Music Trade Review
Issue: 1932 Vol. 91 N. 5 - Page 18
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
PIANO FACTORY and
PIANO SERVICING
DR. W M . BRAID WHITE
Technical Editor
The Piano Tuner
and His Future
Business Possibilities
DR. WM. BRAID WHITE
SUPPOSE that my tuner friends, es-
pecially the older men, will profess them-
selves, at the least, astonished to hear that
actually there are young men taking up
the craft for the first time and positively
looking forward to making a living out of
it. I say that I expect such astonishment,
and this because I have become accustomed
to hearing, of late, only complaints about
the general collapse of everything connected
with the noble arts of tuning and of seTvic-
ing pianofortes. For a good many reasons
I have never quite believed all the tales of
woe; and now here comes Jesse Bowen, Jr.,
from Winston-Salem, down in North Caro-
lina, who says that he is actually taking up
the art and finding something to do at it.
He comes to me for some information; but
before I give him this I must let him tell
his story, for it is far too good to be omitted,
I assure you.
I
HIS OWN STORY
This young gentleman is 18 years old and
is a student at Guilford College. His
father is a veteran piano man well known
to the manufacturers and travelers of this
industry. Young Mr. Bowen devotes himself
to his studies and in his spare time practices
the tuning art. He says that last year he
did pretty well. He averaged $30 a week,
which certainly seems by no means bad for
a spare-time occupation. He goes on to say:
"I worked for myself, depending upon no
one. I made what money I did through hard,
honest work. The tuners around home are
all down and out and are very blue, saying
that there is no business. But I believe that
there is some tuning and some money to
be made in tuning, if it is done in the right
way. Some tuners I know have cut their
18
prices to three and four dollars. Thus far
I have held my price up to five dollars for
a good honest tuning. Do you think that it
would help my business if I should cut my
prices?
"Meanwhile, do you know any modern
methods of getting tuning jobs? This may
seem to you a most absurd question, but I
should like to know all the same. Is there
any other way besides canvassing and my
small amount of advertising which I could
use to get tuning jobs? So far I have not
advertised extensively. What do you think
about advertising for tuning?
"What do you think of the future piano
business? Has it any possibilities? I like
it very much and feel that 1 could make a
success of it if success be at all possible."
ANSWERING DIFFICULT QUESTIONS
I take genuine pleasure in answering this
letter, which its author will forgive me for
saying is naive but with a naivete alto-
gether attractive. The questions he brings
up are important and it is not likely that
I shall be able to propose answers to them
really decisive. I can, however, doubtless
furnish some useful hints, than which noth-
ing more need be expected, considering the
peculiar state of present affairs in the piano-
forte realm.
And so I shall say in the first place that
I do really believe in the future of the
pianoforte. I believe in its future because
I cannot see that any possible substitute for
it at present existing or in sight can take
its place. Of course this does not mean that
there is any likelihood of the piano indus-
try's again arriving at an annual production
' of three hundred thousands of instruments.
In all probability, social currents have set
for good in directions which forbid the
restoration of the pianoforte to its pristine
place as principal domestic decoration and
treasure. It seems to me that the furniture
phase of the pianoforte has passed away and
that we now enter, probably forever, a purely
musical phase during which it will be owned
only by persons who wish to play upon it
or to hear it played upon. In a word, a
pianoforte will be found henceforth, domes-
tically, only where one might as likely find
THE
MUSIC
a violin or a violoncello. It resumes its
place as a musical instrument pure and sim-
ple, the principal ornament and treasure of
the musical home.
Now, if what I anticipate does actually
occur, then obviously the day of the really
cheap pianoforte is past. The tendency now
must be towards instruments finer and finer,
with more beautiful tone quality, more deli-
cate action, more splendid sonority and
greater duration of sound. I do not think
that artificial means of prolonging the vibra-
tions of the strings are likely to afford the
proper direction along which the modern
evolution will take place. On the contrary,
for improvements in tone quality, tone dura-
tion and mechanical delicacy I look to more
perfect understanding of the functions of
string, soundboard and hammer, understand-
ing arising out of researches which are now-
going on in more than one laboratory and
experimental room. In a word, I believe that
the pianoforte will be developed during
future years along natural and not along
unnatural lines.
HOW ABOUT THE TUNER?
What effect, however, are new social facts
and commercial trends likely to have upon
the art of tuning and upon the tuners who
practice that art? It seems unquestionable
that the number of pianos found in homes
and in public places of the restaurant and
Estate*
d
MANUFACTURER
01'
BUCKSKIN.
1049—3rd St.
NORTH BERGEN. N. J.
Tel.: 7—4367
TRADE
REVIEW,
May,
1932
PIANO FACTORY and
PIANO SERVICING
DR. W M . BRAID WHITE
Technical Editor
The Piano Tuner
and His Future
Business Possibilities
DR. WM. BRAID WHITE
SUPPOSE that my tuner friends, es-
pecially the older men, will profess them-
selves, at the least, astonished to hear that
actually there are young men taking up
the craft for the first time and positively
looking forward to making a living out of
it. I say that I expect such astonishment,
and this because I have become accustomed
to hearing, of late, only complaints about
the general collapse of everything connected
with the noble arts of tuning and of seTvic-
ing pianofortes. For a good many reasons
I have never quite believed all the tales of
woe; and now here comes Jesse Bowen, Jr.,
from Winston-Salem, down in North Caro-
lina, who says that he is actually taking up
the art and finding something to do at it.
He comes to me for some information; but
before I give him this I must let him tell
his story, for it is far too good to be omitted,
I assure you.
I
HIS OWN STORY
This young gentleman is 18 years old and
is a student at Guilford College. His
father is a veteran piano man well known
to the manufacturers and travelers of this
industry. Young Mr. Bowen devotes himself
to his studies and in his spare time practices
the tuning art. He says that last year he
did pretty well. He averaged $30 a week,
which certainly seems by no means bad for
a spare-time occupation. He goes on to say:
"I worked for myself, depending upon no
one. I made what money I did through hard,
honest work. The tuners around home are
all down and out and are very blue, saying
that there is no business. But I believe that
there is some tuning and some money to
be made in tuning, if it is done in the right
way. Some tuners I know have cut their
18
prices to three and four dollars. Thus far
I have held my price up to five dollars for
a good honest tuning. Do you think that it
would help my business if I should cut my
prices?
"Meanwhile, do you know any modern
methods of getting tuning jobs? This may
seem to you a most absurd question, but I
should like to know all the same. Is there
any other way besides canvassing and my
small amount of advertising which I could
use to get tuning jobs? So far I have not
advertised extensively. What do you think
about advertising for tuning?
"What do you think of the future piano
business? Has it any possibilities? I like
it very much and feel that 1 could make a
success of it if success be at all possible."
ANSWERING DIFFICULT QUESTIONS
I take genuine pleasure in answering this
letter, which its author will forgive me for
saying is naive but with a naivete alto-
gether attractive. The questions he brings
up are important and it is not likely that
I shall be able to propose answers to them
really decisive. I can, however, doubtless
furnish some useful hints, than which noth-
ing more need be expected, considering the
peculiar state of present affairs in the piano-
forte realm.
And so I shall say in the first place that
I do really believe in the future of the
pianoforte. I believe in its future because
I cannot see that any possible substitute for
it at present existing or in sight can take
its place. Of course this does not mean that
there is any likelihood of the piano indus-
try's again arriving at an annual production
' of three hundred thousands of instruments.
In all probability, social currents have set
for good in directions which forbid the
restoration of the pianoforte to its pristine
place as principal domestic decoration and
treasure. It seems to me that the furniture
phase of the pianoforte has passed away and
that we now enter, probably forever, a purely
musical phase during which it will be owned
only by persons who wish to play upon it
or to hear it played upon. In a word, a
pianoforte will be found henceforth, domes-
tically, only where one might as likely find
THE
MUSIC
a violin or a violoncello. It resumes its
place as a musical instrument pure and sim-
ple, the principal ornament and treasure of
the musical home.
Now, if what I anticipate does actually
occur, then obviously the day of the really
cheap pianoforte is past. The tendency now
must be towards instruments finer and finer,
with more beautiful tone quality, more deli-
cate action, more splendid sonority and
greater duration of sound. I do not think
that artificial means of prolonging the vibra-
tions of the strings are likely to afford the
proper direction along which the modern
evolution will take place. On the contrary,
for improvements in tone quality, tone dura-
tion and mechanical delicacy I look to more
perfect understanding of the functions of
string, soundboard and hammer, understand-
ing arising out of researches which are now-
going on in more than one laboratory and
experimental room. In a word, I believe that
the pianoforte will be developed during
future years along natural and not along
unnatural lines.
HOW ABOUT THE TUNER?
What effect, however, are new social facts
and commercial trends likely to have upon
the art of tuning and upon the tuners who
practice that art? It seems unquestionable
that the number of pianos found in homes
and in public places of the restaurant and
Estate*
d
MANUFACTURER
01'
BUCKSKIN.
1049—3rd St.
NORTH BERGEN. N. J.
Tel.: 7—4367
TRADE
REVIEW,
May,
1932
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