Scan 67
Musical Courier 1895-12-25: Vol 31 Iss 825, 1895
37 lines. Read by computer on 26 September 2026. Printed page 68. See the scan on archive.org.
1small that such trade is very unsatisfactory, to say the least, and unprofitable. You know that years ago I made a new departure; having the capital and not knowing enough to go into Wall Street and speculating in stocks, as some do with their surplus capital, I adopted a system of opening branch houses in large cities and towns, placing my own managers with their assistants to conduct the business.
3Now, on every piano that goes out I make my wholesale and retail margin; every piano that goes out on instalments I hold a conditional contract or chattel mortgage for. Thus, you see, I am abundantly secured. You speak of my close attention to business. I do not see how I can run my factories and some fifteen branch houses, my other investments of property, bonds and mortgages, bank stocks otherwise. I seem to be made that way, and from my youth up have had to hustle, and suppose I will keep it up or retire as some do, and eventually die with dry rot.
5All during the past year I have kept my men employed, and a great deal of the time working extra time, both in my factories in New York and my large case factory in Leominster, Mass. Yours very truly,
7FREEDOM G. SMITH,
895 Fifth avenue, New York.
10The Hair of the Bow.
12FROM our infancy we have remarked that the horse is the friend of man, says the London Musical News. This homely proverb has special significance for the man who plays a bowed instrument. Happily the horse is not likely to become extinct, so that the string player need feel no uneasiness of the supply giving out. England, renowned as it is for the breeding of horses, could offer no material help by itself in supplying the hair suitable for the bow maker and repairer, nor, in fact, could any other countries save Russia and Scandinavia. Were it merely a question of the length of hair Spanish horses would be invaluable, but the supply of hair from the Peninsula is chiefly black, and this is less elastic and too coarse for any bow, save that of the double bass, the purpose of which it would serve admirably.
14Bow makers depend largely on Northern Europe for the required supply. Russia sends us vessels laden with nothing but horsehair, which is bought up eagerly by London merchants when it reaches here. Scandinavia exports a large quantity of the material. The writer, who has traveled almost the length and breadth of Norway, never by any chance saw a black horse. The hair is always light, flaxen, if not white, and very long, often reaching to the ground. The uses to which this commodity can be put are manifest. Upholsterers purchase largely, as do the merchants who supply the bow repairers, though the choice made by the latter must be a scrupulous one.
16The hair unraveled, the expert draws out the longest threads, the measurement of which is expected to be 32 to 35 inches. The reason for this is simple. If hair of the exact measurement of 25 1/2 inches required for the bow were employed the good would necessarily be bound in with the bad hair, whereas the additional length of 10 inches enables the repairer to cut away all uneven portions and still retain a sufficiency for his purpose. Short hair may be bought at a low price. This is used in the cheap common "sticks." Hair 40 inches in length is to be met with; being the most expensive it is not often used, on account of so much of it having to be wasted, for only one bow can be rehaired, notwithstanding the additional length. A bow cannot be rehaired with hair shorter than 32 inches, and any departure from this rule is sure to make itself felt in one way or another, perhaps in the bow failing to grip the strings evenly throughout its length.
18Hair containing flaw or inequality is usually inserted at the point. This eludes discovery, and this part of the bow being comparatively little used, the defect does not matter much. The sudden failure of the gripping power of the bow must not always be thus accounted for. The explanation is often this: the hair when placed under a microscope exhibits a continuous row of fine teeth that hold the rosin when applied. If the scales be worn off the surface, there remains nothing to hold the rosin, consequently the bow cannot bite the strings. A great deal of nonsense is spoken about the imperative reversal of the teeth when rehairing, so that the teeth, acting in opposition to each other, produce the same equality of the tone in the "up" as in the "down" stroke of the bow. This is fictitious, for the projections are so extraordinarily fine as to make no appreciable difference in the setting of the teeth.
20The writer has observed a bow repairer when selecting a thread deliberately choose a hair 6 cm the opposite end of the hank and clinch it to the one already held by the thumb and forefinger. This would seem to suggest the inversion process just referred to. It is not so, however, but the reason for this is probably owing to some inequality of thickness being discovered, the defaulting portion being as usual placed nearest the point, no matter at what end of the hank it may have been taken. At the root of a horse's tail the hair is thickest, at the opposite end it is thinnest. At the point of the bow extreme nicety is not always looked for, but from the nut onward perfect quality in the hair is imperative. For a violin bow a hank of 116 hairs is used; for the viola, 25 more become necessary; for the violoncello an additional 50 are used. The double bass, which contains short and coarse hairs, takes fewer strands.
22If the hair is unusually thin (the result often of the delicate constitution of the horse) the above rules cannot be followed. Increasing the number of hairs will not remedy the defect, for the hair of delicate horses being brittle, it frays, splits and snaps off in an aggravating manner, and the tone is thereby affected. Those accustomed to handling hanks of horse hair know by appearance whether it is good or not. Its merit, however, may be further tested by pressing the hair down forcibly with the thumb, with a view to see whether it yields easily. Another method is to select a hair and pull it out from the bow, archery fashion to an acute angle. Inferior hair will not stand this test. The good points of a bow are often lost through ignorance of treatment.
24A delicate, though not necessarily a weak, stick is severely handicapped when filled too full with hair; the opposite fault will materially weaken a strong bow through there being little or nothing to oppose it. Many an old-time player specially instructed the bow repairer to rehair the bow to suit his own style of performance. Gaviniés, the great French violinist, was very particular in this respect; he invariably played with a lightly haired bow, which doubtless favored his technique, but, it was said, at the expense of tone. The player of to-day looks for a bow containing a broad nut filled to the full with hair, and rightly so; for modern soli, accompanied with the full strength of the orchestra, are very different from those played in the time of Gaviniés, which had but the slightest of accompaniments.
26It frequently occurs that a bow is rehaired too short. This fault not only strains the nut by shifting it out of its place, but interferes with the action of the nut screw, which cannot grip the "eye," owing to its increased distance from the nut. This question is often put by the repairer, "Will you have the first or second quality of hair?" The difference in the expense is usually 6d. Considering the small number of times a bow requires rehairing in the course of the year, and the trifling payment for each repair, it is difficult to understand why the question should be asked at all; more inexplicable still to find that so many players avoid the extra expense of the first quality of hair by choosing that which is inferior to it. The destructive power of inferior hair is very great; it cuts like a saw and no strings can stand against it. In such case one always blames the strings, the bow never being suspected. The use, or rather the misuse, of the bow on the player's part will materially affect it. The hair should never be allowed to remain taut, but always relaxed when not in use, and when put down anywhere the bow should rest on the edge of the hair reverse to that which comes in contact with the strings, for this edge must always exhibit a clean surface, free from particles of dirt or dust of any kind.
28Pease Progress.
30THE new Pease grand made a most favorable impression in Chicago, where it was used in the concert given by Mr. Charles Wilbur McDonald, a remarkably clever young pianist and son of the vice-president of the Pease Piano Company. The instrument responded in every respect to the demands of the artist, and delighted all present by the singing quality, brilliancy and evenness of its tone. It came in for a great many enthusiastic commendations from the number of musicians present, and its début in the Western metropolis may be reckoned as successful as that chronicled on its first appearance in this city.
32The introduction of this new Pease grand marks an important step in the progress of the company. Had the instrument been inferior in quality, had extravagant claims (that could not have been backed up by the instrument itself) been made for it, had it not been the result of long and devoted work toward its development, it might not, and probably would not, have done the Pease Piano Company any good, even if it had done no harm, but coming as it did, a piano of striking qualities, with the manufacturers willing to let it show its merits without extravagant praise and claims in advance of its hearing, and making the success it did with a critical public, it certainly marked the progress of the Pease piano to the ranks of those claiming recognition on artistic grounds.
34The Pease Piano Company has for the past year or more been making remarkable progress in every respect. This is seen in the improved product and the development of the business—the two ways in which progress can best be shown.
36Of the improvement in the Pease pianos so much has been already said that but little more is necessary. They are essentially modern pianos in every respect—modern in quality, modern in appearance. They embody points of excellence that make them particularly valuable to the dealer. They are of a quality to receive the sincere admiration of the musician. Their durability has been demon-
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.