The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-09-29
THE PIANOS EIEeTlNG TONE.
No Instrument In Use Can Hold It's Best
Tune Longer Than Six Months.

Tune Longer Than Six Months.
This Instrument said the piano
dealer as he ran his fingers lightly over
the keys, lis uneven in tone. 1t is some
what worn. You ask $500, but / cannos
give you moro than $3.50"
IAN absurd offerl" exclaimed the owner
of the instrument Indignantly That
piano is not yet year old, and it cost me
$500 when new. As regards its tone. is is
better today than it was when / bought
it,"
There is where you are wrong" re-
sponded the dealer why, there is not
a piano made that holds its tone for longer
than six months il il has been used u
any extent. OF course you, having heard
this instrument every day, cannot detect
any difference in its tone. As il has grad
ually deter,crated in quality your ear has
gradually deteriorated with il. All must
clans know that the ear can be educated
down as well as up. An artist. or . COM
petent piano salesman, for that matter.
could tell Immediately that your piano
was the worse for wear-a trifle worm
But i have written guarantee that
this instrument would last for five years,
and do you mean 10 tell that it Is worn
out aiready5'
ITO all intents and purposes &c is as
good as new and will probably remain so
as long as your guarantee holds good, and
longer. But it has lost its original tone
nevertheless, although the change would
be perceptible only 10 an educated ear
Pianos are said TO last lifetime, and fof
ordinary uses good ones do, but for artistic
purposes they last but five or six months,
as / have said. No first class pianist
would give a public recital on an old in
strument, nor will an artist use an old
piano even for practice. When Paderewski
was in this country, he used up new
piano in practice every month. He real
lied that even an ear as educated as his
would lose its fine perception of tone If hs
accustomed it to the gradual changes tina,
time and usage effect in piano.
The ear for tone is such a very delicate
sense that il can be deteriorated without
the knowledge of its possessor. Custom
exerts a powerful influence in the mat
ter To employ familiar illustration,
you have observed that those in daily in
tercourse with the sick fail to mark any
material change for weeks at time. But
the changes have taken place nevertheless
and are plainly noticeable to outsiders.
1T is exactly so with pianos. Those
who play upon them every day fail 10
mark the gradual falling off in their tone
that time effects. The deterioration has
taken place in such impcrceptible degrees
that the ear has failed to distinguish it. |
Hence a piano or years old is as salts
factory to tho ordinary player as IL was
when he first bought it and 1t was new.
Pianos are at best but imperfect in
struments, continued the dealer. THE
channels skin caps that cover the hammers
in the middle octayes are worn down
sooner than those in the upper and lower,
because they are brought into play. Of
tenor, and an uneyenness of tone in the
instrument results. Even the sounding
board wears out in time. The constant
vibrations of sound TO which il is subject
ed cause disintegration of PARTICLES in
the wood of which it is made, and II be-
comes porous, losing its resonant quality.
So you see that when / offer you $3.50 foi
your instrument i am making you a faii
bid, especially when you take into consid-
Grafton the fact that / shall have 10 sell 10
for 5000 or more 70 recompense me for my
pains. New York sun.