Anything worth printing
to-day?" one of our reporters asked while
looking in at
Alfred Dolge's office the other day, and a spirit of
mischief made him add: ''besides
that bashful Sounding Board Advertisement
of yours?" That was too much,
of course, and before he knew it, he
found himself in the sanctum, where
Mr. A. D. unbosomed himself in his
usual drastic style.
" See here, sir, if an
advertisement is to show what a man can do and is
doing, I should like to see one
that is more to the point than mine. The
truth of my figures (which, by the
way, never lie, you know) I can show
you from my books any moment, and
if you will take the trouble of a trip
to Brocketts, you will see enough
of the finest spruce there to make
my 41,000 Boards of 1880 twice
over! I will just give you a nutshell full
of the fine points to which I have
brought this industry, and then you will
understand its fabulously rapid growth."
Since I am cutting my stuff in my
own forests, it pays best for the
present as well as for the future,
to select only the largest and entirely
sound and straight trees; if I had
to buy the stuff in the log, I could not,
of course, control the quality as I
do now. Of every tree only the butt log
(the lowest 13 feet) is taken for
sounding boards, no matter how clear and
tempting the next 13 feet look,
because only this lower end is habitually and
constitutionally free from knots,
wind shakes, cross grain and a dozen other
immoralities, of which you editors
never dream. After sawing, the planks
are piled under open sheds and
exposed to the sharp, dry, piercing winds of
our mountains for one or two years,
which gives a most wonderful and
thorough seasoning without
affecting the texture of the stuff. When
thoroughly seasoned, the boards are
planed and edged, dried again for a few
weeks in steam-heated kilns, and
then assorted according to length, width,
color, grain and other qualities,
ready for use. This assorting, which is
performed by experts with admirably
keen and quick eyes, is one of the
most important features of the
whole work. Each lot contains several thousand
feet of faultless spruce of exactly
uniform quality and size, so that the
men who ' match' or lay out the
sounding boards,—experts again of ripe
judgment and unerring eye—are bound
to make any number of boards absolutely
alike as long as they use the same
lots of stuff. After gluing, which
is done with the best material
obtainable and facilitated by several ingenious
machines specially got up for the
purpose, the boards are tested, cut into
shape and pass through the
planers,—unique machines again—where they
receive any thickness and taper
desired, together with a highly finished surface.
This done, they are subjected to a
final close examination and are then
ready for shipment. The test just
mentioned consists in exposing a good
sample (say 6 or 12 boards) of each
lot to a heat of 180 degrees Fahrenheit in a
steam-heated box for a few days. If
they stand this without showing the slightest
effect, they are good; but if they
crack or show any alteration, the entire
lot, which they represent, is put
back for further seasoning until it stands the
test. So you see, complaints in
this direction are well-nigh an impossibility.
The cases, especially those
destined for export, are made as nearly air-tight
as possible, to keep out the moist air, and generally
arrive in perfect order."
"Another good point in my favor is that I am a
practical piano maker
myself, and have, with these my
hands, made many a hundred sounding
boards in my day, all of which, I
trust, are still doing duty and giving satisfaction.
So I know exactly what is needful,
and have personally instructed
my foremen accordingly. Moreover,
even now, when everything goes like
clockwork at the mills, and I am
still waiting for the first word of complaint
about one of the forty-one thousand
boards shipped last year, I never fail to
spend half a day or so in the
sounding board department once a week, or
whenever I come to Brocketts, and
to examine most critically into every
detail, down to the very glue
brushes. That is what gives a man the right
feeling to stand up for h.s work if
necessary. And the men like it too, I
assure you; for every one of them
is ambitious and does his best. Why?
Because whenever I get favorable
reports or other acknowledgments from my
customers abroad or here, I take
the letters up to the factory and read them to
the men, and each one gets his due
of the credit us well as of the more substantial
results.
" Where all these boards go?
It would be easier to tell you where they
do not go. They go to about every
place where there is a good piano made,
and where progress is appreciated.
" But now don't let me detain
you any longer, sir; there is a nice half
column for you, and a good match to
that advertisement you were pleased to
criticize just now. Good-bye!"
