Presto
Issue: 1923 1915 - Page 5
PRESTO
April 7, 1923
sign. But this doesn't alter the accuracy of what Mr. Glynn says and
the two big industries whose letters in this issue refer to Presto's
doubt dispeller are of a kind to convince anyone. They are financially
able to consign, or in any other way to sustain the dealer. And they
are among the noted successes of the industry.
We regard Mr. Glynn's contribution on the consignment plan as
one of the best trade articles that has appeared. It is practical. It
may be helpful, and therefore valuable, to the trade. Dealers who
are settled in their lines know what they want, and will not be influ-
enced by any other plan than the one their favorite manufacturers
already furnish. The best of all plans is the one that makes most
money for the dealer who satisfies his customers. But the fact, as
stated by one of the letters this week, of the impossibility of supply-
ing all demands on the consignment plan, is ample evidence that the
system with limitations is still popular and profitable. The principal
thing is to sell pianos. And in order to do that, the dealer must be
able to get them to sell.
It is hoped that the judges of the prize piano advertisements will
not overlook what is being done by the Griffith Piano Co., of Newark,
N. J. No finer piano publicity has ever appeared. Better still, the
line of pianos advertised could not be improved unless by making it
still longer. The Griffith line is: Steinway, Sohmer, Kurtzmann, Hal-
lett & Davis, McPhail, Brambach and Lester. Almost any expert
would call that a prize list.
*
*
An expert business counsellor says that the best barometer of a
house is the appearance of its correspondence—the letters that come
from headquarters. The only way by which a distant correspondent
BUSH & GERTS ENGAGE
CONVENTION LOCATION
Headquarters to Be Established in Drake Hotel for
Duration of Sessions.
A room in the Drake Hotel. Chicago, has been en-
gaged by the Bush & Gerts Piano Co., of that city,
as headquarters during the conventions of the na-
tional piano trade organizations, on June 4 to 7. The
room will be at the disposal of the Bush & Gerts
Piano Co.'s clientele, and will be fitted with con-
veniences for the guests.
The headquarters for the convention are in the
Drake Hotel, and many of the leading musical con-
cerns are establishing rooms and suites in this hotel
so that they may have a convenient place to enter-
tain friends and show exhibits.
"We will arrange to show visitors the Bush &
Gerts factory if they care to do so," said W. S.
Miller, vice-president of the Bush & Gerts Piano Co.
and general manager of the Chicago office. "We
want our friends and customers to feel perfectly wel-
come to come out to our factory, and especially urge
them to feel at home at our room in the Drake
Hotel."
COINOLA STYLE CO HAS
BIG AND GROWING DEMAND
Appreciation for Practical Instrument Expressed in
Many Orders from Dealers.
The Coinola Style C O, made by the Operators'
Piano Co., Chicago, is one of the most practical
instruments produced by this company. The demand
for this instrument, which is the largest of the
Coinolas made, is greatest from big amusement
houses and road houses. There is a steady market
for this type of instrument, and the Coinola C O is
proving to be just the thing to fill the need.
The instrumentation includes piano, mandolin, bass
and snare drums, tympani, orchestra zylophone bars,
Indian block, triangle, cymbal and tambourine. It
is a real orchestra, and exactly suits the need of a
large place of amusement, or any place where many
people come together. Dealers located in places
where this market exists are discovering the immense
sales possibilities of the big Coinola.
Other Coinola styles the dealers consider highly
desirable in interesting the owners of cafes, ice
cream parlors and other public places where suc-
cess "depends upon measurable attractions are Style
C, Style C-2. Style X and the Tiny Coinola, the small-
est keyless piano made. These are all proven profit
pullers. They are trouble-proof with the best me-
chanically simple action that insures continuous and
unlimited service. Coinola dealers are all identified
can judge of a business concern is by the appearance and force of its
mail matter. A shabby letter is a poor business card.
The man who can sell pianos is about the most independent of
all business men. He not only has his profitable work always ready,
but may even find a fortune to sustain him if he is honest. Is this
problematical? Then read the article by Mr. J. J. Glynn in this
issue.
* * *
We have not had so promising a year in the piano business since
"before the war." Dealers who are receiving supplies promptly are
in luck, and not many of the factories have anything to complain of
unless it is insufficiency of skilled workers.
>|C
3(C
JjC
An easy mathematical problem, which seems hard for some
piano men to learn, is that selling at cost for "spot cash" isn't good
business. Of all lines of trade, that of selling pianos is about the
last that can be done profitably on that basis.
* * *
A correspondent asks how many stops the parlor organ used to
have. It was much like Barnum's elephants, or Birch & Backus' min-
strels. It wasn't easy to "count 'em."
* * *
Just two months from today the music trade convention will be
closing, at the Drake Hotel, Chicago. Tt will be the event of the
year. Are you coming?
* * *
Don't imagine that the present baby grand craze means that the
upright is to be dethroned. Your great grandsons will still be selling
uprights.
with mechanical instruments which provide service
that counts and profits that please. All these styles
have made good. Every style must be a money
maker for the owner or the Operators' Piano Co.
discontinues it.
WATKINS BROS., INC., BUYS
BUSINESS OF C. A. LANE
Purchase in Bristol, Conn., Gives New Owners Fine
Opportunity for Expansion.
The business of C. A. Lane in the City Building
on North Main street, Bristol, Conn., has been pur-
chased by Watkins Bros., Inc., with stores in Hart-
ford, South Manchester and Bristol, all in Connecti-
cut. Besides the stock and fixtures a five-year lease
goes with the purchase.
The Bristol store of Watkins Bros., Inc., was
established about six years ago and on account of the
continuous growth of the business the four stores
successively occupied were all found inadequate in
showroom space. The new store in the City building
is a commodious one and will give the company a
better opportunity to expand.
The stock acquired by purchase from the C. A.
Lane business is now being sold out by special sale
advertised in the vigorous manner of the Watkins
Bros , Inc. The company is representative of the
Steinway piano over a large territory in Connecticut
which includes all of three counties and a portion
of one.
MANY WANT SOLO CONCERTOS.
The heavy demand for the Nita Grand made by the
H. C. Bay Co., Bluffton, Ind., has not diminished the
need for a large number of the Solo Concerto player-
pianos, according to the Chicago sales office. The
grands are built in a separate section of the Bay fac-
tories, so that the production of the Solo Concertos
has not been affected by the announcement of the
little grand. The player styles as well as the H. C.
Bay Reproducing players have been unusually de-
sired. The H. C. Bay policy of "One Style Only"
has brought the instrument a> perfection which insures
dealers wide sales. All three types of pianos offer a
maximum of value for a minimum of expenditure.
PAYS TWENTY-FIRST DIVIDEND.
The Baker Music Company, Albany, N. Y., re-
cently paid the twenty-first consecutive quarterly
dividend of 2 per cent on preferred stock and a dollar
per share on common stock. The recent dividend
was paid to stockholders of record March 1, 1923.
At the meeting recently an excellent report was. sub-
mitted. By the figures the business shows an in-
crease of $44,000 for January and February over the
same months in 1922.
NEW EXCELTONE PLAYER
MODEL WINS THE TRADE
Latest Number in Desirable Line of the Chase-
Hackley Piano Co. Sought by Dealers.
The new Exceltone, Model 31, which was an-
nounced recently, is one of the popular styles made
by the Chase-Hackley Piano Co., Muskegon, Mich.,
and the demand for it is already as strong as the
supply, according to H. H. Bradley, manager of the
Chase-Hackley office which was until March 31
maintained in Chicago. The model which was placed
in the Chicago office a few weeks ago was sold soon
after arriving. The Chicago office of Chase-Hackley
is now being handled direct through Mr. Bradley,
as the branch suite in the Republic Building has been
given up.
Model 31, like the other Exceltone models, gets its
name from the quality of its tone, coupled with a
character of general player excellence and durability
of construction. The player action of the model pre-
sents the most advanced features known in the indus-
try. It has the quick response which makes easy the
performance of all kinds of music. It insures perfec-
tion in the playing of the extreme pianissimo passages
as well as the most powerful forte ones.
The Exceltone models of the Chase-Hackley
Piano Co. are sold by responsible piano merchants
in all parts of the country and in every instance the
merchants rest their reputations upon the results of
every Exceltone sale. Such a thing as a dissatisfied
owner of an Exceltone player piano is unknown.
PIANO TUNERS' ROUND=UP
WILL BE RARE EVENT
Will Include Instructive Talks, a Tempting Feast
and a Reproducing Piano.
The annual banquet and round-up of the Chicago
division of the National Association of Piano Tuners
will be held in the east room of the Hotel La Salle
on Tuesday evening, April 17, at 6:30 p. m.
Each attendant at the banquet will participate in
a reproducing piano surprise. An array of spell-
binders will be on hand to explain the whys and
wherefores of piano tuning.
The banquet tickets have a coupon attachment
which is to be detached on entering the hall. When
the round-up ends some lucky tuner will have oc-
casion to keep his own grand piano in tune. It is
expected that a large gathering of the expert harmo-
nizers will gather at the Hotel La Salle on the )8th.
The others will miss a good deal.
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/
April 7, 1923
sign. But this doesn't alter the accuracy of what Mr. Glynn says and
the two big industries whose letters in this issue refer to Presto's
doubt dispeller are of a kind to convince anyone. They are financially
able to consign, or in any other way to sustain the dealer. And they
are among the noted successes of the industry.
We regard Mr. Glynn's contribution on the consignment plan as
one of the best trade articles that has appeared. It is practical. It
may be helpful, and therefore valuable, to the trade. Dealers who
are settled in their lines know what they want, and will not be influ-
enced by any other plan than the one their favorite manufacturers
already furnish. The best of all plans is the one that makes most
money for the dealer who satisfies his customers. But the fact, as
stated by one of the letters this week, of the impossibility of supply-
ing all demands on the consignment plan, is ample evidence that the
system with limitations is still popular and profitable. The principal
thing is to sell pianos. And in order to do that, the dealer must be
able to get them to sell.
It is hoped that the judges of the prize piano advertisements will
not overlook what is being done by the Griffith Piano Co., of Newark,
N. J. No finer piano publicity has ever appeared. Better still, the
line of pianos advertised could not be improved unless by making it
still longer. The Griffith line is: Steinway, Sohmer, Kurtzmann, Hal-
lett & Davis, McPhail, Brambach and Lester. Almost any expert
would call that a prize list.
*
*
An expert business counsellor says that the best barometer of a
house is the appearance of its correspondence—the letters that come
from headquarters. The only way by which a distant correspondent
BUSH & GERTS ENGAGE
CONVENTION LOCATION
Headquarters to Be Established in Drake Hotel for
Duration of Sessions.
A room in the Drake Hotel. Chicago, has been en-
gaged by the Bush & Gerts Piano Co., of that city,
as headquarters during the conventions of the na-
tional piano trade organizations, on June 4 to 7. The
room will be at the disposal of the Bush & Gerts
Piano Co.'s clientele, and will be fitted with con-
veniences for the guests.
The headquarters for the convention are in the
Drake Hotel, and many of the leading musical con-
cerns are establishing rooms and suites in this hotel
so that they may have a convenient place to enter-
tain friends and show exhibits.
"We will arrange to show visitors the Bush &
Gerts factory if they care to do so," said W. S.
Miller, vice-president of the Bush & Gerts Piano Co.
and general manager of the Chicago office. "We
want our friends and customers to feel perfectly wel-
come to come out to our factory, and especially urge
them to feel at home at our room in the Drake
Hotel."
COINOLA STYLE CO HAS
BIG AND GROWING DEMAND
Appreciation for Practical Instrument Expressed in
Many Orders from Dealers.
The Coinola Style C O, made by the Operators'
Piano Co., Chicago, is one of the most practical
instruments produced by this company. The demand
for this instrument, which is the largest of the
Coinolas made, is greatest from big amusement
houses and road houses. There is a steady market
for this type of instrument, and the Coinola C O is
proving to be just the thing to fill the need.
The instrumentation includes piano, mandolin, bass
and snare drums, tympani, orchestra zylophone bars,
Indian block, triangle, cymbal and tambourine. It
is a real orchestra, and exactly suits the need of a
large place of amusement, or any place where many
people come together. Dealers located in places
where this market exists are discovering the immense
sales possibilities of the big Coinola.
Other Coinola styles the dealers consider highly
desirable in interesting the owners of cafes, ice
cream parlors and other public places where suc-
cess "depends upon measurable attractions are Style
C, Style C-2. Style X and the Tiny Coinola, the small-
est keyless piano made. These are all proven profit
pullers. They are trouble-proof with the best me-
chanically simple action that insures continuous and
unlimited service. Coinola dealers are all identified
can judge of a business concern is by the appearance and force of its
mail matter. A shabby letter is a poor business card.
The man who can sell pianos is about the most independent of
all business men. He not only has his profitable work always ready,
but may even find a fortune to sustain him if he is honest. Is this
problematical? Then read the article by Mr. J. J. Glynn in this
issue.
* * *
We have not had so promising a year in the piano business since
"before the war." Dealers who are receiving supplies promptly are
in luck, and not many of the factories have anything to complain of
unless it is insufficiency of skilled workers.
>|C
3(C
JjC
An easy mathematical problem, which seems hard for some
piano men to learn, is that selling at cost for "spot cash" isn't good
business. Of all lines of trade, that of selling pianos is about the
last that can be done profitably on that basis.
* * *
A correspondent asks how many stops the parlor organ used to
have. It was much like Barnum's elephants, or Birch & Backus' min-
strels. It wasn't easy to "count 'em."
* * *
Just two months from today the music trade convention will be
closing, at the Drake Hotel, Chicago. Tt will be the event of the
year. Are you coming?
* * *
Don't imagine that the present baby grand craze means that the
upright is to be dethroned. Your great grandsons will still be selling
uprights.
with mechanical instruments which provide service
that counts and profits that please. All these styles
have made good. Every style must be a money
maker for the owner or the Operators' Piano Co.
discontinues it.
WATKINS BROS., INC., BUYS
BUSINESS OF C. A. LANE
Purchase in Bristol, Conn., Gives New Owners Fine
Opportunity for Expansion.
The business of C. A. Lane in the City Building
on North Main street, Bristol, Conn., has been pur-
chased by Watkins Bros., Inc., with stores in Hart-
ford, South Manchester and Bristol, all in Connecti-
cut. Besides the stock and fixtures a five-year lease
goes with the purchase.
The Bristol store of Watkins Bros., Inc., was
established about six years ago and on account of the
continuous growth of the business the four stores
successively occupied were all found inadequate in
showroom space. The new store in the City building
is a commodious one and will give the company a
better opportunity to expand.
The stock acquired by purchase from the C. A.
Lane business is now being sold out by special sale
advertised in the vigorous manner of the Watkins
Bros , Inc. The company is representative of the
Steinway piano over a large territory in Connecticut
which includes all of three counties and a portion
of one.
MANY WANT SOLO CONCERTOS.
The heavy demand for the Nita Grand made by the
H. C. Bay Co., Bluffton, Ind., has not diminished the
need for a large number of the Solo Concerto player-
pianos, according to the Chicago sales office. The
grands are built in a separate section of the Bay fac-
tories, so that the production of the Solo Concertos
has not been affected by the announcement of the
little grand. The player styles as well as the H. C.
Bay Reproducing players have been unusually de-
sired. The H. C. Bay policy of "One Style Only"
has brought the instrument a> perfection which insures
dealers wide sales. All three types of pianos offer a
maximum of value for a minimum of expenditure.
PAYS TWENTY-FIRST DIVIDEND.
The Baker Music Company, Albany, N. Y., re-
cently paid the twenty-first consecutive quarterly
dividend of 2 per cent on preferred stock and a dollar
per share on common stock. The recent dividend
was paid to stockholders of record March 1, 1923.
At the meeting recently an excellent report was. sub-
mitted. By the figures the business shows an in-
crease of $44,000 for January and February over the
same months in 1922.
NEW EXCELTONE PLAYER
MODEL WINS THE TRADE
Latest Number in Desirable Line of the Chase-
Hackley Piano Co. Sought by Dealers.
The new Exceltone, Model 31, which was an-
nounced recently, is one of the popular styles made
by the Chase-Hackley Piano Co., Muskegon, Mich.,
and the demand for it is already as strong as the
supply, according to H. H. Bradley, manager of the
Chase-Hackley office which was until March 31
maintained in Chicago. The model which was placed
in the Chicago office a few weeks ago was sold soon
after arriving. The Chicago office of Chase-Hackley
is now being handled direct through Mr. Bradley,
as the branch suite in the Republic Building has been
given up.
Model 31, like the other Exceltone models, gets its
name from the quality of its tone, coupled with a
character of general player excellence and durability
of construction. The player action of the model pre-
sents the most advanced features known in the indus-
try. It has the quick response which makes easy the
performance of all kinds of music. It insures perfec-
tion in the playing of the extreme pianissimo passages
as well as the most powerful forte ones.
The Exceltone models of the Chase-Hackley
Piano Co. are sold by responsible piano merchants
in all parts of the country and in every instance the
merchants rest their reputations upon the results of
every Exceltone sale. Such a thing as a dissatisfied
owner of an Exceltone player piano is unknown.
PIANO TUNERS' ROUND=UP
WILL BE RARE EVENT
Will Include Instructive Talks, a Tempting Feast
and a Reproducing Piano.
The annual banquet and round-up of the Chicago
division of the National Association of Piano Tuners
will be held in the east room of the Hotel La Salle
on Tuesday evening, April 17, at 6:30 p. m.
Each attendant at the banquet will participate in
a reproducing piano surprise. An array of spell-
binders will be on hand to explain the whys and
wherefores of piano tuning.
The banquet tickets have a coupon attachment
which is to be detached on entering the hall. When
the round-up ends some lucky tuner will have oc-
casion to keep his own grand piano in tune. It is
expected that a large gathering of the expert harmo-
nizers will gather at the Hotel La Salle on the )8th.
The others will miss a good deal.
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).