN MEXICO—MANUFACTURERS CONTROL TH E TRADE THEM-
SELVES IN THE GREAT CITIES PROFITS ARE STEADILY BEING
•*
/'
v
CUT WILL A TRUST BE THE OUTCOME OF CLOSE
COMPETITION ? ^ A QUESTION WHICH SHOULD
INTEREST
TRADE
HE manufacture of pianos in
America is carried on over
widely-separated territorial
areas. In Maine—in the far
East—in California—in the
far West, pianos are manu-
factured. In Minnesota, which extends to
the Northern border of the United States,
pianos are manufactured, while Tennessee
to-day marks the Southernmost point.
There is talk of a piano manufacturing con-
cern starting up in South Carolina. I un-
derstand Mr. Dustonsmjth is at the head of
it. If this is the same Dustonsmith who
was in business in northern New York a
few years ago I question whether the enter-
prise ever assumes the prominence to de-
serve serious consideration from the trade
at large.
The three great piano producing States
are New York, Massachusetts and Illinois.
Piano and organ making is carried on in
every New England State save one, and
that is the land of clam bakes and Steinert
fights—Rhode Island.
In New York piano factories are to be
found the entire length and breadth of the
State. In Ohio there are a number of im-
portant manufacturers, principally at Cin-
cinnati and Norwalk. Outside of these
points the factories are small and unimpor-
tant. In Indiana there are two well-known
factories, at Fort Wayne and at Richmond.
Michigan has factories at Detroit, Saginaw,
Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor. In Illinois,
outside of that great piano making center,
Chicago, and its environments, the indus-
try is comparatively unknown, and as
Omie Houghton would say, figuratively
speaking, amounts to but little.
Piano making has never seemed to
thrive in Wisconsin, although there have
been a number of attempts, most of which
have languished by the wayside of pro-
gress. Minnesota seems to be another of
these States that has not been conducive
towards expanding the interests of piano
manufacturing. A number of firms have
started there under seemingly favorable
conditions but have been unsuccessful.
There is one, however, located at St. Paul,
PUBLISHERS.
which apparently is doing well. Throw
in Maryland, which can boast within
its State limits of two well-known facto-
ries, and the State of William Penn, which
contains a number, and there you have
really the piano belt of the United States.
Denver, too, has made one or two at-
tempts to fall in line as a piano manufac-
turing city, but these have not been suc-
cessful.
I do not wish to except California in this
resume, but piano making has not seemed
specially adapted to the Pacific Slope.
Manufacturing in San Francisco has never
reached the stage where it has threatened
to interfere seriously with the demand for
Eastern pianos.
I recollect many years ago when I first
visited California, Tom Antisell was doing
a fair business in San Francisco, and on
the entire Pacific Coast as well. He had
really created quite a demand for his pi-
anos and had acquired quite considerable
notoriety for them at New Orleans in '83
and at Melbourne later, and incidentally
had accumulated considerable wealth. The
field was too limited for him there and he
decided to come East, where he could
reach out and capture the trade of the mil-
lions rather than the few thousand of the
Pacific Coast.
However, things do not go at all times
just to suit us in this world, and Tom An-
tisell's case was no exception. He came
East and, with a nourish of trumpets, lo-
cated at Matteawan, N. J., where he suc-
ceeded, not in piano manufacturing, but
in dumping his hard-earned California dol-
lars in the Jersey swamps.
In other words, the man whose star as a
piano maker shone on the Pacific Coast,
sunk in the gloom of defeat on the Atlan-
tic seaboard. Antisell. his patent wrest
plank, novel tuning pin, and his Califor-
nia ideas were stuck in Matteawan mud
amid the halo formed by Jersey mosquitoes.
Piano making, as a whole, seems to
flourish best in large cities. There are spo-
radic cases, which form notable exceptions,
in outlying towns. Take New York, Bos-
ton and Chicago, and since the inception
of the industry, the two former cities have
been enormous producers of musical in-
struments. The growth of the industry in
Chicago has been phenomenal. In fact, it
might do well to wait until the close of the
century, and then we can better class Chi-
cago in her proper place as a producer of
musical instruments.
In 1900, provided I shall notduring thein-
terim have taken exclusively to harp play-
ing, I shall be much interested to see if the
star of piano making as well asof the empire
has moved westward in the astonishing way
that some of our oftentimes over-sanguine
enthusiasts would cause us to believe.
*
*
*
*
There are excellent reasons why piano
manufacturing has lemained in close prox-
imity to the great cities. In the first place,
it is easier to secure skilled artisans quickly
in those localities without undergoing the
breaking--in process. Again, the matter of
materials—in fact, everything which enters
into the piano, from case to the metal parts,
is easily obtainable in those localities.
I recollect when I was in Mexico some
wealthy gentlemen called upon me at Hotel
Iturbide to gain my opinion regarding
the manufacture of pianos in Mexico. I
told them without much deliberation that
as long as the Mexican Government im-
posed a duty upon the weight of imports it
would be much cheaper for the Mexicans
to ship in the manufactured article than it
would be to purchase the parts, paying the
same duty on all parts thereof as they did
upon the completed pianos. Naturally
there would be a good deal of waste, and in
the completed instruments there could be
none; and au that country had only ad-
vanced in a limited way in manufactures,
it was impossible to produce in the Repub-
lic everything that was needed to enter
into the different parts of the instrument.
Again, the labor question there would be
an important one, there being but compara-
tively few skilled mechanics in the Re-
public. With all far-away points, even in
the United States, the questions of labor
and material are important factors.
*
*
*
*
If we look in the great cities of New
York, Chicago, and Boston, we will find the
fact apparent that manufacturers them-
selves have pre-empted certain trade van-
tage points, which have made it almost im-
possible for the ordinary dealer to advance
to a position of prominence in those respec-
tive cities.
What a small number of dealers there are,
outside of the ranks of manufacturers them-
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
From a Traveler's Note Book.
PIANO MANUFACTURING BY SECTIONS SCATTERED FROM MAINE TO CALIFORNIA —NEVER HAS
THRIVED ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE CONFINED IN THE MAIN TO THE GREAT CITIES OF
NEW YORK, BOSTON AND CHICAGO I9OO WILL BE THE PROPER TIME TO TELL HOW
FAR WESTWARD THE STAR HAS MOVED — WHY PIANO MAKING WOULD NOT
SUCCEED IN MEXICO—MANUFACTURERS CONTROL TH E TRADE THEM-
SELVES IN THE GREAT CITIES PROFITS ARE STEADILY BEING
•*
/'
v
CUT WILL A TRUST BE THE OUTCOME OF CLOSE
COMPETITION ? ^ A QUESTION WHICH SHOULD
INTEREST
TRADE
HE manufacture of pianos in
America is carried on over
widely-separated territorial
areas. In Maine—in the far
East—in California—in the
far West, pianos are manu-
factured. In Minnesota, which extends to
the Northern border of the United States,
pianos are manufactured, while Tennessee
to-day marks the Southernmost point.
There is talk of a piano manufacturing con-
cern starting up in South Carolina. I un-
derstand Mr. Dustonsmjth is at the head of
it. If this is the same Dustonsmith who
was in business in northern New York a
few years ago I question whether the enter-
prise ever assumes the prominence to de-
serve serious consideration from the trade
at large.
The three great piano producing States
are New York, Massachusetts and Illinois.
Piano and organ making is carried on in
every New England State save one, and
that is the land of clam bakes and Steinert
fights—Rhode Island.
In New York piano factories are to be
found the entire length and breadth of the
State. In Ohio there are a number of im-
portant manufacturers, principally at Cin-
cinnati and Norwalk. Outside of these
points the factories are small and unimpor-
tant. In Indiana there are two well-known
factories, at Fort Wayne and at Richmond.
Michigan has factories at Detroit, Saginaw,
Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor. In Illinois,
outside of that great piano making center,
Chicago, and its environments, the indus-
try is comparatively unknown, and as
Omie Houghton would say, figuratively
speaking, amounts to but little.
Piano making has never seemed to
thrive in Wisconsin, although there have
been a number of attempts, most of which
have languished by the wayside of pro-
gress. Minnesota seems to be another of
these States that has not been conducive
towards expanding the interests of piano
manufacturing. A number of firms have
started there under seemingly favorable
conditions but have been unsuccessful.
There is one, however, located at St. Paul,
PUBLISHERS.
which apparently is doing well. Throw
in Maryland, which can boast within
its State limits of two well-known facto-
ries, and the State of William Penn, which
contains a number, and there you have
really the piano belt of the United States.
Denver, too, has made one or two at-
tempts to fall in line as a piano manufac-
turing city, but these have not been suc-
cessful.
I do not wish to except California in this
resume, but piano making has not seemed
specially adapted to the Pacific Slope.
Manufacturing in San Francisco has never
reached the stage where it has threatened
to interfere seriously with the demand for
Eastern pianos.
I recollect many years ago when I first
visited California, Tom Antisell was doing
a fair business in San Francisco, and on
the entire Pacific Coast as well. He had
really created quite a demand for his pi-
anos and had acquired quite considerable
notoriety for them at New Orleans in '83
and at Melbourne later, and incidentally
had accumulated considerable wealth. The
field was too limited for him there and he
decided to come East, where he could
reach out and capture the trade of the mil-
lions rather than the few thousand of the
Pacific Coast.
However, things do not go at all times
just to suit us in this world, and Tom An-
tisell's case was no exception. He came
East and, with a nourish of trumpets, lo-
cated at Matteawan, N. J., where he suc-
ceeded, not in piano manufacturing, but
in dumping his hard-earned California dol-
lars in the Jersey swamps.
In other words, the man whose star as a
piano maker shone on the Pacific Coast,
sunk in the gloom of defeat on the Atlan-
tic seaboard. Antisell. his patent wrest
plank, novel tuning pin, and his Califor-
nia ideas were stuck in Matteawan mud
amid the halo formed by Jersey mosquitoes.
Piano making, as a whole, seems to
flourish best in large cities. There are spo-
radic cases, which form notable exceptions,
in outlying towns. Take New York, Bos-
ton and Chicago, and since the inception
of the industry, the two former cities have
been enormous producers of musical in-
struments. The growth of the industry in
Chicago has been phenomenal. In fact, it
might do well to wait until the close of the
century, and then we can better class Chi-
cago in her proper place as a producer of
musical instruments.
In 1900, provided I shall notduring thein-
terim have taken exclusively to harp play-
ing, I shall be much interested to see if the
star of piano making as well asof the empire
has moved westward in the astonishing way
that some of our oftentimes over-sanguine
enthusiasts would cause us to believe.
*
*
*
*
There are excellent reasons why piano
manufacturing has lemained in close prox-
imity to the great cities. In the first place,
it is easier to secure skilled artisans quickly
in those localities without undergoing the
breaking--in process. Again, the matter of
materials—in fact, everything which enters
into the piano, from case to the metal parts,
is easily obtainable in those localities.
I recollect when I was in Mexico some
wealthy gentlemen called upon me at Hotel
Iturbide to gain my opinion regarding
the manufacture of pianos in Mexico. I
told them without much deliberation that
as long as the Mexican Government im-
posed a duty upon the weight of imports it
would be much cheaper for the Mexicans
to ship in the manufactured article than it
would be to purchase the parts, paying the
same duty on all parts thereof as they did
upon the completed pianos. Naturally
there would be a good deal of waste, and in
the completed instruments there could be
none; and au that country had only ad-
vanced in a limited way in manufactures,
it was impossible to produce in the Repub-
lic everything that was needed to enter
into the different parts of the instrument.
Again, the labor question there would be
an important one, there being but compara-
tively few skilled mechanics in the Re-
public. With all far-away points, even in
the United States, the questions of labor
and material are important factors.
*
*
*
*
If we look in the great cities of New
York, Chicago, and Boston, we will find the
fact apparent that manufacturers them-
selves have pre-empted certain trade van-
tage points, which have made it almost im-
possible for the ordinary dealer to advance
to a position of prominence in those respec-
tive cities.
What a small number of dealers there are,
outside of the ranks of manufacturers them-
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