Presto
Issue: 1924 1985 - Page 24
PRESTO
24
THE BUSINESS
OF PIANO TUNING
(Continued from page 11.)
Piano owners are commencing to respond to the
idea that, after all, a piano is only a stringed instru-
ment, and as such it must, in the natural course of
events, be tuned several times a year. It is now a
well-established fact that the public has taken on a
more favorable attitude toward tuning.
Public Response.
We have no less an authority than G. Brownell, in
charge of the tuning department of Lyon & Healy's,
tMat there is no question but that the attitude of the
public towards tuning has changed greatly in the
last two or three years. That the demand for tuning
is on the increase there can be no doubt, as the num-
ber or independent tuners has increased to a greater
extent in the last two years than was ever known of
before. It would be a difficult matter to estimate
how much of an increase in the demand for tuning
has taken place since the N. A. of P. T. Inc.j began
to work on the proposition of building up the tun-
ing business, but we will submit the following figures,
taken from the classified telephone directory in Chi-
cago, covering a period of ten years, and it will serve
to give an idea of the change that had taken place
in the minds of the piano owners towards piano tun-
ing.
Increase of Tuners.
In 1914 the classified telephone directory of Chi-
cago contained the names of 19 independent tuners.
In 1917 there were 25, an increase of six in three
years. In 1920 the number of independent tuners
had jumped to 36, an increase of eleven tuners in
the same length of time. In 1924 a still greater ad-
vance was achieved, as the number of independent
tuners listed reached the sum of 52, a gain of sixteen
tuners in the three years, and a net gain of 33 for
the last ten years.
It must not be construed that there are only 52
independent tuners in Chicago, as we know of quite
a number who are not listed in the telephone direc-
tory.
The marked increase in the number of independent
tuners operating in Chicago is an indication of what
is taking place throughout the entire country. The
number of employed or salaried tuners has fallen off
to some extent. Many piano dealers have discovered
the illusionary value of free tuning, or the promise
thereof, and realizing that it is both unnecessary and
very expensive, have discontinued the policy.
Today the tuner is retained by the piano merchant
to take care of complaints, etc., much the same as a
law firm is retained to take care of litigations.
The Outlook.
The prospect for future business confronting the
piano tuners of this country staggers the imagination.
No other line of business that we can think of shows
greater possibilities, comparatively speaking.
There are literally millions of dollars invested in
pianos in this country, and all of them should be
tuned at least twice a year, whereas at the present
time the average is about one tuning in four years.
Figured by experts, the average upkeep expense is
forty cents per piano per annum. Estimates on the
number of pianos in this country vary all the way
from 5,000,000 to 10,000,000. Assuming that there
are only five million pianos in the United States, we
may also assume that these pianos average $400.
That will show that there is $2,000,000,000 invested
in pianos.
On this investment the piano tuners are taking
down one-tenth of one per cent, which nets the mem-
bers of the tuning profession in this country $2,000,-
000. Two tunings a year, at a cost of $4.00 per tun-
ing, brings the upkeep expense on pianos up to $8.00
a year, which is not unreasonable. This would net
the tuning profession $40,000,000 per annum, or an
increase of $38,000,000 more than they are getting
out of the business at the present time.
These figures may, or may not, be correct, and we
may never be able to bring the public around to two
tunings a year. Nevertheless, there is a splendid
opportunity to increase the business and the prospects
are worth working for. The great resources of the
tuning business, as indicated by the above figures,
are possible to the members of the tuning profession,
provided they have the courage and ability to go
after it in a business like manner.
To Teach the Public.
Educational advertising will open up this great
storehouse of wealth, which has hitherto remained as
a locked or sealed-up mine. Individually the tuners
are helpless in the face of the adverse public opin-
ion that now exists concerning the value and need for
piano tuning. Educational advertising plus the liberal
distribution of great quantities of "care of the piano"
pamphlets, would affect public sentiment and bring
about a more favorable attitude towards the tuning
business and the piano tuner. It would open up
great fields of business activity that are now dormant.
National advertising is a large mouthful for the
piano tuners to bite off, as it will require a lot of
August 9, 1924.
THE DEATH OP BUSONI
Irreparable Loss to Music, but His Master Playing
Is Preserved in Welte-Mignon.
Ferruccio Busoni, Italy's gifted son, the greatest
pianist of that land of noted musicians, is gone, and
his loss is irreparable. To concert gpers the world
over his death will be deeply felt, for to them he
had become an institution.
But Busoni's musical personality still lives, pre-
served in the faithful records of the De Luxe Welte-
Mignon (Licensee) Library of Records. There it is
immortalized, a source of lasting comfort to his
admirers, who are found in every walk of life the
world over. For the art of the pianist is preserved
with as much fidelity today, through the ingenious
mechanism of the Welte-Mignon (Licensee) Repro-
duction Action, as the printing press has preserved
the great literary classics.
It was near Florence, in 1866, that this super-genius
of the pianoforte was born. His gift for music was
inherited, as both of his parents were musicians. He
was only 8 years old when he made his debut in
Vienna.
Busoni made many concert tours through both
hemispheres. He lived and taught in Helsingsfors,
Moscow, Berlin, Vienna, Zurich, and at one time
in Boston. Over fifty works have been composed
by him. What Busoni thought of the Welte-Mignon
(Licensee) was most aptly expressed in the follow-
ing words:
"The 'Welte-Mignon,' so to say a Cinematograph
of piano playing, is an invention of quite equal im-
portance, as surprising for mere amateurs, as it is
wonderful for the skilled musician. It will be of
great use for artists and through them, let us hope,
afford great pleasure to the general public."
It is a source of great satisfaction, indeed, to be
able to say that the magic playing of the great
Busoni will most certainly continue to "afford great
pleasure to the general public."
money to put on the kind of advertising that will be
effective. If we are to get under way with the adver-
tising in 1925, there will have to be some tall hustling
done between now and the first of the year. No at-
tempt will be made to put on the advertising until a
sufficient fund is assured even if it takes two years to
accumulate it.
T
HE commonest challenge by many advertisers concerns
the paper's circulation. It is with them a question
altogether of quantity. But the best things about piano
advertising, from the manufacturer's point of view, have other
arguments besides quantity.
In a trade paper quality circulation is more important than
quantity circulation, for bulk of circulation is not what sells pianos
at wholesale. Nevertheless, Presto is certain that in quantity, as
well as quality circulation, it will compare favorably with any of
the piano trade papers.
Presto produces results for its advertisers. It does not ask the advertisers to
pay for waste paper or mere bulk. It covers the field, and its advertising rates are
as low as any trade paper, with anything like the same circulation, can accept.
PRESTO
The American Music Trade Weekly
417 So. Dearborn St.
CHICAGO
Carries Advertising For More Live Piano Manufacturers Than Any Other Trade Paper
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/
24
THE BUSINESS
OF PIANO TUNING
(Continued from page 11.)
Piano owners are commencing to respond to the
idea that, after all, a piano is only a stringed instru-
ment, and as such it must, in the natural course of
events, be tuned several times a year. It is now a
well-established fact that the public has taken on a
more favorable attitude toward tuning.
Public Response.
We have no less an authority than G. Brownell, in
charge of the tuning department of Lyon & Healy's,
tMat there is no question but that the attitude of the
public towards tuning has changed greatly in the
last two or three years. That the demand for tuning
is on the increase there can be no doubt, as the num-
ber or independent tuners has increased to a greater
extent in the last two years than was ever known of
before. It would be a difficult matter to estimate
how much of an increase in the demand for tuning
has taken place since the N. A. of P. T. Inc.j began
to work on the proposition of building up the tun-
ing business, but we will submit the following figures,
taken from the classified telephone directory in Chi-
cago, covering a period of ten years, and it will serve
to give an idea of the change that had taken place
in the minds of the piano owners towards piano tun-
ing.
Increase of Tuners.
In 1914 the classified telephone directory of Chi-
cago contained the names of 19 independent tuners.
In 1917 there were 25, an increase of six in three
years. In 1920 the number of independent tuners
had jumped to 36, an increase of eleven tuners in
the same length of time. In 1924 a still greater ad-
vance was achieved, as the number of independent
tuners listed reached the sum of 52, a gain of sixteen
tuners in the three years, and a net gain of 33 for
the last ten years.
It must not be construed that there are only 52
independent tuners in Chicago, as we know of quite
a number who are not listed in the telephone direc-
tory.
The marked increase in the number of independent
tuners operating in Chicago is an indication of what
is taking place throughout the entire country. The
number of employed or salaried tuners has fallen off
to some extent. Many piano dealers have discovered
the illusionary value of free tuning, or the promise
thereof, and realizing that it is both unnecessary and
very expensive, have discontinued the policy.
Today the tuner is retained by the piano merchant
to take care of complaints, etc., much the same as a
law firm is retained to take care of litigations.
The Outlook.
The prospect for future business confronting the
piano tuners of this country staggers the imagination.
No other line of business that we can think of shows
greater possibilities, comparatively speaking.
There are literally millions of dollars invested in
pianos in this country, and all of them should be
tuned at least twice a year, whereas at the present
time the average is about one tuning in four years.
Figured by experts, the average upkeep expense is
forty cents per piano per annum. Estimates on the
number of pianos in this country vary all the way
from 5,000,000 to 10,000,000. Assuming that there
are only five million pianos in the United States, we
may also assume that these pianos average $400.
That will show that there is $2,000,000,000 invested
in pianos.
On this investment the piano tuners are taking
down one-tenth of one per cent, which nets the mem-
bers of the tuning profession in this country $2,000,-
000. Two tunings a year, at a cost of $4.00 per tun-
ing, brings the upkeep expense on pianos up to $8.00
a year, which is not unreasonable. This would net
the tuning profession $40,000,000 per annum, or an
increase of $38,000,000 more than they are getting
out of the business at the present time.
These figures may, or may not, be correct, and we
may never be able to bring the public around to two
tunings a year. Nevertheless, there is a splendid
opportunity to increase the business and the prospects
are worth working for. The great resources of the
tuning business, as indicated by the above figures,
are possible to the members of the tuning profession,
provided they have the courage and ability to go
after it in a business like manner.
To Teach the Public.
Educational advertising will open up this great
storehouse of wealth, which has hitherto remained as
a locked or sealed-up mine. Individually the tuners
are helpless in the face of the adverse public opin-
ion that now exists concerning the value and need for
piano tuning. Educational advertising plus the liberal
distribution of great quantities of "care of the piano"
pamphlets, would affect public sentiment and bring
about a more favorable attitude towards the tuning
business and the piano tuner. It would open up
great fields of business activity that are now dormant.
National advertising is a large mouthful for the
piano tuners to bite off, as it will require a lot of
August 9, 1924.
THE DEATH OP BUSONI
Irreparable Loss to Music, but His Master Playing
Is Preserved in Welte-Mignon.
Ferruccio Busoni, Italy's gifted son, the greatest
pianist of that land of noted musicians, is gone, and
his loss is irreparable. To concert gpers the world
over his death will be deeply felt, for to them he
had become an institution.
But Busoni's musical personality still lives, pre-
served in the faithful records of the De Luxe Welte-
Mignon (Licensee) Library of Records. There it is
immortalized, a source of lasting comfort to his
admirers, who are found in every walk of life the
world over. For the art of the pianist is preserved
with as much fidelity today, through the ingenious
mechanism of the Welte-Mignon (Licensee) Repro-
duction Action, as the printing press has preserved
the great literary classics.
It was near Florence, in 1866, that this super-genius
of the pianoforte was born. His gift for music was
inherited, as both of his parents were musicians. He
was only 8 years old when he made his debut in
Vienna.
Busoni made many concert tours through both
hemispheres. He lived and taught in Helsingsfors,
Moscow, Berlin, Vienna, Zurich, and at one time
in Boston. Over fifty works have been composed
by him. What Busoni thought of the Welte-Mignon
(Licensee) was most aptly expressed in the follow-
ing words:
"The 'Welte-Mignon,' so to say a Cinematograph
of piano playing, is an invention of quite equal im-
portance, as surprising for mere amateurs, as it is
wonderful for the skilled musician. It will be of
great use for artists and through them, let us hope,
afford great pleasure to the general public."
It is a source of great satisfaction, indeed, to be
able to say that the magic playing of the great
Busoni will most certainly continue to "afford great
pleasure to the general public."
money to put on the kind of advertising that will be
effective. If we are to get under way with the adver-
tising in 1925, there will have to be some tall hustling
done between now and the first of the year. No at-
tempt will be made to put on the advertising until a
sufficient fund is assured even if it takes two years to
accumulate it.
T
HE commonest challenge by many advertisers concerns
the paper's circulation. It is with them a question
altogether of quantity. But the best things about piano
advertising, from the manufacturer's point of view, have other
arguments besides quantity.
In a trade paper quality circulation is more important than
quantity circulation, for bulk of circulation is not what sells pianos
at wholesale. Nevertheless, Presto is certain that in quantity, as
well as quality circulation, it will compare favorably with any of
the piano trade papers.
Presto produces results for its advertisers. It does not ask the advertisers to
pay for waste paper or mere bulk. It covers the field, and its advertising rates are
as low as any trade paper, with anything like the same circulation, can accept.
PRESTO
The American Music Trade Weekly
417 So. Dearborn St.
CHICAGO
Carries Advertising For More Live Piano Manufacturers Than Any Other Trade Paper
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).