Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-02-19
CORNERING WORLDS MUSIC

manufacture the instruments complete from
beginning to end. Such factory is an ex-
tensive affair. 1t frequently covers several
acres of land, beginning with a lumber yard
and ending with the showroom where the
beautiful instruments are exhibited. The
industry has grown to such an extent that
whole towns are chiefly dependent upon the
manufacture of one or twoparts of the instru-
ments for their industrial support. Ivory
ton, Connecticut, for instance is the great
center of the keyboard industry. Over a
thousand tons of elephant tusks are sawed
up and manufactured into piano and organ
keys in or near Ivoryton every year. More
piano cases are manufactured in Leominster,
Massachusetts,, than in any other place in
the country, and it is the most important
center of this single phase of the piano in
dustry. In New York city are upward of
twenty-five establishments devoted to some
of the piano specialtics, such as the manu-
facture of piano legs, felts, hammers, sound
ing boards, and cast iron plates. 1t is pos
sible for anyone to build his own piano in
New York without owning plant or factory
of any kind. He can order the separate parts
direct from the speciality manufacturers, and
then, if he possesses the necessary skill, he
can assemble them in his own home and call
1T his home made piano.
Difference Is In Wood Used
|nNE of the great differences between a
- hundred-dollar and five thousand
dollar piano is the wood that goes into it's
manufacture and the final polish or finish.
All sorts of wood are used for pianos; but,
whatever variety is employed, it must be
carefully seasoned. Usually the rough lum-
Der stands a year outdoors to be seasoned
properly, and then two or three years under
cover, after which it is put through a process
of artificial drying to make sure that every
particle of moisture is out of it. The wood
is even baked and rebaked. Wood for the
sounding boards is subjected to series of
Turkish baths, and then passed through dry
ing rooms, where the temperature is often
maintained for weeks up to one hundred and
twenty degrees Fahrenheit.
Altogether the wood is treated and manip-
ulated for months and months, and when it
finally passes the test it is cut, shaped, and
polished in the most elaborate manner. No
quick ordinary treatment with brush and
Varnlsh will do for your piano, which is built
to last for years in all sorts of climates and
temperatures! No less than eight and nine
coats of varnish are applied, and between
each coat experts rub down the surface and
dry the wood in special atmospheres. The
| different coats OF varnlSh are rubbed down
with powdered pumicestone, with soft mud
stone or rottenstone, and with oil. Finally,
after days and weeks of rubbing, drying, and
vanishing, the surface is rubbed to finish
with the palms of the hands of experts who
do nothing else than rub from morning till
| night.
Stock pianos are made of nearly all our
common and uncommon hardwoods; but if
you wish any particular wood the manu-
facturers will please you. 1t is rarely thata
piano is made of solid hardwood Nearly all
of them are veneered with mahogany, rose
| wood, walnut, or anyone of the dozen or two
domestic and imported woods of special
beauty. The veneered surface is less likely to
crack and warp than the solid wood, and more
beautiful grain effects can be obtained there
by. These hardwood veneers are laid on
crosswise in several layers, and when finished
there is no possibility of warping or cracking.
The forests of South and Central America,
and the jungles of Asia and Africa, as well
as the mountains and swanps of the islands
of the Pacific, are searched for fancy woods
for American piano manufacturers, and tons
of these rare and sweet woods come to this
land every week to be sliced up by the big
veneer machines. But so far no rare or i'm
ported wood has been found to excel our
native spruce for the sounding boards, and
nine tenths of these are made of the best