THE PIANO SHUFFLE

Evening Star, Issue 16628, 10 January 1918, Page 8

THE PIANO SHUFFLE

Owing to the redistribution of wealth strange things are happening in the piano world. In the homes of munition and other • war workers are to be found pianos where formerly were none. Long-time possessors of pianos, on the other hand, have, many of them, made over their pianos to hospitals and canteens. At the same lime the great demand for pianos is accompanied by a corresponding shortness of supply. A well-known firm of piano-makers told me that, whereas they used to turn out 60 pianos a week, they now produce 10, and even this number was due to the fact that the oldest workers were in this connection usually the most valuable. Wood fur cases, said my informant, had gone up 600 per cent., and makers were thankful to secure the old cases, fretworked and green-silk fronted, that we knew in our grandmothers’ drawing rooms. The cheaper pianos could be sold over and over again. Since pianos are not likely to be among the first imports when the war is over, the British maker may count safely upon, a long period of prosperity, during which he will no doubt further develop the qualities of his instrument. In the general reshuffle of money those who teve less money do not necessarily sell their pianos, while those who have more may be safely counted upon to buy at the first opportunity this emblem of prosperity, and vzith the various piano-players—of entertainment and pleasure.