Walter Lane reply

[pianoman]

Thanks Les for "The rest of the story".
James Grebe
R.P.T. from St. Louis
pianoman@inlink.com
"I am only as good as my last tuning"

----------
> From: Les Smith <lessmith@buffnet.net>
> To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject: Re: Walter Lane
> Date: Saturday, December 13, 1997 2:00 PM
> 
> 
> 
> On Sat, 13 Dec 1997, pianoman wrote:
> 
> > It always puzzles me how someone at the zenith of their trade can cease
> > immediately being involved in that trade.  Walter Lane according to Les
did
> > only the best.  When he stopped, what did he do to keep himself going?
> > service mainly) to this day as his name reputation lives on.  I think
even
> > if you stop doing whatever it is you are doing and you have done it
really
> > well you can't stop things.  Things on their own just keep going and
> > gradually (very) will slow down.  But they do not stop.  Surely Walter
Lane
> > must have done something after 1930, what was it?
> 
> It's an interesting question, Jim, but if I'm forced to give away
> everything here on Pianotech, there will be nothing left fot the book!
> (Just kidding, there isn't going to be any book). When it came to pianos,
> Walter Lane was a creative genius of the first rank. As I mentioned
earli-
> er, one can see this by perusing his patent drawings regarding, plate,
> bridge, soundboard and frameowrk design, or even by just closely
examining
> one of his upright pianos. Like many such creative artists, Walter had
> little interest in the more practical aspects of running a piano company.
> He needed someone to handle that aspect of the company affairs, while he
> devoted himself exclusively to designing and building pianos. That is why
> he formed an early association with the Bush brothers of Bush and Gerts
> fame (or infamy). It was not a successful alliance. The Bush brothers
were
> looking for a quick return on their investment and were primarily inter-
> ested in producing low-quality, commercial quality instruments, which
> could be turned over rapidly for a quick profit. Walter was interested
> in building pianos of the highest quality possible and in necessarily
> limited quantities. Such an alliance was doomed to failure.
> 
> Both Walter Lane and the piano world in general are fortunate that there
> appeared a money-man on the scene in 1906 who recognized the genius of
> Walter and decided to finance him with virtually unlimited capital, so
> that he could give his creative genius free reign and never again have to
> waste his energies on the mundane financial concerns of running the com-
> pany. This financial benefactor's name was William Beach and he happened
> to be a banker in Holland Michigan. He not only bought out the Bush
> Brother's interest in the company, but his bank extended a huge line of
> credit to B&L as well. If there was any real justice in the world, just
> as Mason and Hamlin pianos should have been called Mason, Hamlin and
> Gertz, Bush and Lane pianos should have been called Beach and Lane. It
> was Beach's bank that arranged the purchase of the Ferrand Player Piano
> Compnay (also of Holland, Michigan) by Bush and Lane and thus ensured
> B&L's fliration with immortality. William Beach's role in the success
> of Walter Lane's pianos can hardly be overstated. Simply put, William
> recognized the genius of Walter Lane, and he gave him the financial
> wherewithall to run with it as far and as fast as he could. In the
> end, that proved to be 1930. 
> 
> In 1930, Walter Lane turned 62 to years old and was in failing health.
> Even worse, William Beach was 17 years Walter's senior, and was thus
> 79 when his bank--like so many others--ran into problems. You ask why
> they didn't continue on. The simple amswer is that they couldn't. Not
> only the piano industry, but the whole country was in a state of flux
> and change, and things would never again be as they once were. Never.
> And so Bush and Lane closed their doors forever while at the absolute
> top of their game, but is was hardly an occasion for a wake.
> 
> Together, Walter Lane, aided by his benefactor, William Beach, had one
> hell of a run, which lasted the better part of twenty-five years. In
> that time, working together, they produced some of the most outstand-
> ing upright pianos and player pianos anyone ever built, anywhere, any-
> time. Which is the reason why, among my collection of turn-of-the-
> century grands, there is but a single upright, and the name on it's
> fallboard reads "Bush and Lane".
> 
> Les Smith
> lessmith@buffnet.net 
>