Presto
Issue: 1927 2113 - Page 8
PRESTO-TIMES
PHILOSOPHY OF THE
PIANO BUSINESS
Chance Interview with E. W. Furbush, of the
Haddorff Piano Co. Suggests Basic
Cause of Some Discontent.
It isn't often that tlic western manager of the sales
for the Haddorff Piano Co. gives way to the oppor-
tunity of a trade paper interview. And while 'there
could scarcely be a less fruitful source of anything
like trade "gossip,".Mr. Furbush usually says some-
thing worth while, if he talks at all. That's why
Presto-Times recalls the following, spoken by the
Haddorff pusher one day last week when he was
asked the stereotyped question about things in gen-
eral:
"Sometimes it seems," said Mr. Furbush, "that a
tendency with piano men, from manufacturer to re-
tailer, is to think of their business in terms of the
poets. They appear to think that it must have wings
January 29, 1927.
and belong to something less real and stern than
other lines of industry and trade. And, in conse-
quence, should trade seem a little dull they bemoan
the condition as if someone that was dear to them
had died. But it also happens 'that nothing is even
in danger of any disaster unless the men who com-
plain themselves make it so.
"As. a matter of fact," continued Mr. Furbush,
"conditions in the piano trade depend upon the piano
as much as anything. If the line is a good one, of
the kind that sustains its dealers as well as itself,
by adhering to good business, there must always be
business enough. The piano is as staple a commod-
ity as anything you can name. And, so far as the
Haddorff is concerned, and in my own experience,
while it is against my policy to do much talking, we
have nothing at all to complain of. Our dealers are
happy and why not ourselves, also? We are, and the
secret, if 'there is any, is in keeping busy on the out-
side and so keeping the factories busy on the inside."
Pretty good philosophy. And no one could say it
better or more understanding^ than Mr. Furbush,
whose acquaintance in the trade is as wide as any
other in the piano business—if in fact not even more
extensive than any other. Pity all piano men can't
imbibe his ideas concerning trade conditions.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENT DEFINED.
Newman Bros.
Grands and Uprights
Guarantee
Quality, Profit and
Satisfaction
Newman Bros. Go.
816 Dix St.
Eat, 1879
CHICAGO
The music trade may be interested in learning the
definition of musical instrument as propounded by the
government at Washington.
According to those
qualified to speak on the subject at Washington, the
definition given was that "A musical instrument is an
article capable of being played upon by a person who
is capable of playing such an instrument." This defi-
nition or decision was given in response to a question
of the local customs appraiser. The decision further
stated that a musical instrument must embrace the
range of an octave.
THE
HARDMAN LINE
—a piano
for every customer's
pocketbook
You can meet all customers'
demands with the comprehensive
Hardman Line. There is a piano for
every pocketbook. Grands, Uprights,
Player and Reproducing Pianos.
Each comes in a wide price range.
The Hardman, Peck & Co. guar-
antee appears on every instrument.
Rich, mellow tone—beauty of
design—durability. Every Hardman,
Peck & Co. piano is a quality
instrument.
Write us for catalog and prices
Eighty-four Years of Fine Piano
Making
Made and Guaranteed by
BALDWINS IN BIG THEATERS.
Lubliner & Trinz Theaters, Inc., one of the largest
metropolitan chain of vaudeville picture houses, or-
dered six Baldwin pianos, model Ks, finished in ivory
for the Harding Theater, the new Belmont Theater,
and the Senate Theater, in Chicago. Two of these
beautiful instruments were shown in the display win-
dow of the Baldwin Piano Company's Chicago store.
There are now twenty-three Baldwins in the twenty-
five theaters of the Lubliner & Trinz circuit.
433 FIFTH AVE., NEW YORK
Makers of the World's Most Durable Piano—
the Hardman—Official Piano of the Metropoli-
tan Opera Company for Fifteen Years—
1911-1926
THE NECESSARY TUNER.
•THE HOUSE OF GRANDS'
Concert, Parlor and Small Grands
Period and Modern Designs
Without the tuner where would you be
With all your shrewd dexterity;
Now pianos that are not in tune
You could not sell to 'the man in the moon,
And anyone on the earth beneath
You could not such a thing bequeath.
Schumann
PIANOS and PLAYER PIANOS
GRANDS and UPRIGHTS
Have no superiors in appearance, tone
power or other essentials of strictly
leaders in the trade.
You could not w r ith the best intent
Call it a musical instrument;
You might sell one to a jail or pen
To torture the prisoners now and then,
But humanity would step in there
And send the seller to the chair.
Manufacturers of the
Grand in Upright Form
Grand tone and quality in the Upright Piano
is exclusively Bush fsf Lane
Reproducing and Player Pianos—
Welte-Mignon (Licensee)
and Cecilian
Write for our Art Catalog
Busk & Lane
Piano Co.
Now tuners are needed in factory or shop
Without these same tuners you might as well stop.
And tuners are needed when pianos are sold
Or back you would gather them into the fold;
So tuners are needed for ever and aye,
And that is as long as a Weaver will play.
So, if you want music and not merely noise,
Just call up the Weaver for one of the boys,
From chaos get order and harmony too
By calling in one who knows just what to do;
To bring jarring notes into one sweet accord,
Is surely a thing anyone can afford.
—WM. C. BUSSEE, Tuner for Weaver Piano Co.,
York, Pa.
£. Leins Piano Co.
Makers of Pianos and
Player Pianos That Are
Established L e a d e r s
Correspondence from Reliable
Dealers Invited
Factory and Offices, 304 W. 42nd St.
NEW YORK
j
This Trade Mark Is oast
In the plate and also ap-
pears upon the fall board
of all genuine Schumann
Pianos, and all Infringe™
will be prosecuted. Beware
of Imitations such as Schu-
mann & Company, Schu-
mann A Son, and also
Shuman, as all stencil
shops, dealers and users of
pianos bearing a name in
Imitation of the name
Schumann with the Inten-
tion of deceiving the public
will be prosecuted to the
fullest extent of the law.
New Catalogue on Request.
Holland. Michigan
mi
Warning to Infringers
BRINKERHOFF
Grands
Schumann Piano Co.
W. K. VAN MATRE, President
Rockfctrd, III.
• Reproducing Grands
Player-Pianos
a n d Pianos
~
The Line That Sells Easily .
and Satisfies Always .
BRINKERHOFF PIANO CO.
711 Milwaukee Ave., CHICAGO, ILL.
W. PvHaines & Co.
Manufacturers or
BRADBURY. WEBSTER
W. P. HAINES & CO. *, •'.
Grand, Upright and Reproducing
Piano»
138th >Street.and Walton Avenue
NEW YORK
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/
PHILOSOPHY OF THE
PIANO BUSINESS
Chance Interview with E. W. Furbush, of the
Haddorff Piano Co. Suggests Basic
Cause of Some Discontent.
It isn't often that tlic western manager of the sales
for the Haddorff Piano Co. gives way to the oppor-
tunity of a trade paper interview. And while 'there
could scarcely be a less fruitful source of anything
like trade "gossip,".Mr. Furbush usually says some-
thing worth while, if he talks at all. That's why
Presto-Times recalls the following, spoken by the
Haddorff pusher one day last week when he was
asked the stereotyped question about things in gen-
eral:
"Sometimes it seems," said Mr. Furbush, "that a
tendency with piano men, from manufacturer to re-
tailer, is to think of their business in terms of the
poets. They appear to think that it must have wings
January 29, 1927.
and belong to something less real and stern than
other lines of industry and trade. And, in conse-
quence, should trade seem a little dull they bemoan
the condition as if someone that was dear to them
had died. But it also happens 'that nothing is even
in danger of any disaster unless the men who com-
plain themselves make it so.
"As. a matter of fact," continued Mr. Furbush,
"conditions in the piano trade depend upon the piano
as much as anything. If the line is a good one, of
the kind that sustains its dealers as well as itself,
by adhering to good business, there must always be
business enough. The piano is as staple a commod-
ity as anything you can name. And, so far as the
Haddorff is concerned, and in my own experience,
while it is against my policy to do much talking, we
have nothing at all to complain of. Our dealers are
happy and why not ourselves, also? We are, and the
secret, if 'there is any, is in keeping busy on the out-
side and so keeping the factories busy on the inside."
Pretty good philosophy. And no one could say it
better or more understanding^ than Mr. Furbush,
whose acquaintance in the trade is as wide as any
other in the piano business—if in fact not even more
extensive than any other. Pity all piano men can't
imbibe his ideas concerning trade conditions.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENT DEFINED.
Newman Bros.
Grands and Uprights
Guarantee
Quality, Profit and
Satisfaction
Newman Bros. Go.
816 Dix St.
Eat, 1879
CHICAGO
The music trade may be interested in learning the
definition of musical instrument as propounded by the
government at Washington.
According to those
qualified to speak on the subject at Washington, the
definition given was that "A musical instrument is an
article capable of being played upon by a person who
is capable of playing such an instrument." This defi-
nition or decision was given in response to a question
of the local customs appraiser. The decision further
stated that a musical instrument must embrace the
range of an octave.
THE
HARDMAN LINE
—a piano
for every customer's
pocketbook
You can meet all customers'
demands with the comprehensive
Hardman Line. There is a piano for
every pocketbook. Grands, Uprights,
Player and Reproducing Pianos.
Each comes in a wide price range.
The Hardman, Peck & Co. guar-
antee appears on every instrument.
Rich, mellow tone—beauty of
design—durability. Every Hardman,
Peck & Co. piano is a quality
instrument.
Write us for catalog and prices
Eighty-four Years of Fine Piano
Making
Made and Guaranteed by
BALDWINS IN BIG THEATERS.
Lubliner & Trinz Theaters, Inc., one of the largest
metropolitan chain of vaudeville picture houses, or-
dered six Baldwin pianos, model Ks, finished in ivory
for the Harding Theater, the new Belmont Theater,
and the Senate Theater, in Chicago. Two of these
beautiful instruments were shown in the display win-
dow of the Baldwin Piano Company's Chicago store.
There are now twenty-three Baldwins in the twenty-
five theaters of the Lubliner & Trinz circuit.
433 FIFTH AVE., NEW YORK
Makers of the World's Most Durable Piano—
the Hardman—Official Piano of the Metropoli-
tan Opera Company for Fifteen Years—
1911-1926
THE NECESSARY TUNER.
•THE HOUSE OF GRANDS'
Concert, Parlor and Small Grands
Period and Modern Designs
Without the tuner where would you be
With all your shrewd dexterity;
Now pianos that are not in tune
You could not sell to 'the man in the moon,
And anyone on the earth beneath
You could not such a thing bequeath.
Schumann
PIANOS and PLAYER PIANOS
GRANDS and UPRIGHTS
Have no superiors in appearance, tone
power or other essentials of strictly
leaders in the trade.
You could not w r ith the best intent
Call it a musical instrument;
You might sell one to a jail or pen
To torture the prisoners now and then,
But humanity would step in there
And send the seller to the chair.
Manufacturers of the
Grand in Upright Form
Grand tone and quality in the Upright Piano
is exclusively Bush fsf Lane
Reproducing and Player Pianos—
Welte-Mignon (Licensee)
and Cecilian
Write for our Art Catalog
Busk & Lane
Piano Co.
Now tuners are needed in factory or shop
Without these same tuners you might as well stop.
And tuners are needed when pianos are sold
Or back you would gather them into the fold;
So tuners are needed for ever and aye,
And that is as long as a Weaver will play.
So, if you want music and not merely noise,
Just call up the Weaver for one of the boys,
From chaos get order and harmony too
By calling in one who knows just what to do;
To bring jarring notes into one sweet accord,
Is surely a thing anyone can afford.
—WM. C. BUSSEE, Tuner for Weaver Piano Co.,
York, Pa.
£. Leins Piano Co.
Makers of Pianos and
Player Pianos That Are
Established L e a d e r s
Correspondence from Reliable
Dealers Invited
Factory and Offices, 304 W. 42nd St.
NEW YORK
j
This Trade Mark Is oast
In the plate and also ap-
pears upon the fall board
of all genuine Schumann
Pianos, and all Infringe™
will be prosecuted. Beware
of Imitations such as Schu-
mann & Company, Schu-
mann A Son, and also
Shuman, as all stencil
shops, dealers and users of
pianos bearing a name in
Imitation of the name
Schumann with the Inten-
tion of deceiving the public
will be prosecuted to the
fullest extent of the law.
New Catalogue on Request.
Holland. Michigan
mi
Warning to Infringers
BRINKERHOFF
Grands
Schumann Piano Co.
W. K. VAN MATRE, President
Rockfctrd, III.
• Reproducing Grands
Player-Pianos
a n d Pianos
~
The Line That Sells Easily .
and Satisfies Always .
BRINKERHOFF PIANO CO.
711 Milwaukee Ave., CHICAGO, ILL.
W. PvHaines & Co.
Manufacturers or
BRADBURY. WEBSTER
W. P. HAINES & CO. *, •'.
Grand, Upright and Reproducing
Piano»
138th >Street.and Walton Avenue
NEW YORK
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).