PIANOS ARE BOOMING.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 129, 7 January 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

PIANOS ARE BOOMING.

HINTS THAT WILL HELP YOU TO GET A GOOD INSTRUMENT CHEAPLY.

It is estimated that the present demand for pianos is three times as great as the supply, says a London pape; - . British pianoforte makers, indeed, have never been so busy. Even with a shortage of skilled labour, consequent on the war, fully 2,00 pianos are being made every week. The boom is easily record one, and it has largely been brought about by two factors; first, that no German pianos are being sold here or in our colonies; second, because of the large wages which eo many members of the working classes are making. Half the married industrial war-workers seem to be buying pianos. Belgians and .women are being pressed into service as piano-makers, and altogether the industry presents one of ihe most striking—and unexpected—examples of trader not adversely affected by the war. The pianoforte—the name comes from two Italian words, piano, meaning "soft"; and forte, signifying "loud"' — is an adaptation of the old clarichord and the harpsichord, and its invention is generally credited to an Italian named Cristofali, although—as is their wont—the Germans strongly combat the claim, and declare it was originally devised by them. It is a comparatively modern instrument, 1710 being the year in which Christofali made his first piano. BRITISH PIANOS ARE BEST. An English monk, Father Woou, who lived in Rome, built the first piano seen in this country; but it was Italians who originally showed the most enterprise as piano-makers here. At one time the vast majority of piano dealers in Great Britain were Italians. too.

But, as is our almost invariable way, as soon as we woke up to the possibilities of piano-making we began to outdistance our rivals in the excellence of our workmanship, and in the finished article.

And to-day the best British-made pianos are better than any inthe worid The inside consists of three separate parts—the "frame" to .which the strings are fastened, the soundingboard (which is the voice of the instrument), and the action (which includes all parts that move when you strike the notes). The strings are made of steel, and tdie smallest of them has a orcaking strain of about three hundred pounds. This means that the striuq; will suppott a weight of two full-grow«. men of eleven stone each. HOW TO CHOOSE ONE. The shorter the string, the higher the note. If a string one foot in length produces a certain note, to produce the same note four octaves lower would require a string of the" same thickness sixteen feet high, the difficulty is got over by winding a fine wire round the string. This immediately produces a deeoer note.

The strain on the wires when a piano is tuned i-i tremendous. The combined tension of the strings on a concert piano is about thirty tons. By no stretch of imagination can a piano in the home be said to be an unnecessary extravagance. The money paid for a good instrument is well invested. You get from it long hours of enjoyment, which will do much towards counteracting the depression which is bound to sometimes fall on us during this Tver.

Great care should be exercised in buying a piano. You must not judge* the excellence of the "works"' by the beauty of the ea»e. A piano is something to keep and not to cast aside in a few months. Therefore, see that the inside is as good a<s the outside looks