Presto
Issue: 1929 2219 - Page 9
February 9, 1929
ODD TRADE PHASES
ARE DISCLOSED
Observant Men in New York Piano Factories
Aware of the Scarcity of Competent Piano
Repairmen in Many Places—Other
Trade Facts in the City.
PRESTO-TIMES
We Offer
For Your Approval
and
Acceptance
By HENRY MAC MULLAN.
No piano man will doubt the value of assured serv-
ice for piano owners in promoting sales. It is only
the very blind piano dealer who considers the piano
sale the closing of the incident; that interest in the
customer and the instrument is ended when the cus-
tomer signs on the dotted line.
The piano dealer who takes such an attitude is
unfitted for a place in the trade and the assurances
are that a dealer of that kind does not achieve growth
in his business. The piano house which has Service
a dependable factor in its business is usually the one
which has the greatest appeal to the public.
Considering the obvious correctness of the fore-
going it is strange that some dealers are helpless to
service pianos' they have sold even though they are
willing to do so. The piano repairman has become
a scarce individual in a great many places to the
detriment of the pianos and the loss of prestige of the
dealers whose concern it is to preserve their useful-
ness.
Hard to Get Repair Men on the Job.
E. Leins, president of the Leins Piano Company
of 304 West Forty-second street, New York, who is
widely known as conducting a great piano repair
business in connection with manufacturing new
pianos, recently said that piano dealers throughout
the country had now for some years past been finding
great difficulty in getting repair men on the spot. He
himself had sent men out as far as Western Ohio and
up into the Northwest corner of New York state and
to all points in Pennsylvania in recent years to do
repair jobs. The question resolved itself into this;
that experienced piano repair men were not numerous
outside of the great piano manufacturing centers, or
the great cities. This problem was old, and it did
not seem to improve any during the last few years.
Good tuners throughout the country—that is tuners
who could also do a slight repair job—seem to be
very scarce indeed. Mr. Leins is one of the greatest
expert repair men in the East, he understands action
regulating, is an expert tuner and what he doesn't
know about putting an old piano in condition is
hardly worth the telling.
New Yorkers Never Despair.
The principal reason why piano men in New York,
Providence, Boston, Newark and Philadelphia are
selling more pianos than they did three months ago
is their faith in their business. Of the five great cities
mentioned, New York was probably the hardest hit
during the dull two years which belong now with the
dodo and the pterodactyl. New Yorkers as a class
are spirited people, who believe that hope puts us in
a working mood but despair untunes the active
powers.
W. P. Haines & Co. Trade.
T. Linton Floyd-Jones, president of W. P. Haines
& Co., Inc., 396 Fifth avenue, New York, is getting
encouraged over sales. "We are getting our share
of the business," he remarked this week. The Brad-
bury and the W. P. Haines & Co. pianos have always
been good sellers and the demand of buyers prac-
tically for pianos of the meritorious kind places them
in an advantageous position at this time.
Ditson Represents Many Makes.
I found the Charles H. Ditson, Inc.. store at 810-12
East 34th street, New York city, a busy place when
I called there on Monday of this week. H. L. Hunt,
the manager, when asked what line of small instru-
ments, or larger ones, the house was handling, said,
"We sell the York baud instruments, manufac-
tured at Grand Rapids, Mich.; the Martin banjos and
guitars of Elkhart, Ind.; the Pedler clarinets; Ludwig
& Ludwig drums, Chicago; the Vega banjos, Boston,
Mass.; the Victor saxophone; the U. S. A. band in-
struments; Lyon & Healy harps, Chicago, 111.; the
Bostonian band instruments; the Victor band instru-
ments; Victor clarinets and Bostonian clarinets." Mr.
Hunt admitted that business could be better but that
they were not neglecting to keep their fires burning.
Good Wurlitzer Trade in the East.
J. C. Henderson, wholesale piano representative in
the East for the Wurlitzer. was found at his office
on the mezzanine floor of 120 West 42d street, this
week, busy and happy. Mr. Henderson said he had
been successful in making sales in January—what he
called "a fairly good January"—and February, so
far, had also started out well. But he admitted he
Henderson has swept this eastern country as far
(Continued on page 16)
Two New OVERTON K. D.'s
The OVERTON K. D. No. 520
W
HEN it comes to knocked-
down benches, the piano
industry unhesitatingly turns to the Overton K. D.
No other knocked-down bench has ever equaled The Overton in
quality, style, color, finish or STABILITY—regardless of price.
Now comes an even better Overton K. D.—With a new STEEL
corner construction, absolutely insuring rigid, life-long stability.
These new Overton K. D.'s are offered in two styles; No. 520 as
shown and in a Louis XVI Model—No. 521.
The top size of each model is 14"x34". For small uprights and
grands the height is lS l / 2 ; for regular uprights and players, 19y 2 "
and both models have music compartments and player lifts.
Either model may be had in Mahogany or Walnut with wood
tops or with upholstered tops as shown.
Packed in dust proof, mar p r o o f cartons, these new benches
weigh but 20 pounds which means a saving in freight of 65% and an
80% saving in storage space over the average set up bench.
No. 520 With
With
With
No. 521 With
With
With
Upholstered Top
Mahogany Top
Walnut Top
Upholstered Top
Mahogany Top
Walnut Top
$6.50
6.00
6.35
7.50
7.00
7.35
These prices are for a
total of 6. For 25 to 50
deduct 50c -per bench.
For 50 deduct
75c
per bench F. O. B.
Chicago
Use the convenient order blank with confidence based on the
knowledge that your absolute satisfaction is guaranteed on a money
back basis.
TONK MANUFACTURING COMPANY
1912 Lewis Street, Chicago, Illinois
TONK MFG. CO.,
ORDER BLANK
Date
Chicago, 111.
Gentlemen: Please ship promptly the following" Benches . Freight •
Quantity
Style
No.
Height
Base to be Finished
Mahogany, Oak, Walnut
Name
Address
Polished
or Satin
Express •
Specify Top Color Preference
(If Wood Top Specify Shade)
Buyer
City
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/
ODD TRADE PHASES
ARE DISCLOSED
Observant Men in New York Piano Factories
Aware of the Scarcity of Competent Piano
Repairmen in Many Places—Other
Trade Facts in the City.
PRESTO-TIMES
We Offer
For Your Approval
and
Acceptance
By HENRY MAC MULLAN.
No piano man will doubt the value of assured serv-
ice for piano owners in promoting sales. It is only
the very blind piano dealer who considers the piano
sale the closing of the incident; that interest in the
customer and the instrument is ended when the cus-
tomer signs on the dotted line.
The piano dealer who takes such an attitude is
unfitted for a place in the trade and the assurances
are that a dealer of that kind does not achieve growth
in his business. The piano house which has Service
a dependable factor in its business is usually the one
which has the greatest appeal to the public.
Considering the obvious correctness of the fore-
going it is strange that some dealers are helpless to
service pianos' they have sold even though they are
willing to do so. The piano repairman has become
a scarce individual in a great many places to the
detriment of the pianos and the loss of prestige of the
dealers whose concern it is to preserve their useful-
ness.
Hard to Get Repair Men on the Job.
E. Leins, president of the Leins Piano Company
of 304 West Forty-second street, New York, who is
widely known as conducting a great piano repair
business in connection with manufacturing new
pianos, recently said that piano dealers throughout
the country had now for some years past been finding
great difficulty in getting repair men on the spot. He
himself had sent men out as far as Western Ohio and
up into the Northwest corner of New York state and
to all points in Pennsylvania in recent years to do
repair jobs. The question resolved itself into this;
that experienced piano repair men were not numerous
outside of the great piano manufacturing centers, or
the great cities. This problem was old, and it did
not seem to improve any during the last few years.
Good tuners throughout the country—that is tuners
who could also do a slight repair job—seem to be
very scarce indeed. Mr. Leins is one of the greatest
expert repair men in the East, he understands action
regulating, is an expert tuner and what he doesn't
know about putting an old piano in condition is
hardly worth the telling.
New Yorkers Never Despair.
The principal reason why piano men in New York,
Providence, Boston, Newark and Philadelphia are
selling more pianos than they did three months ago
is their faith in their business. Of the five great cities
mentioned, New York was probably the hardest hit
during the dull two years which belong now with the
dodo and the pterodactyl. New Yorkers as a class
are spirited people, who believe that hope puts us in
a working mood but despair untunes the active
powers.
W. P. Haines & Co. Trade.
T. Linton Floyd-Jones, president of W. P. Haines
& Co., Inc., 396 Fifth avenue, New York, is getting
encouraged over sales. "We are getting our share
of the business," he remarked this week. The Brad-
bury and the W. P. Haines & Co. pianos have always
been good sellers and the demand of buyers prac-
tically for pianos of the meritorious kind places them
in an advantageous position at this time.
Ditson Represents Many Makes.
I found the Charles H. Ditson, Inc.. store at 810-12
East 34th street, New York city, a busy place when
I called there on Monday of this week. H. L. Hunt,
the manager, when asked what line of small instru-
ments, or larger ones, the house was handling, said,
"We sell the York baud instruments, manufac-
tured at Grand Rapids, Mich.; the Martin banjos and
guitars of Elkhart, Ind.; the Pedler clarinets; Ludwig
& Ludwig drums, Chicago; the Vega banjos, Boston,
Mass.; the Victor saxophone; the U. S. A. band in-
struments; Lyon & Healy harps, Chicago, 111.; the
Bostonian band instruments; the Victor band instru-
ments; Victor clarinets and Bostonian clarinets." Mr.
Hunt admitted that business could be better but that
they were not neglecting to keep their fires burning.
Good Wurlitzer Trade in the East.
J. C. Henderson, wholesale piano representative in
the East for the Wurlitzer. was found at his office
on the mezzanine floor of 120 West 42d street, this
week, busy and happy. Mr. Henderson said he had
been successful in making sales in January—what he
called "a fairly good January"—and February, so
far, had also started out well. But he admitted he
Henderson has swept this eastern country as far
(Continued on page 16)
Two New OVERTON K. D.'s
The OVERTON K. D. No. 520
W
HEN it comes to knocked-
down benches, the piano
industry unhesitatingly turns to the Overton K. D.
No other knocked-down bench has ever equaled The Overton in
quality, style, color, finish or STABILITY—regardless of price.
Now comes an even better Overton K. D.—With a new STEEL
corner construction, absolutely insuring rigid, life-long stability.
These new Overton K. D.'s are offered in two styles; No. 520 as
shown and in a Louis XVI Model—No. 521.
The top size of each model is 14"x34". For small uprights and
grands the height is lS l / 2 ; for regular uprights and players, 19y 2 "
and both models have music compartments and player lifts.
Either model may be had in Mahogany or Walnut with wood
tops or with upholstered tops as shown.
Packed in dust proof, mar p r o o f cartons, these new benches
weigh but 20 pounds which means a saving in freight of 65% and an
80% saving in storage space over the average set up bench.
No. 520 With
With
With
No. 521 With
With
With
Upholstered Top
Mahogany Top
Walnut Top
Upholstered Top
Mahogany Top
Walnut Top
$6.50
6.00
6.35
7.50
7.00
7.35
These prices are for a
total of 6. For 25 to 50
deduct 50c -per bench.
For 50 deduct
75c
per bench F. O. B.
Chicago
Use the convenient order blank with confidence based on the
knowledge that your absolute satisfaction is guaranteed on a money
back basis.
TONK MANUFACTURING COMPANY
1912 Lewis Street, Chicago, Illinois
TONK MFG. CO.,
ORDER BLANK
Date
Chicago, 111.
Gentlemen: Please ship promptly the following" Benches . Freight •
Quantity
Style
No.
Height
Base to be Finished
Mahogany, Oak, Walnut
Name
Address
Polished
or Satin
Express •
Specify Top Color Preference
(If Wood Top Specify Shade)
Buyer
City
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).