Los Angeles herald., 1907-08-11
S7ELNWAY STANDS
LONG, HARD USAGE
YEARS OLD AND is
GOOD AS NEW
Manufacturers Decorated by France,
Germany and Turkey for Their
Wonderful Instrument That
Time Cannot Affect
by GEE O'JAY


1 saw something very wonderful yes
terday. So seldom do we see wonderful
things worth writing about that it seems
to me a great pity to let this extraor-
dinary object go by untold. Wonderful
things are plentiful in this city of ours
but nothing 1 have seen compares, in
my idea, with what 1 saw yesterday.
1t was a piano.
Now / beg of you, don't throw aside
this paper in disgust, for this is piano
with a very interesting history. A piano
that was manufactured when Los An
geles was but pin dot on the map
when California was riddle, and the
United States just getting past the short
pants stage.
So read on-don't stop.
1t was in the establishment of the Geo.
j. Birkel company, 345-3E South Spring
street, that 1 saw and played this in
strument
Unfortunately there is no re ord of its
history eXtant
Thirty-two Years Old
That it is thirty-two years old is proven
by the rumber-31701-cas into its frame.
Beyond that nothing is known of it ex-
cept that a month ago resident of Los
Angeles sold it to the Birkel company
its owner leaving the city.
I once read an article by Joe Mitchell
Chapple. entitled my Mothers Piano"
or something of that sort. He told Of
a SteinWay piano that crossed the plain
to California in '49-and back again to
some New England village-I read that
article with doubt in my mind-because
could not conceive of any piano that
would stand such a journey and not lose
its tone.
But here, right in our own city. is a
Steinway upright that has been In use
for thirty-two years and it's tone today
is only equaled by one other piano-and
that must be a Steinway!
No longer am I skeptical. No longer do
doubt the extraordinary qualities or
the Steinway piano. For under my own
fingers this thirty-two-year-old instru-
ment responded with an action OF sur
passing ease, and with tone of unutter-
able sweetness, mellowness and depth. 1t
possesses, in a remarkable degree the
noble Stenway tone, almost the tone OF
the more modern Steirway pianos And
strange to say, despite the fact that TINS
instrument is thirty-two years old.
know of no other new piano (other than
a Steinway) that can approach 1t IN tone
quality.
Only Guess Limitations
When will this piano wear out? What
are its limitations? We can but guess.
should saw that in another half CEN
fury it will have earned resting spell.
NV guess may fall short of the mark,
though. -,
Presuming that this instrument VIII
wear for another fifty years-that Will
give 1t total service of eighty-two years!
Then think of the time Steinway punt
today will last-they are ln1lmtely pet-
ter instruments than those or thirty
two years ago. Just think moment
If you buy a new Steinway now your uH, ,,,
scerdants of hundred years hence Will
be enioying its beautiful voice!
And now I will dwell a moment upon
the commercial side of this lnirty-two-
year-old piano. 1t cost the original pur-
chaser $3.50. AS 1t stands today II can
not be bought for less than 5000
Which proves that after thfrty-two
wears of service it sells for as much as
any other new piano-whlch AGAIN
proves that in buying a new Stelnway
YOU secure for the difference OF a nun
dred dollars or so piano that is tnirty-
two years better than any other piano
in the world
Why, YOU ask, is the Steinway piano
so superior to all others-why >ean no
other compare with 1t. or last soNlorg,
or receive the unsolicited encomiums OF
the worlds greatest pianists? reter
you to some extracts from a recent num-
ber of 1.-THE Music Trades s"-you'H then
realize why the Steinway is pre-eminent'
Steinway's Superiority
"An institution with manufacturing
plants in America, England and Ger
many, with agents in four hundred cities
throughout the entire globe whose IN
strumepts are selected and used as their
court piano by nearly all the crowned
heads of the world, and have been for
many years the unbiased choice OF the
greatest artists of this country and Eu-
rope-such an institution Is the house OF
Steinway g. Sons, whose history ana
prestige reflect glory upon the entire
piano industry.
1.-THE members of the Steinway house
have been decorated by many European
sovereigns, who thus gave the strongest
possible recognition of the fact that
Steinway & Sons have elevated piano
making to the rank of a fine art, and
so entitled them to the leading share In
the American conquest of the world in
the realms of art. This house has fur
thermore the unparalleled record of be-