The Portland daily press., 1896-05-08
HAVE SEEN BETTER DAYS.
The Country's Old Pianos Find Market
In Philadelphia,
(From the New York Times. }

| (From the New York Times)
'fWhat becomes of old piauos?' was the
gu estion put to large New York manu-
facturer the other day. "Well," was the
rather unexpected reply, "the most OF
ours go to Philadelphia. The manu-
facrurer could not explain this fact ex.
actly to his own satisfaction. He thought
perhaps it was because so many persons
owned homes in Philadelphia, or possibly
| because the good people of the Quaker
| town are much given to attending con-
certs and love music more than the New
| Workers.
s'There ought to be several hundred
thousand old square pianos slowed away
somewhere in the United States" said
dealer in speaking of the subject. 81
have been in the business twenty years
and personally have seen but three Of
them cut into kindling wood. 1t is in
deed rare occurrence that one of these
massive old rosewood affairs meets with
such an unworthy fate.
"A biography of good piano is some-
times very inter lsting. They generally
start off in life gaily, having the most
conspicuous position i'll the parlors of the
wealthy, and receiving courteous treat
ment. Thirty years ago good square
piano was an object of much greater i'm.
portance and commanded vastly more
respect than any piano nowadays. This
is still to be seen when we go to remove
an old piano to exchange it for a new
one. 1t Is purely matter of mercantile
interest to us, but not so with the owners.
l have seen old folks who had bought q
piano in the days of their honeymoon
fairly overcome when they saw the
familiar old instrument, which had been
with them through days of joy and sor
row, hustled out of the house by irreyer-
emit hands and conveyed to the warehouse.
1t is the custom for piano firms now to
take away the old instruments and allow
a fair price for them, deducuing the
amount from the price of the new one
1t is absolute loss to us, for we have the
greatest Difficulty in disposing of these
and marks which have seen better days.
lit is quite amusing to hear the old
ing a selection of new piano: "Cur
old piano, II it were only tuned IN.
would have much better tone than any
of these"
"a great majority of these old piaros
find their way to the homes sof conlpara-
lively poor people. They may be Dough t
for mere song. There is class of me n
who make living by disposing of these
old pianos. A second hand dealer dropned
in here the other day, and said he had
just bought six for $50. Some firms are
almost willing to pay for having them
taken away.
''These old pianos are by no means
worn out, after going through three. or
even four. hands. Now strings and new
IN m DTrd a 81, L
ment is tinkered up, so that it will Of
tentiInes have better tone than the
cheap piano of today. City gboardino
houses, where the only object is to have
an instrument capable of emitting noise
are extensive harboring places for these
old has beens.' Many are shipped to The
west and to country towns. A number
are exhibited as the piano on whicb
George Washington was won't to pla~
Throughout New England, Ohio. and IN
New York city have seen them used nc
tables for kitchen purposes, the works
in many cases, being removed to ALLOW q
place for slowing away jars of fruit
Many are disposed of at auctions. too
secured in that way" w
At the present time, according In the
dealer, there are about so, 600 pianos man.
ufactured annually in America tn
same number is produced by German
manufacturers while France and Eng.
land have an annual output of 40 O0o
each. There is very little business in th"
exporting of pianos. This is due to The
fact that the change in climate makes IT
Impossible for piano, when shipped to
q foreign country, to keep its tone. Only
$40 were , exported from this country last
year. Ihey vent to South America and
Germany. The latter country ships
quite number to Australia and South