Here's the "official answer" from Bob Berkman at QRS.

Bill Finch

 - - -

> What did the letters "QRS" originally stand for in the early 1900s?

The official answer is, we do not know.

In the 1920's, the slogan "Quality and Real Service" was adopted,
but that was at least 20 years after the founding of the company.  And
there is a legend that the name was derived from the mail file at the
Melville Clark Piano Co., parent company of QRS.  Roll orders were
originally placed in the seldom-used "Q" file, and as orders grew they
spilled over into the neighboring "R" and "S" files, so roll orders
became known as "QRS orders".

This legend appeared in print in 1926 or so, but is just that -- a legend.

Regards,
QRS

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