J. Frank Conover

Biography

Born at Mount Morris, N.Y., in 1843, J. Frank Conover began studying music young and, after high school, apprenticed for three years under Albert Weber, paying $300 for the privilege. He then studied music theory and acoustics before spending five years selling Weber and other pianos across the Southern states from Clarksville, Texas. In 1870 he and his brother formed Conover Brothers in Kansas City, Mo.; Conover later opened a St. Louis store selling Steinway pianos, then sold both businesses and moved to New York in 1881 to build the Conover Brothers piano himself, focusing on soundboard construction and string vibration. Establishing a reputation as a designer of scientific piano scales, he attracted the attention of Herman D. Cable and in 1892 merged his business into The Cable Company, where he redesigned the scales of all its products, especially the grand pianos, prized for pure tone and carrying power. He also patented upright-action improvements and a metal bushing device for tuning pins that eliminates grinding between metals. Frank Conover is described as an eminent piano constructor whose services H. Cable secured in 1890, when Cable consolidated the business of Conover Brothers of New York with his own, for the manufacture of the Conover piano. A portrait of Conover, in suit and tie with signature beneath, accompanies the text. From Spillane (1890): J. Frank Conover was the senior member of Conover Brothers, the piano manufacturing firm he founded in 1870 with his brother George H. Conover, initially as dealers in pianos and musical merchandise in Kansas City, Missouri. Born January 31, 1843, in Mount Morris, Livingston County, New York, of Holland extraction, he was trained musically under a German master named Nothnagel and, at his father Garret Conover's arrangement, was personally taught piano-making by the late Albert Weber. Combining musical education, mechanical skill, and dealer's experience, he turned his attention to improving Conover Brothers' instruments after the firm began manufacturing in New York around 1880, drawing every scale and preparing every pattern and model for their first pianos, a function he continued to fill. He held patents from 1878 to 1884 for a duplex bridge with auxiliary vibrators intended to harmonize tone across the transition between overstrung and understrung sections, and for several years tested an original hollow steel tuning pin. Spillane credits him with achieving a uniformity of tone quality across the scale that earlier European makers such as Debain and Pleyel had failed to attain.

Highlights

• Described as an eminent piano constructor secured by H.D. Cable in 1890 to manufacture the Conover piano
• Apprenticed for three years under Albert Weber, paying $300, then sold Weber pianos across the Southern states.
• Founded Conover Brothers, building pianos in Kansas City, St. Louis, and later New York, becoming known for scientific scale design.
• Merged his business with The Cable Company in 1892, redesigning its scales and inventing a metal tuning-pin bushing device.
• Co-founded Conover Brothers with his brother George H. Conover in 1870 as piano and musical merchandise dealers in Kansas City, Missouri
• Trained personally in piano-making by Albert Weber and educated musically under the German master Nothnagel
• Held patents (1878-1884) for a duplex bridge with auxiliary vibrators and developed the Conover hollow steel tuning pin

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911); Vol. II (1913), pp. 59, 60, 61, 62.

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 282.

Public domain.