Music Trade Review
Issue: 1919 Vol. 68 N. 19 - Page 41
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
MAY
10, 1919
THE
MUSIC
TECHNICIANS
plates where we wanted to standardize the posi-
tion of the top bolt. Suppose we had a blue
print of each of these. The right way to ar-
rive at a conclusion would be to lay one blue
print over another but have the blow lines one
exactly over the other and then through the
center of the bolt holes in the top blue print
drive a needle through the whole twelve; then
examine each blue print individually and see
where the positions of the holes are. Imagine
the wide discrepancies shown. Who is going
to act as a judge as to which position is cor-
rect—who is competent?"
F. E. Norton: "I appreciate getting at this
from the right angle as well as any one and I
would like it distinctly understood that I have
no pet theories to air and don't think it should
be a one-man job, but I do think getting to-
gether and discussing these points will uncover
possibilities that were not known to exist and
this makes for progress. You piano manufac-
turers must do your share. Each is interested
but it is your ideas which are going to count.
As far as my experience with piano action
makers goes they have shown their willingness
to come half-way in co-operation. If, when we
have discussed this sufficiently, it is your pleas-
ure that a committee be appointed to investi-
gate the matter on a scientific basis and report
at some future time, it is your privilege. I
would be very glad to put such a motion and
have a committee appointed from the floor."
C. H. Wood: "Will any manufacturer ex-
plain why the brackets of the same sticker
length should vary two and a quarter pounds
in weight. We have cases where they vary in
weight from six to eight and a quarter pounds.
Quite a difference in view of required strength
of materials, especially at the market price
of cast iron."
Paul B. Klugh, Autopiano Co.: "I don't
think we will get anywhere by talking details of
standardization. I think action makers have
occupied the attitude of a custom tailor. They
made actions to order instead of ready to use.
It looks to me as though standardization must
come from the action makers, not from piano
manufacturers. Every piano manufacturer has
a different idea as to what he wants. If I were
making actions and a customer came in, I would
tell him that I would make what he wanted for
so much money, but that if he would take
standard actions I could sell them at a less
price. If the action manufacturer would con-
sider it possible to offer a price differential on
what he calls his standardized action, I believe
it would be possible within a reasonable length
of time to get a large proportion of the piano
manufacturers to adopt that standard to save
that price even if as small as 25 cents, or as
fair as 50 cents, or if it were as attractive as a
dollar an action. If a manufacturer can use
500 or 1,000 or 10,000 actions with a saving,
which is a profit, he would himself gravitate
toward that standardization."
C. H. Wood: "How can we attempt stand-
ardization of actions without standardizing the
setting of the action? I think an action maker
would be extremely foolish to standardize
brackets. Shall we say, you must set your ac-
tion so and so? Every one of us would go
right after it if you would tell us what you want,
but I should not attempt to tell 200 piano manu-
facturers what to do. I tried it twice in my
life and made no headway."
F. H. Abendschein: "It would require two
stocks of brackets, two sets of cauls for mak-
ing frames. Suppose we adopted a standard-
ized bracket and developed the standardization
to six lengths of brackets. The difference
would only be below the action rail to com-
TRADE
41
REVIEW
DISCUSS THE PIANO ACTION—(Continued from page 39)
pensate for various heights of action. Sup-
pose we followed out the line of argument you
gave. Suppose he accepted the standardized
brackets. It would mean capital invested. It
takes maybe two months to get the brackets;
would you take something on hand?"
After a lengthy discussion indulged in by the
various piano and action manufacturers present,
Mr. Morton said:
"We are all very much indebted to Dr. D. R.
Hodgdon for his interest in this work and in his
placing the problems of the piano manufacturer
in the College of Technology before the stu-
dents as part of their work. I want to say that
this College of Technology is in a position to
use action models to very great advantage in
problems in physics, as well as construction
problems which will eventually come to the
piano action makers and piano makers, which
problems will be given consideration by the
faculty and students. I am going to ask con-
tributions to the laboratories of this College of
Technology of Newark, N. J., assuring you
that having tried it in other ways the bene-
fits are reflected very quickly to the trade and
industry as a whole.
"I went into the laboratory room the other
day and surprised the Doctor in clearing up
a strung back and parts of pianos with the
help of which he had been giving a lecture to
students on piano making and I think if the
educational institutions of this country will
make our problems theirs it is a real privilege
to assist."
Mr. Klugh introduced C. A. Grinnell, of De-
troit, as a successful dealer and manufacturer
who because of his progressiveness had es-
poused the cause of the general trade, and as
president of the Music Industries Chamber of
Commerce is throwing his great influence into
the campaign for a musical nation.
C. A. Grinnell: "I have been exceedingly in-
terested in this meeting and it seems to me that
such earnest and sincere discussion and ex-
change of ideas must lead to splendid results.
Nothing has transpired in many years, and I
have had nearly forty years in this industry,
which has interested me more than reading at
long distance the accounts of your conferences
here in this city. It is simply marvelous. If
others of the dealers have taken as deep an
interest as I, I am sure that the work you have
done here will carry throughout our entire land
and a great benefit will come therefrom. It is,
of course, a great pleasure and a very great
opportunity for the manufacturers of this city
and of this vicinity to get together and discuss
in the frank way you do the vital things con-
cerning the manufacture of our merchandise
and I want to commend you on the splendid
work you have done. Your questions, your
sincerity, your close attention—I have never
seen a lot of seekers who seemed to be more
intent, more earnest, than you have been to-
night—and your discussion so pleasantly carried
on the cards thrown on the table and the dis-
cussions above board, leads me to a thought
in connection with larger gatherings and
broader viewpoints of men getting together in
association work; not merely in our industry but
in many other lines. In passing I want to say
I think there has never been a time in the his-
tory of our trade when such deep thought has
been centered on the benefits to the industry
and benefits to the public as is now being cen-
tered on the music industry of America. Amer-
ica, to an extent, is looking to this organiza-
tion, to the meeting of you gentlemen, for future
direction and future development. The world,
in turn, is looking to America. I am very en-
thusiastic over the prospects because when ser-
THE CELEBRATED WICKHAM
QUALITY FIRST
PIANO PLATES
THE WICKHAM PIANO PLATE COMPANY, SPRINGFIELD, OHIO
ious minded men get together discussing things
of such vital interest there must be wonderful
results following.
"I wish to thank you for the opportunity of
being here; it has been a very great pleasure
although I hardly hoped I might have this
pleasure while reading the articles, and I hope
you will all be as earnest in endeavoring to
contribute your portion of support to the in-
dustry and to the great cause of music, which is
confronting us at this time. The war has done
lots for us; it has shown us things in a way
we have never thought before. I trust that we
may meet you all on the 2nd day of June, in
Chicago; that you will all be with us and that
we may work out for music the splendid plane
it should occupy."
F. E. Morton: "A change of scales has been
suggested to bring about a possible standard-
ization. I want once more then to call your
attention that with a uniform tension scale the
action work down almost to the break on
either uprights or grands will be identical.
Under this treatment the hammer line distance
is a matter of simple adjustment. If you were
to build a uniform tension scale in grand or
upright, your sweep and line of bridge is the
same in all to the point where you must com-
promise.
The number of bass and treble
strings, respectively,, is so nearly standardized
as to necessitate only two or three patterns.
That will give us one constant in solving this
equation. It seems to me the question now is,
What can be done to lead us into such practice
as will make standardization possible? We have
already taken up a number of subjects and I
am confident a better understanding obtains
between the manufacturers and those upon
whom they are dependent for material. This
alone will tend to bring standardization closer.
Better understanding will bring about better
practice.
"This is the last meeting of the series. On
next Wednesday night a session will be held
at the Piano Club where will be shown moving
pictures of the manufacture of wire from the
ore to the use of the finished product in the
piano, pipe organ and harp.
"I want to thank you gentlemen for your
responsiveness. Some satisfaction is derived
from, action, but 99 per cent, comes from the
response to such action. I hope I shall be priv-
ileged to confer with you in your respective
factories. I want to thank you for your at-
tendance here and help you have given. This
is r o t a one-man job as I remarked before. It
is a conference, a getting together of men
who are in earnest, whose ideas are progressive,
and you have given all the evidence of filling
that bill." The meeting then adjourned.
Why waste your time and go to the
expense of scraping off old varnish and
shellac?
Use Behlen's Varnish Crack Eradica-
tor instead.
Once tried it is always used, because
it always gives satisfactory results.
Send for a sample can today and try it.
n Behlen * Bro
Anilines >
3 7 1 PEARL ST., NEW YORK
MAY
10, 1919
THE
MUSIC
TECHNICIANS
plates where we wanted to standardize the posi-
tion of the top bolt. Suppose we had a blue
print of each of these. The right way to ar-
rive at a conclusion would be to lay one blue
print over another but have the blow lines one
exactly over the other and then through the
center of the bolt holes in the top blue print
drive a needle through the whole twelve; then
examine each blue print individually and see
where the positions of the holes are. Imagine
the wide discrepancies shown. Who is going
to act as a judge as to which position is cor-
rect—who is competent?"
F. E. Norton: "I appreciate getting at this
from the right angle as well as any one and I
would like it distinctly understood that I have
no pet theories to air and don't think it should
be a one-man job, but I do think getting to-
gether and discussing these points will uncover
possibilities that were not known to exist and
this makes for progress. You piano manufac-
turers must do your share. Each is interested
but it is your ideas which are going to count.
As far as my experience with piano action
makers goes they have shown their willingness
to come half-way in co-operation. If, when we
have discussed this sufficiently, it is your pleas-
ure that a committee be appointed to investi-
gate the matter on a scientific basis and report
at some future time, it is your privilege. I
would be very glad to put such a motion and
have a committee appointed from the floor."
C. H. Wood: "Will any manufacturer ex-
plain why the brackets of the same sticker
length should vary two and a quarter pounds
in weight. We have cases where they vary in
weight from six to eight and a quarter pounds.
Quite a difference in view of required strength
of materials, especially at the market price
of cast iron."
Paul B. Klugh, Autopiano Co.: "I don't
think we will get anywhere by talking details of
standardization. I think action makers have
occupied the attitude of a custom tailor. They
made actions to order instead of ready to use.
It looks to me as though standardization must
come from the action makers, not from piano
manufacturers. Every piano manufacturer has
a different idea as to what he wants. If I were
making actions and a customer came in, I would
tell him that I would make what he wanted for
so much money, but that if he would take
standard actions I could sell them at a less
price. If the action manufacturer would con-
sider it possible to offer a price differential on
what he calls his standardized action, I believe
it would be possible within a reasonable length
of time to get a large proportion of the piano
manufacturers to adopt that standard to save
that price even if as small as 25 cents, or as
fair as 50 cents, or if it were as attractive as a
dollar an action. If a manufacturer can use
500 or 1,000 or 10,000 actions with a saving,
which is a profit, he would himself gravitate
toward that standardization."
C. H. Wood: "How can we attempt stand-
ardization of actions without standardizing the
setting of the action? I think an action maker
would be extremely foolish to standardize
brackets. Shall we say, you must set your ac-
tion so and so? Every one of us would go
right after it if you would tell us what you want,
but I should not attempt to tell 200 piano manu-
facturers what to do. I tried it twice in my
life and made no headway."
F. H. Abendschein: "It would require two
stocks of brackets, two sets of cauls for mak-
ing frames. Suppose we adopted a standard-
ized bracket and developed the standardization
to six lengths of brackets. The difference
would only be below the action rail to com-
TRADE
41
REVIEW
DISCUSS THE PIANO ACTION—(Continued from page 39)
pensate for various heights of action. Sup-
pose we followed out the line of argument you
gave. Suppose he accepted the standardized
brackets. It would mean capital invested. It
takes maybe two months to get the brackets;
would you take something on hand?"
After a lengthy discussion indulged in by the
various piano and action manufacturers present,
Mr. Morton said:
"We are all very much indebted to Dr. D. R.
Hodgdon for his interest in this work and in his
placing the problems of the piano manufacturer
in the College of Technology before the stu-
dents as part of their work. I want to say that
this College of Technology is in a position to
use action models to very great advantage in
problems in physics, as well as construction
problems which will eventually come to the
piano action makers and piano makers, which
problems will be given consideration by the
faculty and students. I am going to ask con-
tributions to the laboratories of this College of
Technology of Newark, N. J., assuring you
that having tried it in other ways the bene-
fits are reflected very quickly to the trade and
industry as a whole.
"I went into the laboratory room the other
day and surprised the Doctor in clearing up
a strung back and parts of pianos with the
help of which he had been giving a lecture to
students on piano making and I think if the
educational institutions of this country will
make our problems theirs it is a real privilege
to assist."
Mr. Klugh introduced C. A. Grinnell, of De-
troit, as a successful dealer and manufacturer
who because of his progressiveness had es-
poused the cause of the general trade, and as
president of the Music Industries Chamber of
Commerce is throwing his great influence into
the campaign for a musical nation.
C. A. Grinnell: "I have been exceedingly in-
terested in this meeting and it seems to me that
such earnest and sincere discussion and ex-
change of ideas must lead to splendid results.
Nothing has transpired in many years, and I
have had nearly forty years in this industry,
which has interested me more than reading at
long distance the accounts of your conferences
here in this city. It is simply marvelous. If
others of the dealers have taken as deep an
interest as I, I am sure that the work you have
done here will carry throughout our entire land
and a great benefit will come therefrom. It is,
of course, a great pleasure and a very great
opportunity for the manufacturers of this city
and of this vicinity to get together and discuss
in the frank way you do the vital things con-
cerning the manufacture of our merchandise
and I want to commend you on the splendid
work you have done. Your questions, your
sincerity, your close attention—I have never
seen a lot of seekers who seemed to be more
intent, more earnest, than you have been to-
night—and your discussion so pleasantly carried
on the cards thrown on the table and the dis-
cussions above board, leads me to a thought
in connection with larger gatherings and
broader viewpoints of men getting together in
association work; not merely in our industry but
in many other lines. In passing I want to say
I think there has never been a time in the his-
tory of our trade when such deep thought has
been centered on the benefits to the industry
and benefits to the public as is now being cen-
tered on the music industry of America. Amer-
ica, to an extent, is looking to this organiza-
tion, to the meeting of you gentlemen, for future
direction and future development. The world,
in turn, is looking to America. I am very en-
thusiastic over the prospects because when ser-
THE CELEBRATED WICKHAM
QUALITY FIRST
PIANO PLATES
THE WICKHAM PIANO PLATE COMPANY, SPRINGFIELD, OHIO
ious minded men get together discussing things
of such vital interest there must be wonderful
results following.
"I wish to thank you for the opportunity of
being here; it has been a very great pleasure
although I hardly hoped I might have this
pleasure while reading the articles, and I hope
you will all be as earnest in endeavoring to
contribute your portion of support to the in-
dustry and to the great cause of music, which is
confronting us at this time. The war has done
lots for us; it has shown us things in a way
we have never thought before. I trust that we
may meet you all on the 2nd day of June, in
Chicago; that you will all be with us and that
we may work out for music the splendid plane
it should occupy."
F. E. Morton: "A change of scales has been
suggested to bring about a possible standard-
ization. I want once more then to call your
attention that with a uniform tension scale the
action work down almost to the break on
either uprights or grands will be identical.
Under this treatment the hammer line distance
is a matter of simple adjustment. If you were
to build a uniform tension scale in grand or
upright, your sweep and line of bridge is the
same in all to the point where you must com-
promise.
The number of bass and treble
strings, respectively,, is so nearly standardized
as to necessitate only two or three patterns.
That will give us one constant in solving this
equation. It seems to me the question now is,
What can be done to lead us into such practice
as will make standardization possible? We have
already taken up a number of subjects and I
am confident a better understanding obtains
between the manufacturers and those upon
whom they are dependent for material. This
alone will tend to bring standardization closer.
Better understanding will bring about better
practice.
"This is the last meeting of the series. On
next Wednesday night a session will be held
at the Piano Club where will be shown moving
pictures of the manufacture of wire from the
ore to the use of the finished product in the
piano, pipe organ and harp.
"I want to thank you gentlemen for your
responsiveness. Some satisfaction is derived
from, action, but 99 per cent, comes from the
response to such action. I hope I shall be priv-
ileged to confer with you in your respective
factories. I want to thank you for your at-
tendance here and help you have given. This
is r o t a one-man job as I remarked before. It
is a conference, a getting together of men
who are in earnest, whose ideas are progressive,
and you have given all the evidence of filling
that bill." The meeting then adjourned.
Why waste your time and go to the
expense of scraping off old varnish and
shellac?
Use Behlen's Varnish Crack Eradica-
tor instead.
Once tried it is always used, because
it always gives satisfactory results.
Send for a sample can today and try it.
n Behlen * Bro
Anilines >
3 7 1 PEARL ST., NEW YORK
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).