Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com ... · Messrs. Behr Bros. & Co. state that...

THE MUSICAL CRITIC AND TRADE REVIEW.July 5th, 1881. 166

England by the shipload. East of the Mississippi black walnut has almostentirely disappeared. We obtain it now from Iowa and Missouri, and thereis some in Arkansas. There is black walnut in Michigan and Tennessee, butthe supply in Ohio is nearly exhausted, and in a comparatively short time—perhaps ten years—it will be nearly all gone. As to what will take its placeit is hard to say. There is an increasing demand for mahogany now, andthat will probably come into greater U8e ; while there will be a greatervariety in the use of woods, and maple, ash and oak will be more generallyemployed. New York and Boston are large centres for consuming blackwalnut, and in Cincinnati, Chicago and Grand Rapids the furniture interestsare extensive.

" For furniture, black walnut is, next to mahogany, the best wood, aswhite oak and other woods have to be kept a very long time in order tobecome sufficiently seasoned. We buy here from a million to a million anda half feet of black walnut a year, while the entire receipts in the city are,speaking roughly, probably about six millions. The founder of this firm,John L. Brower, in 1817, was the first man to introduce black walnut intouse. He found great difficulty in inducing people to use it. Mahogany, inwhich the firm formerly exclusively dealt, was the fashion. People thoughtno native wood was good enough. The first black walnut was cut in thecentre or western part of this State and came down the Erie canal in logs.We used to get it from back of Newburg and Catskill ; then we went back toRochester and Oneida and the Genesee valley. Then Buffalo became alumber port and black walnut was bought along Lake Erie and in WesternPennsylvania. Michigan was entered next for black walnut. We were thefirst to sell Michigan pine, but people preferred the Genesee valley pine,which had a high reputation. Then Ohio became a source of black walnut,and now it is necessary to go west of the Mississippi. There is still a belt ofblack walnut country from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico. As thecountry is opened further west, the black walnut is rapidly cut off and findsa market in Western cities. It seems likely that mahogany will be used moreand more. The price of black walnut is from $90 to $100 a thousand, andof mahogany from $125 to $150. Tree-planting would1 be of little avail, fora tree requires from 50 to 100 years to attain a valuable size."

A Centre Street dealer said : " Black walnut has advanced $20 a thous-'and in the last three months. The supply is being exhausted and largequantities of the best quality are being shipped to Europe—more last yearthan ever before. It comes largely from Tennessee, with some from Indianaand Michigan. Ohio is played out. There has been reckless cutting, butblack walnut is a scarcer wood than oak or chestnut. Much has been usedin the West of late. More is utilized and more furniture made in GrandRapids, Mich., than in New York, Boston and Philadelphia together. Thetree grows best in rich bottom lands. It will grow in the East, but plantingwould only benefit the next generation. My father-in-law planted a nut 50years ago at his home in New Jersey, which has grown to a tree two feet atthe stump. I don't know that black walnut is any better than maple orwhite oak, but it has been the fashion, although now going out, and mahog-any and rosewood are coming in."

Another dealer said: '' Black walnut is becoming very scarce, especiallythe dry wood. We have bought some standing trees in Indiana, and alsoget wood from Virginia and Tennessee. Mahogany is the coming wood. Iconsider black walnut the poorest wood for furniture, as it will give out,warp and twist, but it has been the fashion for fifteen years. The Govern-ment buildings here and in Washington were fitted out with mahogany twoor three years ago ; it is lighter and more durable."

A wholesale furniture dealer in Elizabeth said : " I consider the increas-ed price in black walnut to be due to the necessity of transporting it a longerdistance and also to the increased shipments to Europe. I think there is noreason to fear any great and'sudden scarcity of the wood. A large dealerjust returned from the West tells me that there is an ample supply in themore unsettled parts, even where the Indians still are, and that the wood isto be found in Idaho and Wyoming. He has five or six movable saw millsconstantly running, and from his large experience I should say that therewill be black walnut enough to meet all demands for a long time."

There is said to be great alarm in the West among manufacturers whohave large investments in the business. Among the woods in CentralAmerica suggested as substitutes for black walnut are, beside mahogany,rosewood, cocobello, a hard and beautiful wood, ebony caray, or tortoise-shell wood, gauchifilin, a handsomely variegated wood, and several othervarieties.—-ZV. Y. Tribune.

OUR OWN IDEAS ON THE WALNUT QUESTION.

WHATEVER application the above statements may have to the furni-ture trade, they do not as vitally affect the organ manufacturers as

might at a first glance be supposed.The general impression in the trade seems to be, that if prices continue

to advance until they reach a point from $8 to $10 per thousand feet beyondthe prices prevailing at present, the alternative is to use a black walnutveneer instead of the solid wood. There would be little or no objection tothis course, as a black walnut veneer on a foundation of pine, is thought tobe more durable and less liable to check or crack than the solid wood, andas the branch wood could, in the new order of things, be used more readily,the appearance of the instrument would be improved.

The use of Central American woods is prohibited to a great extent bytheir cost, and by the increased expense of working them on account of theirextreme hardness. Moreover, the statements about the extreme scarcity ofblack walnut, must be taken with "a grain of salt," for, although manynearby districts have been exhausted of their stock of this wood, there arestill extensive districts in the South and West which are as yet untouchedand which will come into the market as our railroad system is extended.

It is probable, also, that a considerable advance in price wo aid com-pel the furnitui-e makers to substitute some other wood for black walnut, inwhich event it would go out of fashion in furniture, and this lessening ofthe demand, would diminish the price to a point where it would still paythe manufacturers of organs to use the solid wood. There is another ele-ment at work, viz : the increasing popularity of ebonized wood for organs.This may have a tendency to lessen the demand for black walnut for organcases. The high prices quoted here for the wood, are to a certain extentdelusive, for the organ makers do not buy the wood at the East in the rough,by the thousand feet, and do the re-sawing themselves; they send their pat-terns to the western mills and have the wood sawn there, thus saving thetransportation on the waste.

A NEW PIANO MANUFACTURING FIRM.

ON the 1st inst. a new firm of piano manufacturers was organized in thiscity under the name of Behr Bros. & Co., at Nos. 292 to 298 Eleventh

avenue. The first two members of the firm have long been known to thepiano trade as manufacturers of piano cases, and it is in the buildingused for that purpose that they are now making their pianos. They haveassociated themselves with Mr. Paul Gmehlin of this city, who has hadalmost a life-long experience as a practical piano manufacturer; beginning inEurope with Wilhelm Doner in Stuttgart, and afterwards serving here withsuch men as Jacob Decker, J. & C. Fischer, and lastly for thirteen yearswith Ernst Gabler.

During this long experience many good ideas concerning the manufac-ture of pianos have suggested themselves to Mr. Gniehlin, and some im-provements in pianos have had their source in his brain. It would be diffi-cult to find a man better qualified by experience and education for themechanical department of the new firm than Mr. Gmehlin; for, in additionto his experience he combines a quality which goes a long way towardssuccess, viz., a love for and an enthusiasm in his profession.

The new firm propose at first to confine themselves to the manufactureof upright pianos of which they are making about ten per week at present,but will increase this number as rapidly as the growth of the business de-mands, to four or five times that number. Their facilities are large, thebuilding which they occupy extending from 292 to 298 Eleventh avenue,New York city, five stories high, and covering a space of 75 x 100 feet, thewhole substantially built of brick and situated in a part of the city adjacentto one of the principal lines of railroad communication, the freight cars ofthat road passing the door. All the upright pianos manufactured by thishouse will have the patent cylinder top by means of which the upper part ofthe piano can be opened for increasing the volume of sound or for tuningwithout disturbing the top of the piano, thereby enabling it to serve as apermanent resting place for ornaments, books or music. The cylinder topis one of the important features of the new uprights, and will no doubt addmuch to their popularity. In addition to this improvement the cases willbe of entirely new and original designs, of which illustrations will be givenin subsequent issues of this paper. In regard to the interior of the pianoeverything has been done that long experience could suggest to make a per-fect instrument, Mr. Gmehlin himself superintending every detail. Thefirm state that only the best materials are used, and the result is a sympa-thetic and powerful toned upright.

Messrs. Behr Bros. & Co. state that they will spare no pains nor ex-pense to make a really first class piano, and they will sell it at as moderatea price as is consistent with its quality and cost of manufacture. They alsosay that they have abundant capital to meet all the requirements of the newenterprise. The partners are men in the prime of life, in good health andvigor, and promise to make the new firm an important factor in the pianomanufacturing industry of the country.

The demand for pianos in the United States is very large and is increas-ing at a greater rate than the increase in population, so there is plenty ofroom for the new firm, and we bespeak for it the favorable consideration ofthe trade and the public.

TRADE CHAT.Among the music trade exhibits at the Magdeburg Exhibition are the

following :—Em. Ascherberg, Dresden, drawing-room grand, three pianinos.C. A. Bauer, Dresden, string quartet. C. H. Bornkessel, Sangerhausen,two concert pianinos. Alex. Bretschneider, Leipzig, short grand, pianino.F. Geissler Zeitz, two pianinos. Fr. Goetze, Dresden, drawing-room grand,pianino. Georg Gunther, Halle, string instruments. F. Hiinel & Sohn,Naumburg, concert grand, pianino. Hagspiel & Co., Dresden, concertgrand. W. H. Hammig, Leipzig, string quartet. H. Th. Heberlein, jun.,Markneukirchen, one quartet imitation of Ant. Stradivarius. Carl AugustHenkel, Leipzig, Pianino. J. G. Heyl, Leipzig, pianino. Hb'lling & Spang-enberg, Zeitz, grand, six pianinos. Rob. Hoffmann, Halle, four pianinos.R. Hupfer & Co., Zeitz, pianino. E. Jehring, Altenburg, brass instruments.J. G. Irmler, Leipzig, pianino, short grand. E. Kaps, Dresden, patentgrand, concert pianino. Jul. Kreutzback, Leipzig, two pianinos Krietsch& Ress, Zeitz, two pianinos. C. Kruspe, Erfurt, collection of brass instru-ments. Frz. Lindner, Dresden, pianino. F. A. Reichel, Markneukirchen,brass and reed instruments. C. R. Ritter, Merseburg, three pianinos.L. Romhildt, Weimar, two pianinos. E. Rosenkranz, Dresden, grand pian-ino. E. Riibner, Zeitz, two pianinos. Wilh. Riihlmann, Zorbig, organfor St. Agnes's Church at Cothen. C. G. Schmaltz, Greiz, pianino. Fr.Adolf Schmit, jun., trumpets. P. Schmidt & Sohn, Zeitz, two pianinos.Rob. Seitz, Leipzig, three pianinos, short grand. Ferd. Selie & Sohne.Miihlhausen, pianino. R. Sieber & Co., Zeitz. zithers. F. Stichel, Leipzig,two pianinos Gebr. Suppe, Zeitz, two pianinos. Fr. Thiirmer, Meissen,combination piano and harmonium. F. E. Vogel, Dresden, concert grand,pianino, and model of repetition action. Carl Wagner, Wittwee, Nord-hausen, two pianinos Paul Werner, Dresden, drawing-room grand. Wieck& Haussler, Dresden, pianino, grand. H. Wohleben, Miilhausen, twopianinos. Zierold & Co., Leipzig, Glockenspiel and grand.

The house of Rosenkranz & Co., of Dresden, pianoforte makers, are tobe represented in London by Messrs. Witt & Co.

Messrs. Green & Savage, the English makers, are largely extendingtheir lately built factory.

Mr. Schreiber, of Newmeyer Hall, London, has just patented an inven-tion of quadruple over-stringing. There are four bridges, one having beengreatly extended. The patent also covers quintuple, sextuple, and otherover-stringing. An improvement in repetition is also part of the patent.

It is not unlikely that some stand will shortly be taken against thefreight charges of the railway companies. It is said to be cheaper to-convey goods from France to London than from Southampton to London,which certainly is anomalous. Similarly, we believe, it is cheaper to shipfrom America direct to Hamburg and back by water to London than to shipto Liverpool and forward by train. If the foreign trade of the country isthus affected, the home trade suffers far more. We unfortunately have noassociation of musical instrument manufacturers, or the matter would beinvestigated. —London and Provincial Music Trades Review.

J

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org