, 1890-04-26

II So Your Music Is Very Costly. at Least
So Says a Dealer in Pianos.
1.-THE business of renting pianos is
tie most profitable one l know OF, ~
said a Washington dealer in that line
very frankly.
I'm the first place, no really expen-
sive piano is ever rented; the risk
would be too great for one thing. One
could not afford TO intrust TO a
stranger an instrument worth from
$500 to 81, 800, which is about the range
for the finest makes. The pianos hired
ont are of a lower grade, worth from
1900 to $500"
But what is the charger"
Usually about s. a month"
That is nearly 800 a year. Pretty
good interest, | should say, on a $500
piano"
Decidedly so. That is just the
point Of my remark. l don't know
any other investment that pays from
25 to 30 per cent. per annum. We
have twenty pianos let all the time,
and you can perceive nat they must
bring about &, 1000 a year"
What is the life of n pianof'
Fifteen years, with fair usage. At
the end Of that time the instrument is
not apt to be capable of further ser
vice, but in the meantime we have
cleared 81, 900 or 81, 100 on it, so we
are satisfied
Some people, though, probably
give a piano very unfair usagef
Often that occurs. 1t is a source
of loss 10 us unavoidably, but we can
afford to endure it. You see, persons
who rent pianos are not likely TO be so
careful Of them as if they were their
own property. They let their chill.
dren bang upon them, and that is al
ways very injurious. The keys are so
carefully pivoted that if they are
struck sideways instead of perpendicu-
lar they are apt to be, thrown out of
gear. An active infant in this way
and by pounding a do a good deal
of hurt to a piano in n comparatively
short time. And maybe the s. "a
month won't pay for it. Or the ac-
ton, which includes the keys and all
those complicated inside works which
make the communication between the
keys and hammers, may be loosened,
and then there is nothing to do but to
send the piano back to the factory and
have a new action put in, which costs
from $40 to $50. People have other
ways besides this of injuring M instru-
ment."
Such as what, prayl"
why, they will subject a piano to
extremes of heat and cold. That is al
ways destructive. For example, on "A
cold winter day the servant will throw
open the windows of the overheated
parlor and let the freezing air come in,
and no member of the family will
probably know any better than TO do
such n thing. AS a consequence, tho
sounding board is warped and cracked,
and the wires are rusted and other
damage done. 1t would be a great
deal less injurious if the domestic had
poured several pailfuls of cold water
into the instrument. There is a piano
over in that corner which was in a
house that caught fire, and afterward
we pumped fourteen gallons of water
out of 1t. Yet it has served very well
ever since and has retained aremarka
bly, good tone. Sometimes the case of
the instrument is marred and scratch
cd, but that does not amount to so
much"
DO people ever steal the pianos
they rent from you and run away with
thcml'
1t has never happened TO us,
though such things arc sometimes
done. We have been very lucky in
that way. The people we have more
trouble with than those TO whom we
rent pianos are the buyers on INSTALL
ments. Profit is ordinarily found in
selling pianos that way, because neces
sarily IA greater price is charged in
such cases than if cash were paid. But
often it happens that pianos so pur
chased come back on our hands
after three or four months with
a loosened action and other damage
done that costs more 10 repair than we
have received for the piano, the usrll
method being 10 pay something like
S25 down ana to give notes of hand
for $40 each, falling due monthly, for
the balance. 1t goes without saying
that installment customers often de
fault in their payments, and then we
simply grab the pianos. People who
purchase in that way never seem TO be
aware that in law an article so bought
remains the property of the seller uu-
Ill the last cent due has been paid. So,
i'll order to have that little fact thor.
oughly comprehcnded, we introduce it
ms n part of the contract which the Gus
toner is obliged to sign before he gets
the decentralization Star.