Carl Herman Lang was born 30 Dec 1868, in Erlabrunn, Erzgebirgskreis, Sachsen, Germany.  Erlabrunn was 35 miles northeast of the famous instrument making town of Markneukirchen.  Lang immigrated to Chicago, in the United States in 1890.  Shortly after arriving, he founded the C. H. Lang Co., which was a small hand tool making facility for the piano industry.  Lang was a machinist and inventor, but he is mostly remembered as the first Harley Davidson motorcycle dealer, c. 1905, and he also held motorcycle patents, along with several piano tool patents. This company made a full line of piano tools.

Lang is posing with the work crew in in his shop. The poster in the foreground was drawn by Lang and shows many of his tools. This poster, reduced and included in the 1905 catalog, reveals that most all of Lang’s piano tools had reached their mature and final form by the end of the 1890s. Manually powered equipment predominates in this 1899 photo, although an electric motor is driving one machine, just to the left of the poster.

Thanks to David Abdalian, RPT, for generously lending me the 1905 Lang catalog, the 1917 and 1926 Lyon and Healy catalogs, and excerpts from the 1934 Tonk Bros. catalog. Now I can begin to fill in some missing information regarding Lang, and Lyon and Healy, who bought out Lang in 1914.

This 1899 photo of C. H. Lang’s shop showed six men, and a 1940s photo of  the Hale/Tuners Supply  toolshop also depicted six workers. It would be fair to assume that in both cases, the entire toolmaking staff was shown.  Both Julius Erlandsen and Joseph Popping had six men laboring in their shops during 1897, as recorded by the “Annual Report of the Factory Inspectors of the State of New York.”  Six seemed to be the magic number for these small piano tool makers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note how the 1/2″ steel shaft extends almost to the end of the handle.  It made for increased stability working with tight tuning pins, and for better durability in general.

USING LANG HAMMERS

Hammers made by Lang show attention to detail in both form and function. The few heads that I have used fit pins up to 2.0, although I’m fairly confident that there were larger special-ordered sockets made that would handle larger tuning pins. The hard rubber handles work well, if a bit clammy; they resist marring and do not require the care in handling necessary for a bored-out tropical hardwood handle. The Lang no. 2 hammer, with set screw, actually works better than the Lang no. 1 hammer shown above; the extension rod is held securely and does not rotate, like some extension hammers with only one set screw.

On Lang no. 1, the clutch works by drawing the internal tube towards the rear of the handle; the exposed rear portion of the brass internal tube is finely threaded, as is the internal part of the handle endpiece. When the handle endpiece is turned clockwise, it draws the the tube back, pulling the split collet along with it. This is the sharply beveled frontmost piece of the ferrule; it is actually a separate part placed right against the ferrule. On the rear, or hidden side, of this collet is a similarly shaped bevel which is mated to a sharply tapered hole in the front of the ferrule, compressing and closing the split collet, and securing the corrugated shaft from slipping. Placing fine threads inside the ‘hard’ rubber handle was the weak link to this design arrangement; pulling all this hardware aft was too much stress given the chosen material. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that replacement parts for this hammer were sold by Tonk Bros. (see bottom of this page) in 1934. But it also demonstrated that the Lang no. 1 was still sufficiently popular enough for further investment 20 years after Lang left pianos for motorcycles.

Despite the shortcomings of the Lang no. 1, on my example, the fluted extension rod is held fairly well, friction-fit within the split collet. It is still possible to tune a piano with the Lang no. 1 in its present condition, and I have done so, but I would not want to use it for an entire day. It is true that the tool is over 100 years old, but it’s also true that the hammer is not beat up or excessively worn out, as the pictures above show.

Lang tuning hammers were the most expensive product in the market, at $10.75 in 1905. Was it worth it? A rosewood Erlandsen or Mueller extension hammer including star tipped head cost no more than $7.00 at the time. Hale hammers were offered around $5.00 with a long head and star tip. $10.00 could buy a Hale tuning hammer set with three heads and six tips including the tip wrench. Perhaps the original price explains why the Lang nos. 1 and 2 hammers are not exactly rare, but uncommonly found in the wild. There are two reasons, I believe, why the Lang no 1 did not survive long-term, competing with the Hale hammer: in sum, the high price, and the inherent design issue described above.

“Ferrules of perfectly seamless steel.” This was a reference to Julius Erlandsen’s practice of rolling and seaming flat stock of German Silver to make his ferrules. His father, Napoleon, did not seam his; nevertheless, the seaming was of impeccable quality, and the German Silver, beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following offer was part of a ready-made toolkit. There is some general variation between the sizes of tuning pin sockets made during this period. It must have been standard practice in the trade to custom-machine tuning heads for the varying requirements of the tuners at the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shown below is a combination handle, with ebonite instead of hardwood, and metalwork that matches that of the Lang machine shop.  This adjustable handle was designed to take the standard regulating tools that we use today, but with a friction fit and clutch, rather than a collet and clutch.  Not included in the 1905 Lang piano tool catalogue.

 

 

 

Looking surprisingly modern, Lang’s grand regulating tool was intended for adjusting drop, balancier, jack, and fine adjustment on some damper underlevers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Higel did not bother to erase Lang’s original catalogue numbers showing on these voicing tools.

 

 

 

 

C.H. Lang rarely used rosewood in his tools; it showed that he regarded his voicing tool as special.  Lang tuning tool handles were primarily ebonite (hard rubber); regulating tool handles were ebonite, stained hardwood, or mahogany.  The Lyon & Healy voicing tool shown here has a mahogany handle, which was less expensive than rosewood, even then.

 

 

Lang patent for a hammer extractor (by no means the genesis of this concept).

A selection of hammer extracting tools:

• Top left: unmarked, probably Erlandsen. For grands.
• Top right: Lang grand extractor
• Lang, for uprights
• Tuner’s Supply (Hale), upright
• Hammershank clamp, upright
• Hammacher Schlemmer, upright
• Boston Tuner’s Outfit Co., upright

 

Lang also held patents for a key ivory clamp and a screwdriver holder, but there were precedents for those ideas as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lang spring adjusters, with a sneaky tool to squeeze in between flanges and push centerpins that have walked out back in their respective flanges. No one ever does that, right?

 

 

 

 

 

Lang’s Transition from Piano Tools to Harley Davidson Motorcycles

This was one of the last Lang Advertisements before the Lyon & Healy buyout.  I am not sure what Lang’s calculus was regarding him calling his business the “Oldest exclusive PIANO TOOL establishment in the U.S.A.”  Hale’s Tuners’ Supply Co. was older, having been founded 1885.  Perhaps Lang was taking into account Hale’s diversions into his oil and game hunting businesses.  But Lang’s Harley Davidson Dealership was already larger than his piano business in 1913.

A more likely possibility was that Lang was indirectly stating that he sold tools only out of his piano business, and that he did not trade in piano supplies generally.  It’s difficult to know why Lang thought conveying that to the piano market would be an advantage for him.  When Lyon & Healy took over, they immediately included piano supplies, which naturally, working piano technicians needed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carl H. Lang declared his profession as a motorcycle dealer in the 1920 US census,   In 1926, C.H. Lang retired from selling Harley Davidson motorcycles.  During the Great Depression, Lang needed to return to work for a period of time, primarily as a mechanic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the base of the Wasatch mountains, in Springville, Utah, resides the Legends Motorcycles Museum.  Jason Cassel, RPT, visited this museum in 2024 and encountered this display of a “World’s Oldest Harley Davidson Motorcycle,” and Jason generously sent these images of Legends’ C.H. Lang presentation to me.  I think the chances that the Harley Davidson motorcycles shown there could very well have been displayed at Lang’s dealership: he was generally known to be the first Harley dealer, and it was a very small operation back in 1904/5.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Along with the early Harleys, a 1914 article on C.H. Lang was copied in its original format, and enlarged to form a display sign.  This page was copied directly from “Dealers Who Have Made Good,” a promotional booklet published by Harley Davidson in 1914.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Displayed alongside  the motorcycles, was a generic looking set of piano tools that “came with with the early Harley Davidson motorcycles,”  according to the Legends Motorcycle Museum staff.  Having observed old piano tuning kits coming to market for almost 50 years now, I can safely state that this is the typical old tuners kit that shows up on ebay quite frequently.  So I think it less likely that C.H. Lang owned those tools. More likely, someone added this common box of tools to the motorcycle display either before or after the early Harley Davidson motorcycles were purchased by the Legends Motorcycle Museum.

The reason is that the piano tools in that sachel are definitely not Lang tools, and, C.H. Lang was extremely proud of his own tools, not to mention the disorganized jumble of old upright piano action parts. The adjustable double barrel hammer shown in the kit was of a generic type that typically sold for less than the leading name brands of the time, i.e. Hale, Lang, and Erlandsen.

These two economy extension hammers were definitely made by the same unidentified wholesale toolmaker, as the hardware and finish are identical, especially in the double barrel hammer at the top of this photo.  The hammer at the bottom has the same ferrule, but it is plated in nickel, and has the more modern single star socket head.  While the metal finishes and the rosewood handles look good in this picture, there are several problems with these generic hammers, which originally sold at a much lower price: 1. There is no internal tube within the handle to support the adjustable shaft sliding in and out, as typically found on quality extension hammers. 2. The diameter of the hole in the ferrule is as much as 1/8″ larger than the diameter of the shaft, resulting in a lot of slop and no support for the rod. 3. The bottom of the set screw is invariably never fitted to the groove in the extension shaft.

The end result of all these ill-fitting components is that the tuner must tighten the set screw literally every three minutes as the screw and shaft lose purchase, or secure fit within the hammer during the torque stresses of turning the tuning pins during the tuning process.  These bargain extension hammers were made available from circa 1880 all the way up to 1940.  Most of them show little or no use–these two examples are no exception–because the only viable application for these would be for occasional touch-up or light tuning on non-critical instruments.  Unfortunately, some tuners of the period would rely on these tools for too many applications.

Gooseneck hammers (one was included in the kit) were often price leaders in North America, even at the turn of the 20th century.  It was a different story throughout the British Commonwealth and Continental Europe at that time. As an exception to this, Dolge and Erlandsen made/sold really fine gooseneck hammers back then; they were both European immigrants to the US in the 19th century.

The following quote described C.H. Lang’s transition from the piano business to the motorcycle business.  It was taken from HDforums.com

CH Lang is mentioned in articles in two recent issues of The Antique Motorcycle which is the AMCA magazine. Lang was the first H-D dealer and also an early H-D director and shareholder.

 

 

In Sept 1904 Lang was among members of the Chicago MC who went to see motorcycle racing at the Wisconsin State Fair Park. Two H-Ds competed along with several other makes. Later on Lang apparently bought one of the first three H-Ds produced and the bike he obtained may have been the next one made after the two that were raced at the State Fair Park. Lang proposed that he become a ‘general sales agent’ and the first H-D dealer, all as a sideline to his piano-tuning tool business in Chicago. H-D agreed and as a result Lang handled three 1905 H-Ds out of a production run that likely totaled five to eight machines.

In 1907 Lang developed a two-speed planetary-style trans and clutch (US Patent No. 908,583—‘Changeable Speed Gearing for Motorcycles’) that could be fitted to a Harley and it was unveiled at Curtis Hill near Milwaukee in May that year.

H-D incorporated in Sept 1907 but apparently Lang only took five shares. In 1912 he moved his dealership from 35 E Adams St to 1704 S Michigan Ave where he occupied a three-storey brick structure while using another building for storage of bikes and parts. By this time he was selling or distributing nearly 1,000 Harleys per year. In 1914 he disposed of his piano tool business and devoted all his energy to the motorcycle trade.

In 1920, C.H. Lang lived at 4756 Indiana Ave., Chicago, and was a “Motorcycle Agent.” selling Harley Davidsons.

By the 1920s he increasingly turned over management of the dealership to his son Herman. Lang retired in 1926 but apparently Herman wasn’t interested in running the business so Lang transferred things to Frank Kemper who moved the operation to 1507 S Michigan Ave. Lang died in 1944.

 

 

 

 

Carl Herman passed away on 9 September, 1944.

 

 

 

 

 

LYON & HEALY

Lyon and Healy’s motto was “everything in music.” They either sold or retailed just about any Western musical instrument in popular use during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They even made pipe organs. Lyon and Healy was also a major music publisher. As the years progressed, L&H began selling off its acquisitions and concentrated on what they did best, which was making one of the best harps in the world. Their style 23 harp introduced in 1890 is still being made today by a much smaller company.

At first Lyon & Healy advertised “Lang Tools” profusely, but after a few years the name “Lang” was withdrawn from Lyon & Healy catalogues as well as their advertising.  Probably because Lyon and Healy had such a well recognized name, Lyon and Healy could conceal the source of their piano tools; Lang’s name was removed from all the tools as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lyon and Healy’s piano factory was established on Fullerton Ave in Chicago in 1913; before that, L.& H. branded other maker’s pianos.  In May, 1914, C.H. Lang’s piano toolmaking shop was moved to the Lyon & Healy Fullerton Ave. plant, and continued under the direction of Superintendent F.A. Lang, Carl Herman Lang’s brother.  F. A. Lang had been managing the C.H. Lang Piano Tool Shop since 1905.  Most of the former C.H. Lang machinists also continued to make piano tools under the employment of Lyon & Healy, at the Fullerton Avenue location.

“The manufacturing activities of Lyon & Healy are carried on in a large new fireproof factory building in Fullerton Avenue about six miles from the downtown center of the city.  Here are where the Lyon & Healy harps in their various styles, the Lyon & Healy piano in uprights, grands, and player pianos are made.  Washburn pianos, designed for export, a large variety of band, orchestral, and other instruments and minor lines of musical merchandise.  The ideas which characterize the house of Lyon & Healy are notably dominant in the manufacturing department.”

–Chicago Tribune, 21 May, 1916

 

 

 

 

 

In 1927, L.& H. sold Fullerton Ave. to Mills Novelty Co., makers of the Mills Violano-Virtuoso, and other music arcade coin operated machines.

L&H made a few minor changes to their line of tools. Most notably, their combination handles changed twice.

 

“Tools fit snugly and firmly in clutch, and can be easily released by tapping plunger on a solid base.”  –As long as that solid base is not a piano cabinet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Otherwise, 97% of Lang’s designs remained unchanged save for the signature.

This was the configuration that had become an industry standard by then, already adopted by Hale, American Piano Supply, and others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tonk Brothers Company

The Tonk Brothers Company bought out Lyon and Healy’s piano supply division in 1928. Tonk Bros. Co., located at 623 South Wabash Ave. in Chicago, was a large musical instrument dealer and wholesaler, well established since the late 19th century. Tonk Bros. rehabilitated the Lang name, attributing credit to the original designer and maker. This was 20 years after Lang sold out to Lyon and Healy, and around 40 years after the tool was originally conceived. Here is the Lang No. 1 tuning hammer, as sold by Tonk Bros. in 1934.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Handihold Tool was hollow in the center, which was intended to assist sight-impaired technicians install and remove difficult to reach screws, such as the upright hammer butt screw, or the grand damper underlever screw.

 

 

 

 

Unbeknownst to most members of the piano trade, this Holiday Greeting was, in fact, a goodbye from Tonk Bros. Co.  Less than a month after this was published, Tonk Brothers Company sold their piano supply division to Continental Music.

Tonk Bros. served as steady stewards of their piano supply business, through the lean depression years, and the turbulent war years.  Then, after WW II, when American industry had been on a war footing, the transition back to production for domestic purposes would take several more years.  Luxury items, such as the piano (and supplies), were not top priority.

One year after hostilities ceased Tonk Bros. must have seen the writing on the wall, and decided then and there, that it was not worth it for them.

 

Joe Kulicek

Tonk Brothers Company owned their piano supply business until January, 1947, when Continental Music took over. Schaff bought the business from Continental in May, 1955. A constant in all of this was Joe Kulicek (1892-1979), who was a manager at Lyon and Healy from the 1920s, through Tonk and Continental, and into the early days at Schaff with Bob Johnson, Jr.  Thanks to David Abdalian for this timeline.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continental Music, (630 S. Wabash) which took over the Piano Supplies Division of Tonk Brothers (623 S. Wabash) in January 1947, was owned by C.G. Conn, who manufactured the Stroboconn, introduced in 1936, and the more portable Strobotuner, introduced in 1954.  C. G. Conn’s core business, however, was manufacturing brass and wind band instruments.  Buying Tonk Brothers Piano Supplies Division would have given C.G. Conn another means of distribution for their electronic tuning devices, and provided a way forward to establish a new market with piano tuners, and to gain market dominance within this new field.

But Conn did not take full advantage of selling their Stroboconn through Continental Music; at the back of the 1953 Continental Music Catalogue, there was a full page spread on the Stroboconn, and piano tuners were directed to contact C.G. Conn Electronics Department for prices and further information.  When the Strobotuner was introduced, in late 1954, all this changed, and the customer could purchase the Strobotuner from a myriad of music stores. In May 1955, Conn sold the Piano Supply Division of Continental Music to Robert E. Johnson Sr. and Jr., who owned the Schaff Piano String Company, which had been providing custom wound bass strings since 1884 in Chicago.

In the mid-1950s, C.G. Conn moved a significant amount of their capitol away from their core business of selling brass and wind instruments, and invested in electronic organs, which were all the rage in the 1950s and early 1960s.  Unfortunately, the electronic organ business was boom and bust for C.G.Conn, and they filed for bankruptcy in 1969.

C.H. Lang was at 35 E. Adams, which would have been within, or directly next door to the old Lyon & Healy Building at the southwest corner of Adams St. and  Wabash Ave.  However, in late 1910, C.H. Lang moved to the fifth floor of 24 E. Adams, which was on the northwest corner of Adams St. and Wabash Ave.  In 1916, Lyon & Healy opened an extravagant retail showroom at Jackson Blvd. & Wabash Ave., formerly the site of the Hotel Wellington. Tonk Brothers occupied the Studebaker Building at 623 Wabash and traded in piano supplies there from 1928 to 1947.  Continental Music took over from Tonk Brothers in January, 1947, and ran their operation from the Dexter Building at 630 Wabash Ave., then moved to 1810 Ridge Ave., Evanston, IL in May 1951. Continental Music remained in Evanston until May 1955, when they sold to Robert Johnson Sr. and Jr., who owned Schaff Piano String Co. at 2021 Clybourn Ave.

Joe Kulicek also manufactured a few piano tools of his own, including tuning hammers and hammer extractors. But it was a mystery to me why his employers allowed him to do this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kulicek’s extension tuning handle, with a red polymer handle and shiny plated metal hardware, reminds me of the Millers Falls “Buck Rogers” planes (and other tools), which were futuristic in design, and had red handles made of Tennessee Eastman Tenite #2, a cellulosic plastic, which was developed in 1929.

 

A significant amount of piano tools sold by Continental Music (1947-1955) and Schaff Piano Supply Co. (1955-2000) were made in the machine shop of AMS Piano Tools, founded by Rudy Adams (1900-2005) in Chicago, in 1938.  Schaff now uses their in-house machine shop based in Clifton N.J., purchased from American Piano Supply Co. in 2000 for their tool production.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joe Kulicek started working at Lyon & Healy in 1906.  Many piano technicians would have known Joe Kulicek since the 1920s, when he was manager of the Piano Supplies Division.  His was a long career.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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