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PRESTO PUBLISHING CO.
Publishers
417 So. Dearborn St.
Chicago, 111.
The American Music Trade Journal
Editor
-ed as second-class matter Jan. 29, 1896, at the
(flee, Chicago, 111., under Act of March 3, 1879.
iption, $1.25 a year; 10 months, $1.00; 6 months,
.ign, $3.00. Payable in advance. No extra charge
>d States possessions, Cuba and Mexico. Rates
rtising on application.
1929
Items of news and other matter are solicited and If of
general interest to the music trade will be paid for at
space rates. Usually piano merchants or salesmen In the
smaller cities are the best occasional correspondents, and
their assistance is invited.
Payment is not accepted for matter printed in the edi-
torial or news columns of Presto-Times.
Where half-tones are made the actual cost of produc-
tion will be charged if of commercial character or other
than strictly news interest.
When electrotypes are sent for publication it is re-
quested that their subjects and senders be carefully indi-
cated.
Forms close at noon on Thursday preceding date of
publication. Latest news matter and telegraphic com-
munications should be in not later than 11 o'clock on
that day. Advertising copy should be in hand before
Tuesday, 5 p. m., before publication day to insure pre-
ferred position. Full page display copy should be in hand
by Tuesday noon preceding publication day. Want ad-
vertisements for current week, to insure classification
should be in by Wednesday noon.
Address all communications for the editorial or business
departments to PRESTO PUBLISHING CO., 417 South
Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
The last form of Presto-Times goes to press at 11 a. m.
Thursday preceding publication day. Any news trans-
piring after that hour cannot be expected in the current
issue. Nothing received at the office that is not strictly
news of importance can have attention after 9 a. m. of
Thursday. If they concern the interests of manufactur-
ers or dealers such items will appear the issue following.
CHICAGO, DECEMBER 15, 1929
FIRMS THAT ENDURE
It Jo. not require very keen observation on the part of the
public to i,. te what firms will eventually outlive their rivals. The
survival of firm, like the health of an individual, is a matter of
rugged com uiance. The resemblance of a firm to an individual is
not slight ev. >ugh to be accidental. In fact, the firm generally takes
on the characteristics of its leader, whether that leader be the presi-
dent, the general manager or the vice-president. No reckless popu-
laii/er can make a firm endure. No change in the attitude of a firm's
colleagues can kill a company that has a firm hold upon the public's
friendliness; because a trade that has been built up on good service
with an excellent product can not be taken away.
THE PIANO AND CULTURE
While the United States is unquestionably the most democratic
nation in the world, in spirit at least, there are many levels of cul-
ture which, however, a free people will not allow to be spoken of as
caste. These levels in the great cities may be separated by one block,
while in the country the backward or forward sections may embrace
half a state or two or three states in a group. The more progressive
sections have high schools and colleges galore and the highest de-
grees of culture are found in the regions where piano music prevails.
The medium degrees of culture exist in places where a crease in the
trousers is more important than education, where the wise-crack is
considered the sign of sophistication and where jokes at the expense
of mothers-in-law still bring a snicker. The lowest degrees—the abso-
lute lack of regard for the rights of society—are not confined to the
poor or the slum sections, but prevail among browbeating persons
some of whom have rather large incomes, yet would not recognize
good manners when practiced in their presence. Appreciation of
piano music or the better operas is rarely found among this type.
THIS CHANGING WORLD
All of the recent speeches at the Piano Club of Chicago and at
other meetings of piano men throughout the United States have
dwelt upon the changes that have come to the music business or to
efforts to make still further changes. Some truth and much phil- f
osophy have been spread before the listeners for their enlightenment,
if not for their delectation. One of the deepest subjects, just toucher!
upon by Paul B. Klugh, was "The Mystery of Radio," and Mr. Klugb
gave it up as a mystery beyond human comprehension.
Another mystery, which is nearer solution, is why children call
play the piano fairly well after a few short lessons—play better than
when the long, tedious drills were the method of teaching, and catch
REASON FOR FINE
MATHUSHEK TONE
Exclusive Method of Bushing Used in Mathushek
Construction Is Explained Here.
the spirit of music besides. And fall in love with piano playing, in-
stead of regarding the task as a tedious bore.
There seem to be two orders of being in the world—the self-
moved and whatever is moved by another. Philosophy knows self-
movement as the ultimate explanation of the world of change. The
olvl maxim, "If you want work surely done, do it yourself," may now
be modified to read, "If you want to see any movement started, start
it yourself," for motion in human affairs implies initiation. Reduced
t••> everyday language, the maxim is, "Get busy."
FOLLOWING THE LEADER
The piano trade has gone through a period when leadership was
needed—the kind of leading that is done by setting an example of
carrying on and on. Good leadership recognizes that a sense of
subordination is the weakening of initiative, so the firms and indi-
viduals who have led have done nothing which might dispirit those
who were already getting blue, but like a shipwrecked crew have
triumphed by sharing work and responsibility. Resolute will and
inspiring example, by showing natures indestructible in partial, de-
feat, have won the day. Now the piano business is so far on the
high road to prosperity that no accessory proof of the fact is neces-
sary, and the man who would make a contradictory assertion would
be sent home from school as a bad boy.
PERSUADING THE CUSTOMER
The mentality of the salesman is likely to be a perplexing puzzle
to the owner of the piano or radio store. However, there is one type
of salesman that is a little harder to reduce to systematic work than
others—the fellow who depends on his blandishments to interest cus-
tomers. This type of salesman starts out with the idea that all cus-
tomers are susceptible to suggestion. Of course, they are, but he is
bound to fail if he thinks he can persuade them along the definite line
he has prepared to shoot at them. He fails because he doesn't give
the customer credit for possessing rational insight into his drift. Old
newspaper reporters get a great kick out of watching a master crimi-
nal lawyer develop a line of prosecution or defense and can guess far
in advance of the general audience in a courtroom just why the attor-
ney is laying such a queer foundation for his case. The customer,
frequently, is of the type of the veteran criminal court reporter—he
sees through the foxy salesman's plans long before the trap in the
plan is sprung. The more successful salesman does not consider it
necessary to be foxy. He doesn't present himself armored for argu-
ment, but somehow he seems to know in advance the actual way
things will go.
swelling and contraction of the usual pin block due
to climatic changes, and for this reason it is a proven
fact that the Mathushek stays in tune longer.
To enable dealers to see with their own eyes the
superiority of this bushing, the Mathushek Piano
Manufacturing Company is distributing sample cards
showing side by side the bushing commonly used
and the Mathushek exclusive bushing, both driven
into place on a tuning pin as they appear in a fin-
ished instrument. The fragility of the common bush-
ing and its failure to grip the tuning pin tightly are
contrasted with the bull-dog grip which the Mathu-
shek bushing maintains on the tuning pin, and the
solidity of the bushing itself.
One of many reasons for Mathushek tone nad dura-
bility is the exclusive bushing used on the Mathushek
piano. This is a rock maple end wood bushing which
is forced into the Mathushek extra heavy plate under
heavy pressure. A firm hold on the tuning pins is
thus assured.
In keeping with the Mathushek policy of care-
fully planning' even the smaller units of construction
much thought is given also to the design of the tuning
A fine piano is like a gilt-edged bond. It pays for
pins. They are so made as not to be subject to the itself in twenty years in life dividends.
DESIGNING SOUND MACHINES
Prof. Leon Theremin, working in his laboratory in
New York, is improving his musical instrument which
operates on a well-known radio principle and emits
tones like a 'cello when the hands are waved before
it, has found a way to make his device sound like an
organ, a violin, a saxophone, an English horn or the
human voice. The "multiple-tone" machine in prin-
ciple is said to be exactly like the present Theremin,
but having a number of "radio oscillator" circuits
which make the necessary overtone frequencies to re-
produce the "timbre" of the instrument to be imi-
tated. The tone is changed by the operator from
"saxophone" to "violin," or vice versa, by turning a
small knob on the control board of the "multiple-
tone" device.
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