Presto

PRESTO
Presto
some day give way to a larger instrument of
U'-.dreamt of power and beauty. Much less
could it have been believed that some day
would appear an instrument capable of being
operated by unseen power, and reproducing
accurately the performances of the greatest
pianists that ever lived.
All that has come about since Pepys' day.
THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY
Published Every Saturday at 417 South Dearborn The "espinette" has long been forg-otten save
Street, Chicago, Illinois.
as a curio of antiquity. And the piano itself
C. A. D A N I E L L and F R A N K D. ABBOTT
Editors
has apparently reached the highest point of
Telephcnes. Local and Long Distance, Harrison 234
perfection. Nevertheless, within a week, a
Private Phones to all Departments. Cable Address (Com-
mercial Cable Co.'s Code), " P R E S T O , " Chicago.
Boston inventor has proclaimed one more
step
in the piano—the possibility of add-
Bntered as second-class matter Jan. 29, 1896, at the
Post Office. Chicago. Illinois, under Act of March 3. 1879. ing the pipe organ effects to the in-
But
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1; Foreign, $4. strument of hammer and string.
Payable in advance. No extra charge in United States
there
is
not
a
hint
that
even
within
future
possessions, Cuba and Mexico. Rates for advertising on
application.
years covering a span as long- as has gone
Items of news and other matter are solicited and if since Pepys bought his espinette, and told
of general interest to the music trade will be paid for
at space rates. Usually piano merchants or salesmen about in his quaint diary, will there come an
in the smaller cities are the best occasional corre- instrument to supplant the piano. The piano
spondents, and their assistance is invited.
stays.
Forms close at noon every Thursday. News mat-
ter should be in not later than eleven o'clock on the
same day. Advertising copy should be in hand before
Tuesday, five p. m., to insure preferred position. Full
page display copy should be in hand by Monday noon
preceding publication day. Want advs. for current
week, to insure classification, must not be later than
Wednesday noon.
Address all communications for the editorial or business
departments to PRESTO PUBLISHING CO., 417 South
Dearborn Street, Chicago. III.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1925.
THE PIANO STAYS
In an article on some piano sales, by a vet-
eran Chicago dealer to famous citizens of the
last generation, some interesting details were
told in last week's Presto. In some respects.
the recital recalls one of the entries in the
deathless "Diary of Samuel Pepys." The quaint
Englishman of nearly three hundred years ago
was an ardent music lover, and he seemed to
find great satisfaction in playing upon various
instruments. In his remarkable record of
events in his day. there are frequent refer-
ences to inventions in the line of music, and
on July 15, 1668. he wrote:
"At noon is brought home the espinette I
bought the other day of Howard; cost me
£5."
Probably the little "espinette," which cost
about twenty dollars, was as tine an instru-
ment in that far away period of time as the
splendid Steimvay grand which the salesman
interviewed in last week's Presto sold to the
late Victor Lawson, or the piano of the same
kind that went to the home of the late Mar-
shall Field.
The "espinette" was the forerunner of the
modern piano. It was a small harpsichord at
that time, we are told in a footnote to the
Pepys journal, "called in England a spinet."
And the footnote adds that "the name arose
no doubt from the artificial thorns used to
strike the wires, for which pieces of quills
were afterward substituted."
Probably, too, at the time Pepys made his
purchase, he was told of what wonderful
things the little instrument was possible, and
he believed that there never could come any
other musical instrument to excel it. It was
then about fifty years before Cristifori dreamt
out his percussion action which was doomed
to do away with the plectrum, and soon to
develop into the marvelously responsive
mechanism of today.
But no one, on the day when the espinette
was proudly deposited in the home of Pepys.
would have prophesied that the spinet mig-ht
THE PIANO-ORGAN
Such particulars as are available concerning
the device of Mr. John Hays Hammond, of
Boston, by which the piano is said to pro-
duce pipe organ effects, have appeared in
Presto. The item is an interesting- one in the
realm of science and invention even if not of
special industrial or trade importance. It
proves, at least, that the inventive spirit is at
work among lovers of the principal instrument
of music.
Mr. Hammond's device, as we understand
it. is so much of a deviation from customary
piano construction as to constitute almost a
new instrument. It is not an attachment of
any kind that may be adapted to the customary
piano, such as those by which Mr. L. M.
French, Mr. Bent, and others, transformed the
pleasing- music of the piano into the more or
less characteristic sounds of the harp, the
mandolin and—heaven save us—the bagpipe.
Mr. Hammond gives us a piano in which, by
means of a series of revolving slats, organ
tones may be simulated. The instrument is so
constructed, also, as to produce an augmented
volume of sound which the rapidly turning-
slats break into rhythmic waves, destroying
the percussion effect in so great measure as to
produce the smooth and liquid quality of the
organ.
The revolving slats are controlled by a
fourth pedal, and the invention is attracting
much attention. But, judging by efforts to
give to the piano effects not of the piano, the
new instrument will not, probably, make any
change in the hold upon the public of the in-
strument which, for well on to two hundred
years, has been the chief source of home en-
tertainment and the highest interpreter of the
great geniuses in the world of musical com-
position.
In some unaccountable way the writer of
the article, in last week's Presto, about the
piano output abroad, managed to get the
figures badly confused. What he meant to
say was, quoting Mr. Charles Stanley, that
Germany turns out approximately 200,000
pianos annually, England 110,000, and France
35,000. These figures are pretty nearly right.
Of course few, who are at all posted on the
subject, could fail to see the error in any such
statement as that France is producing more
pianos than England and Germany combined.
September 5, 1925.
The recovery of German industries is one of
the marvels, and in her piano factories the
surprise is no less than in most of the others.
The correction here made is, therefore, im-
portant.
* * *
We are enabled to promise a continuation
of the instructive articles on piano tuning and
care by Mr. H. L. Peltier. There have been
numerous requests for Mr. Peltier's articles,
since they were discontinued several months
back. The expert harmonizer and technical
writer is now ready to resume his articles
and they will appear in an early issue of
Presto, and continue through the winter
season.
* * *
Small pipe organs for homes appear to be
gaining considerable headway. Organ manu-
facturers are experimenting and will even-
tually produce the very thing the trade and
public want to respond to a developing de-
mand. Nothing yet has quite filled the void
made by the death of the "parlor organ."
* * *
The piano industry is displaying signs of
a deep concern about the "Cooper patents"
which, as set forth in a recent issue of Presto,
are in control of the United Piano Corpora-
tion. The claims concern grand piano-player
adaptation.
* * *
Piano salesmanship implies the ability to
talk. But talking alone never sold even a
fiddle string.
30 YEARS AGO IN THE TRADE
From the Files of Presto
(September 5, 1895.)
"The piano business," said a dealer to a New York
"Sun" reporter, "has had the bottom knocked out of
it by this bicycle craze You don't see the connec-
tion between bicycles and pianos? Well, if you were
a dealer in pianos you would quickly discover it."
The bicycle continues to encroach upon the space
belonging to pianos in the warerooms. The H. M.
Brainard Co., of Cleveland, contemplates securing the
agency of a good "bike" and pushing it this fall.
Many smaller houses have already put wheels into
their ware-rooms.
The first meeting of the Piano Salesmen's Asso-
ciation will be held in the Kimball Hall, Chicago, on
the 18th inst. Several subjects will be brought up
for discussion, among them the advisability of en-
larging the organization so as to admit to their ranks
small goods and sheet music men.
The Wabash avenue elevated "loop" in Chicago, is
not yet definitely settled. The fight between the rail-
way officials and the dissenting property holders has
grown hotter every day, finally crystallizing into the
formation of a company which seeks to build a loop
for itself.
20 YEARS AQ0 THIS WEEK
(From Presto, September 7, 1905.)
Though it is said that care kills cats, it will never
hurt pianos, and it often happens that lack of it kills
piano sales. Keep the stock looking right unless you
are fixing for a "special sale of shop-worns."
Jupiter is now credited with seven moons and is
presumed to be inhabited by a race of poets, but Ben
Janssen is satisfied to remain on the poor old Earth.
An advertisement in a Chicago daily paper says
"a young lady is desirous of selling her piano." This
may be really a maiden effort, but we think it is our
old friend, the widow's effort, in a new guise.
The automobile has finally found its place in the
piano trade. Presto has more than once referred to
the employment of the modern machines as used by
retailers in selling pianos, and in several instances
illustrations have been given of the giant trucks
introduced in some of the large cities by pushing
concerns
The Smith & Nixon Piano Co.'s warerooms, 268
Wabash avenue, Chicago, William Riggs, manager,
blossoms out with a new entrance. Formerly the
store was entered from the side of the entrance hall,
but this week that partition has been torn away and
the caller now enters from the street direct.
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/