starr richmond piano serial number lookup

īy 1919, the Victor patents on lateral recording were starting to expire, with the remaining patent held in question. In late 1917, early 1918, the label's name was changed to Gennett to allow non-Starr piano dealers to sell their records. (Due to the Victor and Columbia patents on the lateral recording method, other companies were forced to make vertical cut records, including Paramount, Okeh, and Vocalion.) Wanting to sell their records outside Starr piano dealers, the Gennetts felt the label was too closely tied to Starr phonographs. In 1916 Starr began selling vertical cut records alongside their phonographs called Starr Records. The Gennett brothers toyed with the idea of getting into the record industry, purchasing the masters to the defunct Phono-Cut Record Company. The Starr phonograph had a slight success at first for a minor brand, due in part to winning an award at the 1915 Panama–California Exposition. Joining with other piano makers making phonographs like Kimball and Aeolian, Starr introduced their own line of phonographs in late 1915.

When the major phonograph patents were expiring on the disc phonographs in the mid 1910s, American businesses saw this as an opportunity to invest in a rapidly growing market. Starr sold fifty styles that included a baby grand piano (the Minum), a four-foot tall model designed for apartments (the Princess), and player pianos. Louis World's Fair (1904), Tennessee Centennial Exposition (1907), Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition (1909), and the Panama–Pacific International Exposition (1915). For its craftsmanship, Starr won awards at the St. In 1915, 250 companies were making pianos, 75 percent from 25 companies that included Starr, Baldwin, and Wurlitzer. Between 18 Starr produced nearly a dozen brands, Trayser, Duchess, Richmond, Remington, and Royal, and bought other piano companies like Krell in 1927. In the 1890s, pianos were so popular in America that one hundred companies were making them. By 1900, control of the company had passed from the Starr family to the Gennett: Henry (president) and his sons Harry (vice president), Clarence (treasurer), and Fred (secretary). After Lumsden died and James Starr retired, Gennett became president. Lumsden and Gennett owned half the company after that.

Two employees of that company, John Lumsden and his son-in-law Henry Gennett, pursued a merger with Starr in 1892 which took place during the following year.

One of the retailers that sold Starr pianos was the Jesse French Piano & Organ Company in St. In the 1880s Chase moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, to establish his own piano factory, leaving the Richmond operation to be renamed James Starr and Company, with James Starr as president and his brother Benjamin the manager. When Trayser retired six years later, the company was renamed Chase Piano Company, Starr became president, and Jackson secretary-treasurer. In 1872, the company moved to Richmond, Indiana, after receiving financial help from James Starr and Richard Jackson, both residents of Richmond. Chase started the Trayser Piano Forte Company in a building near the Ohio River in Ripley, Ohio, with Chase the president and manager.

Starr richmond piano serial number lookup