Music Trade Review

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The Music Trade Review
J, H. Williams Tone Amplifier to
Be Incorporated in the United Lines
President of the United Piano Corp. Announces Device of His Own Invention Will Be Used in
Instruments Made by Company—Claimed to Prolong Tones by Large Per Cent
-| H. WILLIAMS, president of the United
J • Piano Corp., who some few years ago was
granted Letters Patent on the J. H. Williams
Tone Amplifier for use in pianos, has announced
might be curved did not in any sense interfere
with its efficency. The problem in the upright
piano was somewhat more difficult owing to the
form of the instrument, but Mr. Williams suc-
JUNE 26, 1926
A. B. Chase, the Emerson and the Lindeman,
Mr. Williams will be able personally to insure
entirely the proper installation of his inven
tion in those instruments. Pianos containing
the Williams Tone Amplifier have already been
placed on the market for several years past,
and it has therefore been possible to make a
close study of the continued success of the in-
vention. It is believed that under Mr. Williams'
personal direction the application of the Tone
Amplifier can be still further developed.
The first of the new instruments to come
through with the Williams Tone Amplifier in-
troduced therein will be awaited with much in-
terest by the trade, for they represent what is
in a large sense a new development in acoustics
as applied to the improvement of piano tone.
The accompanying illustration offers a gen-
eral idea of the manner in which Mr. Williams'
invention is confined in the upright piano, sec-
tions of the back post being broken away to
indicate the manner in which the air channel
is provided.
New Booklet on Piano
Glasses in the Schools
National Bureau for the Advancement of Music
Makes an Important Addition to Its List of
Publications—Of Particular Interest Just Now
The J. H. Williams
that this invention will be incorporated in the
various instruments made by the United Piano
Corp. The work being carried on under Mr.
Williams' personal direction will insure the close
following out of the principles involved in the
invention which, in experimental work, has been
found to not only improve tone quality but to
prolong the tones by from 50 to 75 per cent.
Mr. Williams, who through his long career in
the trade has made a close study of the tech-
nical problems connected with piano manufac-
ture, devoted much time to the development of
his tone amplifier, which was put to practical
use in several instruments as long ago as 1921.
It has long been recognized that the tone of
the average piano depends for its prolongation
upon the construction of the instrument and the
freedom given to the soundboard thereby, man-
ufacturers differing as to the relative merits of
a soundboard set loose against the piano frame,
or one held rigidly in place. The distance of the
strings from the soundboard also has a bear-
ing upon the singing quality of the tone, for
here again there have been manifested very defi-
nite physical limitations.
It was in the organ that Mr. Williams found
a solution for his particular problem of sustain-
ing tone, for he believed that if it was possible
to provide for the piano a column of air simi-
lar to that found in the organ, it would be pos-
sible thereby to provide means for securing
greatly sustained tones without upsetting any
of the fundamental principles of piano construc-
tion. The chief difficulty was to provide for
that column of air in the piano case.
In the grand piano it was a comparatively
simple matter to bore or cut within the heavy
timber of the back of the piano a continuous air
channel to take up and sustain as in the organ
pipe the tones developed in the piano and its
sounding board. The fact that the channel
Tone Amplifier
ceeded in overcoming this problem in a very
satisfactory manner.
The installation of the Tone Amplifier does
not simply consist of boring a number of chan-
nels in the backs of pianos but rather in provid-
There has just been issued by the National
Bureau for the Advancement of Music an im-
posing new volume on piano classes in the
schools, in which this stage of musical develop-
ment is treated in a very comprehensive manner.
The booklet, which is illustrated and comprises
thirty-two pages of information, is of particular
importance just now in view of the attitude of
the trade itself toward the promotion of piano
instruction in the schools.
The interest of school authorities in the move-
ment is indicated by the fact that while the
booklet was still on the press the Bureau re-
ceived requests from school people for 762
copies, in response to a preliminary announce-
ment. C. M. Tremaine, director of the Bureau,
announces that the booklet will be given wide
distribution among school authorities through-
out the nation. Many prominent authorities on
musical education lent their assistance to the
work by providing important suggestions for
incorporation in the booklet.
Two New Baldwin Grands
for Omaha Radio Studio
Instruments Replace Baldwin Concert Grand in
Use in Woodmen of the World Studio
WOAW for the Past Two Years.
OMAHA, NEB., June 17.—Two Baldwin pianos,
one a concert grand and the other a small grand,
were recently installed and are now in use in
radio station WOAW, operated by the Wood-
men of the World, on the nineteenth floor of
the organization's building in this city. The in-
stallation of the instruments is a tribute to Bald-
win quality, for the station has used a Baldwin
grand for the past two years, it being estimated
that the instrument was played on an average of
fifteen hours daily during that time. The two
new grands to replace the older instrument
have been carefully tuned in relation to each
other so they mav be used for duet purposes.
Staats Sails for Europe
J. H. Williams
ing a series of channels designed especially to
meet the requirements of a particular instru-
ment, though it is stated that it is quite possi-
ble to apply the principle involved to any piano.
In introducing his Tone Amplifier in pianos
made by the United Piano Corp., namely, the
W. J. Staats, director of the foreign trade
activities of the Victor Talking Machine Co.
and treasurer and member of the board of di-
rectors of the company, sailed for Europe last
week to make a study of European trade con-
ditions and to visit Continental branches and
connections of the Victor Co. and the Gramo-
phone Co., Ltd. He will be away for two
months.