Music Trade Review
Issue: 1919 Vol. 69 N. 25 - Page 15
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
DECEMBER 20, 1919
MUSIC TRADE
15
REVIEW
OurTEOlNlCAL DEPARTMENT
CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM BRAID WHITE
all in your territory who have pianos, as far
as you can. Mail out circular letters once in
THE COUNTRY SPEAKS ITS MIND
a while, and let people know that you are com-
I rather thought that the country technicians ing, through the local newspapers, or by using
would not forever keep silence, in view of the slides in the local picture shows.
criticisms directed against country work and
"Do not make a house to house canvass.
country prospects by Brother Norris the other
This only lowers the profession in the eyes of
day in these hospitable columns. Our good and
the people.
vivacious friend, Kiker of Texas, has sprung
"Never condemn another man's work. It is
into the breach and put up a vigorous defense.
better to make excuses for him. Try to show
He says, sezzee:
that the piano went wrong; and not the tuner.
"Dear Mr. White:
Usually it is the piano. This kind of conduct
"You are entirely right about rural tuning. gives your people confidence in you.
I know from several years' experience where a
"Do not be too anxious to overhaul any old
tuner makes the most money in a year.
square.
"Here are some facts drawn from my own "As a rule, the most successful tuners stay
books of this year:
out of the selling end of the game. It is all
Uprights Players Grands Organs, Squares Total Ani't
right, of course, to buy an old piano, repair it
January
29
7
2
$210.00
February
31
6
3
1
280.00
and sell it at a fair profit. It is even all right
March
43
5
2
320.50
to sell a new one once in a while; but do not
April
19
6
1
342.00
advertise this under any circumstances.
May
43
5
1
434.00
"Never pose as an expert fiddler. Better leave
June
37
13
1
396.50
July
47
8
1
1
1
336.00
your fiddle at home and make room for much
August
28
7
2
225.60
needed supplies.
September
33
11
2
1
1
528.10
"Never cut your quotation on a repair job,
October
34
5
1
426.50
for that always means that you will be under
November
43
2
1
342.40
the temptation to slight your work.
Total
387
75
11
3
8
$3841.6C
"I am in love with the tuning profession. I
"The total of all kinds of pianos is 484.
want
every tuner in the land to make more
Average price per piano is a little more than
money, wear better clothes, get better pay, edu-
$7.93.
"I can make more money per day at less ex- cate his children in the best way and support
pense in the rural districts than I can on the his family at least as well as the average doctor.
"I am quite sure that every tuner-technician
paved streets of the cities. To be sure, the
roads in the country are sometimes very trying will agree with almost everything I have said.
"Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy
on my flivver; but then I just stay home in town
and work. If I get caught away from Fort New Year, long life and prosperity. Price Kiker,
Worth with several days of very rainy or other- Fort Worth, Texas."
wise bad weather, I just put up my flivver and
Whereupon!
go home; to put in some good time in my shop,
Many thanks, good friend, for the kind wishes
where I usually have three or four rebuilding and for the charming photographs of your in-
jobs at $100 or over apiece.
teresting family which you are good enough to
"My advice to all city tuners is to stop work- send along.
ing on a salary in the city and go out into the
Now, let us analyze the ideas now set forth,
country as an independent tuner. Charge $5.00 O brother from Texas!
for tuning anywhere, with extra for special
There can be no doubt, I think, that they are
trips to the country. You will often be able to fundamentally sound. The country tuner, or
tune several pianos in one neighborhood at technician, as I like better to call him, has the
$5.00 each. Do not include repair work, easing best chance. If he does not make good the fault
keys or tedious regulating in the price of tuning. is usually with himself. Of course there is the
"Most tuners can look at a piano and guess question of territory to be considered. There
mighty close the time required to repair. Then are parts of the country where the people have
multiply the estimated number of hours by been educated into deplorably cheap ideas. The
three and you will have usually the required technician, in fact, nearly everywhere will find
fair price.
that he must do more or less educating of his
"K*eep a record of your work. Keep a card- public. He must certainly not expect that the
filing system showing the names and facts about community will always be ready to take at his
all the persons for whom you do work, and of valuation the work he does for them. Men
like Mr. Kiker did not attain their present posi-
FAUST SCHOOL OF TUNING tion of importance and prosperity at once.
There were some years of careful preparatory
Pkno, Player-Piano, Pipe and Reed Organ Toning and Re- work, although these years were not necessarily
pairing, alto Regulating, Voicing, Varnishing and Polishing
passed in a state of destitution. What I mean
This formerly was the tuning department of the New is that it took time to put the community in a
England Conservatory of Music, ana Oliver C. Faust was
head of the department for 20 years previous to its dis-
continuance.
Courses in mathematical piano scale construction and
drafting of same have been added.
Pupils have daily practise in Chickering & Sons' factory.
Year Book sent free upon request.
27-29 GAINSBOROUGH ST.. BOSTON. MASS.
T
URN YOUR STRAIGHT
PIANOS INTO PLAYERS
Individual pneumatic stacks, roll
boxes, bellows, pedal actions,
expression boxes.
Manufacturers, dealers, tuners
and repair men supplied with
player actions for straight pianos.
JENKINSON PLAYER ACTION CO., Inc.
912-914 Elm St.
Cincinnati, O
state where it would accept such and such a
man as the official piano technician, if the term
"official" can be used here without misunder-
standing. But I also mean that this very sys-
tem of careful cultivation and education was
bound to bring excellent results. Mr. Kiker, I
believe, has been in the profession less than ten
years. He has put in his time to the best ad-
vantage. He has worked steadily to gain the
best reputation in his community, to become
indispensable to it. Because he has steadily
clone this, he has made himself in fact indis-
pensable, and the community is therefore now
paying him what he is worth.
This does not mean that a community is us-
ually very quick to recognize good work. On
the contrary, a community usually displays a
deplorable indifference to its cultural necessities,
until it has been patiently educated in the right
way. This means steady and patient work.
Those who migrate to the country, thinking
that they will find easy and comfortable returns
without half trying, are destined to be rudely
awakened. Country work is not easier. It is
not less troublesome. But it is much' more in-
dependent, and therefore much more pleasant
to the technician. His social position is better
and he may look forward to increasing pros-
perity year by year. He has no one to please
but his community. He does not have to depend
on the whim of one individual.
On the contrary, he cannot succeed unless he
has the ability to look after his own finances. If
he is a poor business man, unable to conserve his
earnings, to keep his books and to avoid bad
debts, he cannot succeed as an independent
piano technician. It is as to points like these,
much more than in local difficulties, in loca!
customs as to prices or in unfair competition,
that the aspirant to success as an independent
practitioner must take care. That most techni-
cians are not good business men is unfortunately
only too true. There is a good reason for this.
The technical mind is not a trading mind. The
business mind in its more active and aggressive
manifestations is a somewhat deplorably nar-
row sort of mind. It does not present the sort
of ideal for which the technician should strive.
What I mean to urge is merely the cultivation
of those business-like habits in reference to
money matters which are common to all busi-
ness men and form the foundation of business
success. Orderly methods are the only right
methods, one might say the only righteous
methods, or just as one cannot do aright
without first thinking aright, so one cannot even
think aright if one's raw material is scattered,
in disorder and unavailable when wanted. To
do the right thinking which is the basis of all
right, and therefore of all successful doing,
one's fundamental mental habits must be
orderly. The sense of order is the most precious
(Continued on page 18)
___^__^_^^^__
»•» w T •» T »-« w» n
T i l INI F l l V
1 U 1 1 Ci I V tJ
The Pioneer School
with 800 Successful
Graduates in the Field
BASS STRINGS
Special attention given to the need* of the tuner and the dealer
A d d r e s s , B o x 414
VALPARAISO. IND.
OTTO TREFZ
SI 10 Pali-mount Avenue
Philadelphia Pa.
The TUNER'S FRIEND
Old style bridle strap
Braunsdorf's Other Specialties
New style all leather bridle strap
BRAUNSDORF'S
ALL LEATHER
BRIDLE
STRAPS
Labor Sanar; Moase Proof; Gaaraareed all one length
Scad for Samples.
Prices on Request
Fells and Cloth* in any Quantities
GEO. W. BRAUNSDORF, Inc.,
Paper. Felt and Cloth Punch-
ings. Fibre Washers and Bridges
for
Pianos, Organs and
Player Actions
Office and Factory:
430 East 53rd Street. New York
THE
DECEMBER 20, 1919
MUSIC TRADE
15
REVIEW
OurTEOlNlCAL DEPARTMENT
CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM BRAID WHITE
all in your territory who have pianos, as far
as you can. Mail out circular letters once in
THE COUNTRY SPEAKS ITS MIND
a while, and let people know that you are com-
I rather thought that the country technicians ing, through the local newspapers, or by using
would not forever keep silence, in view of the slides in the local picture shows.
criticisms directed against country work and
"Do not make a house to house canvass.
country prospects by Brother Norris the other
This only lowers the profession in the eyes of
day in these hospitable columns. Our good and
the people.
vivacious friend, Kiker of Texas, has sprung
"Never condemn another man's work. It is
into the breach and put up a vigorous defense.
better to make excuses for him. Try to show
He says, sezzee:
that the piano went wrong; and not the tuner.
"Dear Mr. White:
Usually it is the piano. This kind of conduct
"You are entirely right about rural tuning. gives your people confidence in you.
I know from several years' experience where a
"Do not be too anxious to overhaul any old
tuner makes the most money in a year.
square.
"Here are some facts drawn from my own "As a rule, the most successful tuners stay
books of this year:
out of the selling end of the game. It is all
Uprights Players Grands Organs, Squares Total Ani't
right, of course, to buy an old piano, repair it
January
29
7
2
$210.00
February
31
6
3
1
280.00
and sell it at a fair profit. It is even all right
March
43
5
2
320.50
to sell a new one once in a while; but do not
April
19
6
1
342.00
advertise this under any circumstances.
May
43
5
1
434.00
"Never pose as an expert fiddler. Better leave
June
37
13
1
396.50
July
47
8
1
1
1
336.00
your fiddle at home and make room for much
August
28
7
2
225.60
needed supplies.
September
33
11
2
1
1
528.10
"Never cut your quotation on a repair job,
October
34
5
1
426.50
for that always means that you will be under
November
43
2
1
342.40
the temptation to slight your work.
Total
387
75
11
3
8
$3841.6C
"I am in love with the tuning profession. I
"The total of all kinds of pianos is 484.
want
every tuner in the land to make more
Average price per piano is a little more than
money, wear better clothes, get better pay, edu-
$7.93.
"I can make more money per day at less ex- cate his children in the best way and support
pense in the rural districts than I can on the his family at least as well as the average doctor.
"I am quite sure that every tuner-technician
paved streets of the cities. To be sure, the
roads in the country are sometimes very trying will agree with almost everything I have said.
"Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy
on my flivver; but then I just stay home in town
and work. If I get caught away from Fort New Year, long life and prosperity. Price Kiker,
Worth with several days of very rainy or other- Fort Worth, Texas."
wise bad weather, I just put up my flivver and
Whereupon!
go home; to put in some good time in my shop,
Many thanks, good friend, for the kind wishes
where I usually have three or four rebuilding and for the charming photographs of your in-
jobs at $100 or over apiece.
teresting family which you are good enough to
"My advice to all city tuners is to stop work- send along.
ing on a salary in the city and go out into the
Now, let us analyze the ideas now set forth,
country as an independent tuner. Charge $5.00 O brother from Texas!
for tuning anywhere, with extra for special
There can be no doubt, I think, that they are
trips to the country. You will often be able to fundamentally sound. The country tuner, or
tune several pianos in one neighborhood at technician, as I like better to call him, has the
$5.00 each. Do not include repair work, easing best chance. If he does not make good the fault
keys or tedious regulating in the price of tuning. is usually with himself. Of course there is the
"Most tuners can look at a piano and guess question of territory to be considered. There
mighty close the time required to repair. Then are parts of the country where the people have
multiply the estimated number of hours by been educated into deplorably cheap ideas. The
three and you will have usually the required technician, in fact, nearly everywhere will find
fair price.
that he must do more or less educating of his
"K*eep a record of your work. Keep a card- public. He must certainly not expect that the
filing system showing the names and facts about community will always be ready to take at his
all the persons for whom you do work, and of valuation the work he does for them. Men
like Mr. Kiker did not attain their present posi-
FAUST SCHOOL OF TUNING tion of importance and prosperity at once.
There were some years of careful preparatory
Pkno, Player-Piano, Pipe and Reed Organ Toning and Re- work, although these years were not necessarily
pairing, alto Regulating, Voicing, Varnishing and Polishing
passed in a state of destitution. What I mean
This formerly was the tuning department of the New is that it took time to put the community in a
England Conservatory of Music, ana Oliver C. Faust was
head of the department for 20 years previous to its dis-
continuance.
Courses in mathematical piano scale construction and
drafting of same have been added.
Pupils have daily practise in Chickering & Sons' factory.
Year Book sent free upon request.
27-29 GAINSBOROUGH ST.. BOSTON. MASS.
T
URN YOUR STRAIGHT
PIANOS INTO PLAYERS
Individual pneumatic stacks, roll
boxes, bellows, pedal actions,
expression boxes.
Manufacturers, dealers, tuners
and repair men supplied with
player actions for straight pianos.
JENKINSON PLAYER ACTION CO., Inc.
912-914 Elm St.
Cincinnati, O
state where it would accept such and such a
man as the official piano technician, if the term
"official" can be used here without misunder-
standing. But I also mean that this very sys-
tem of careful cultivation and education was
bound to bring excellent results. Mr. Kiker, I
believe, has been in the profession less than ten
years. He has put in his time to the best ad-
vantage. He has worked steadily to gain the
best reputation in his community, to become
indispensable to it. Because he has steadily
clone this, he has made himself in fact indis-
pensable, and the community is therefore now
paying him what he is worth.
This does not mean that a community is us-
ually very quick to recognize good work. On
the contrary, a community usually displays a
deplorable indifference to its cultural necessities,
until it has been patiently educated in the right
way. This means steady and patient work.
Those who migrate to the country, thinking
that they will find easy and comfortable returns
without half trying, are destined to be rudely
awakened. Country work is not easier. It is
not less troublesome. But it is much' more in-
dependent, and therefore much more pleasant
to the technician. His social position is better
and he may look forward to increasing pros-
perity year by year. He has no one to please
but his community. He does not have to depend
on the whim of one individual.
On the contrary, he cannot succeed unless he
has the ability to look after his own finances. If
he is a poor business man, unable to conserve his
earnings, to keep his books and to avoid bad
debts, he cannot succeed as an independent
piano technician. It is as to points like these,
much more than in local difficulties, in loca!
customs as to prices or in unfair competition,
that the aspirant to success as an independent
practitioner must take care. That most techni-
cians are not good business men is unfortunately
only too true. There is a good reason for this.
The technical mind is not a trading mind. The
business mind in its more active and aggressive
manifestations is a somewhat deplorably nar-
row sort of mind. It does not present the sort
of ideal for which the technician should strive.
What I mean to urge is merely the cultivation
of those business-like habits in reference to
money matters which are common to all busi-
ness men and form the foundation of business
success. Orderly methods are the only right
methods, one might say the only righteous
methods, or just as one cannot do aright
without first thinking aright, so one cannot even
think aright if one's raw material is scattered,
in disorder and unavailable when wanted. To
do the right thinking which is the basis of all
right, and therefore of all successful doing,
one's fundamental mental habits must be
orderly. The sense of order is the most precious
(Continued on page 18)
___^__^_^^^__
»•» w T •» T »-« w» n
T i l INI F l l V
1 U 1 1 Ci I V tJ
The Pioneer School
with 800 Successful
Graduates in the Field
BASS STRINGS
Special attention given to the need* of the tuner and the dealer
A d d r e s s , B o x 414
VALPARAISO. IND.
OTTO TREFZ
SI 10 Pali-mount Avenue
Philadelphia Pa.
The TUNER'S FRIEND
Old style bridle strap
Braunsdorf's Other Specialties
New style all leather bridle strap
BRAUNSDORF'S
ALL LEATHER
BRIDLE
STRAPS
Labor Sanar; Moase Proof; Gaaraareed all one length
Scad for Samples.
Prices on Request
Fells and Cloth* in any Quantities
GEO. W. BRAUNSDORF, Inc.,
Paper. Felt and Cloth Punch-
ings. Fibre Washers and Bridges
for
Pianos, Organs and
Player Actions
Office and Factory:
430 East 53rd Street. New York
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).