Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Pianos at 3V2 Gents and Players at 2 1 2 Gents Each
Some New Ideas on Piano Values, Presented by G. M. Tremaine, That Will Serve
to Give Manufacturers, Retailers and the Public Something to Think About
I'ianos 3]/> cents a piece! Player-pianos 2 l /z
cents a piece, or two for five! This sounds
out of tune with the times. With the price of
everything going up and continuing to go up,
it is a relief to hear of something which sounds
cheap.
We pay from 5 cents to 25 cents for a piece
of pie, so 3^2 cents for a piece of anythirfg ex-
cites incredulity and when this price is ap-
plied to a piano, incredulity changes to con-
viction that some one has his wires crossed;
yet pianos can be bought at the rate of be-
tween 3 and 4 cents a piece.
This is not a humorous article. It is dis-
tinctly serious, and it has a purpose.
This
purpose is to help the manufacturer and the
dealer by the presentation of certain well-
known facts in such a form as to aid them
in securing a proper return for their contribu-
tion to the public's pleasure.
A Condition and a Theory
Grover Cleveland said: "It is a condition and
not a theory which confronts us."
Unfortu-
nately it is both a condition and a theory which
confronts the piano trade. The condition is
the unsatisfactory bank account of the average
manufacturer and dealer after years of the
hardest kind of work, close application to
business, physical strain and mental anguish.
The theory is the general but mistaken impres-
sion of the public that pianos are sold at very
high prices, resulting in big profit to dealers
and makers. . Did you ever stop to think of
the effect a theory or public impression has
on a condition? The business world is filled
with examples. Let us consider one instance.
Any one of the prominent New York dailies
would constitute exceptional value at from 3
to 5 cents each if based on the cost of pro-
duction, yet no paper in Xew York could build
up a large circulation at even 2 cents a copy
to-day. The Xew York public has been edu-
cated to pay 1 cent for its newspaper, and the
San Francisco public has been educated to pay
5 cents for its daily, yet the New York paper
probably costs more to produce than the San
Francisco paper.
A man might run his business on so small
a margin as to fail to cover his overhead
charges and still not increase his sales, unless
the public thought his prices were low. The
man sacrifices his legitimate profit and even
the public does not appreciate its benefit.
It is what the public thinks which controls
business. This may be a trite statement, but
the successful man never lets the thought get
far from him.
The Public Idea of Piano Prices ,
There is little doubt that the public believes
that piano prices are high. Yet you and T
know that they are not. We know that un-
fortunately they are too low. I wonder if we
realize the amount of money the entire trade
is losing through this false idea. A small per
cent, of the dealers and manufacturers are really
making money. Anything which will serve to
correct the erroneous impression will be of
direct value to the business. It will aid the
dealer in obtaining a fair price, and it will in-
crease sales.
Every man wants to get his
money's worth and to feel he has made a good
investment. We must make him feel so.
The problem is to convince the public of the
facts. A general statement of facts makes no
impression Upon the man who does not know
whether your statement is correct or not. The
picture you draw must be graphic.
Arthur Germer, a small dealer in Beardstown,
111., hit upon a very effective way of doing
this, which furnishes the basis of this article.
You have probably seen mention of it in the
trade papers. He plans to display in his win-
dow every individual part of a piano, so as to
illustrate the many parts which go to build a
piano.
It shows in a forceful way what the public
is getting for its money.
This information
does not need to be limited to those who can
see the actual pieces.
For a moment, I shall talk to the public,
presenting your facts, Mr. Dealer, in a way you
can present them to the great army of "should
be buyers."
The success in changing "should be buyers"
to "will be buyers" depends upon the manner
in which you present your facts. One essen-
tial in building a business is to know who your
possible buyers are and who your competitors
are—the ones who are getting these buyers'
money before you do.
Do Not Criticize; Emulate
Many dealers consider their fellow dealers
their principal competitors. While they have
been thinking this, the automobile makers
have been getting the public's money. Do not
criticize. Emulate. The piano trade has gone
after the small end of the business—the destruc-
tive price-cutting competition and has suc-
ceeded in getting it.
However, it is profitless to dwell on mistakes.
We must admit the automobile manufacturers
have performed a rather remarkable operation
on the public mind.
In a few short years an extravagant luxury
has gone through a steady and continuous evo-
lution until it has begun to be recognized as
one of the necessities of life, and if there be in-
sufficient funds to go around something else
suffers.
Rather remarkable is it not—this
changed attitude toward the automobile? The
motor car is even being associated with econ-
omy. Think of it. If one must save money it
is by getting a cheaper car—not by going with-
out one.
I have digressed. I mentioned the automo-
bile simply to illustrate the influence of public
opinion in dollars and cents. Let us talk to
the public. Let us tell them what we can give
them for their money—and to help gain their
interest we can approach the subject from dif-
ferent angles. The price per piece is one. The
piano robber may yet sit in the high seats with
the philanthropist.
What Goes to Make Up a Piano
There are 9,500 to 10,000 separate pieces in
every piano built. With a piano selling at $350,
\*. brings the price of each individual piece to
an average of about 3^2 cents, which would
seem reasonable in the extreme in these days
of advancing costs. An analytical study makes
the statement still more impressive. To every
one of these 10,000 separate pieces there is
some labor attached, often a vast amount of
labor—the same piece generally passing through
several processes.
The public knows only the externals and the
results. It touches the key and the tone comes
forth, yet there are seventy-nine separate
pieces utilized in the mechanism between the
key which is pressed down by the finger and the
hammer which strikes the string. As there are
eighty-eight notes in the piano it means that
6,852 pieces are needed to complete this part
of the mechanism. There are many delicate
hair springs.
There are back checks and
dampers and lost motion absorbers, all of which
require the most delicate adjustment.
There
is necessity for the greatest care in securing
the proper balance between key and action,
so as to provide both delicacy and power to the
"touch," which makes the pianist and the piano
one, and allows his soul to flow through his
fingers to the tones themselves.
The ham-
mers are made of different felts of the finest
quality, forced into shape under tons of pres-
sure. They must be hard as boards, yet re-
tain the natural elasticity of the felt.
The Importance of Strength
Scales differ but there are 228 strings in the
average piano, many of them wound with a
separate wire, some wound twice. The thick-
ness and length of the string and the pres-
sure are regulated to produce the different notes
of the scale. It would probably surprise many
to know that there is an average pull on each
string of 175 to 200 pounds. This means that
on the 228 strings there is a combined tension
or pull of 40,000 pounds or twenty tons. The
piano must be built to withstand this terrific
strain which is continuous, day in and day out,
year in and year out, for it is because of the
strain that the piano in time drops out of tune
—a string stretches or something gives an in-
finitesimal fraction of an inch—the pitch drops
and that string is out of unison.
So the piano combines power and delicacy
and minute detail, science, and infinite care.
There are many layers' of the hardest well-sea-
soned woods into which are driven the tuning
pins. These layers are placed with grains run-
ning in different directions so as to prevent
splitting and to hold the tuning pins fast and
thus keep the piano in tune.
A New Angle on Piano Value
Many of these parts are small, but many are
large, such as the plate which weighs between
175 and 200 pounds, and the few parts of the
case and back, all of which represent high cost.
In addition to these 10,000 separate pieces, there
are six or seven coats of varnish, a large amount
of glue and many incidentals, tuning and reg-
ulating and adjusting the many and infinite
variety of parts.
And it takes six months'
time to build a piano, while the wood used in
the sounding board and some of the parts is sea-
soned in the open air from three to five years.
And all for an average cost of about 3 ] /j cents
a piece.
In computing the cost per individual piece
in a player-piano the figures are even more sur-
prising. One manufacturer whose player action
is noted for its simplicity stated that there
were at least 20,000 component parts in his
player action alone. Add to this number the
10,000 parts in the balance of the piano and the
total is increased to 30,000 pieces.
Player-
pianos selling for $750 would thus cost 2 x /i cents
for each piece.
Exclamations are often heard about the
human-like effects produced by the modern
player-piano, the wonderful control over the
air pressure so as to obtain the delicacy of
touch and the minute variations in tempo which
permit the player to do his own phrasing and
thus interpret the music according to his own
taste. Surely man must be a patient creature
to put 30,000 pieces together to accomplish
this result, and he should be given credit for
being modest in his demands to give the pub-
lic these 30,000 pieces so combined and ar-
ranged for an average of 2Yi cents each. The
present time offers few other opportunities to
obtain so much for so little.
On the facts of the case a piano would look
to be a very good investment at from $350 to
$500, and a player-piano at from $500 to $1,000.
KIHTOK'S NOTK:—The Bureau for the Advancement of
Music aims to helj) the trade in every way when oppor-
tunity presents itself either through suggestion or direct
action, and likewise influence public opinion both in and
out of the trade in favor of the piano.
The foregoing article, while written to the trade with
ai, idea of impressing upon both dealers and manufacturers
the necessity for obtaining satisfactory prices for their
instruments, is also of interest to the general public, and
was so designed by Mr. Tremaine that it might be used
as a basis for a number of interesting articles, as well
as for selling arguments and advertising copy.
The items of interest to the general public are grouped
so that excerpts can be talen out whole and repub-
lished in the local papers, and it is strongly suggested
that the dealers urse their local papers to reproduce such
excerpts.
The heading of the article, together with the first two
paragraphs, and the last part of the article beginning with
"There are 9,300 or 10,000 separate pieces in every piano
built" straight through to the end, is well adapted to news-
paper use. and will readily be appreciated as interesting
and live matter.