Ed, You're right, rebuilding is much more cost-effective than replacement - to an extent. My first replacement priority will be 30-odd 40 year old Hamiltons. I also included $5000/year for parts, $4000/year for a student employee, $3000/year for contract tuning, and $3000/year for contract rebuilding. Exactly how those numbers will balance over the long haul will be subject to experience, but I do have $15,000 built in for parts and labor, against $45,000 for annual replacement. The replacement scheme assumes uprights last 40 years, grands 60 years. Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico --On Thursday, August 7, 2003 7:13 PM -0400 A440A@aol.com wrote: > Fred writes: > << My > chair tells me he is almost certain the upper administration will approve > our request for a new course fee of $5/credit hour for all music dept > courses, targeted at pianos. This will generate $40,000 to $60,000/year, > but the bulk will go to piano replacement.>> > > AAAAAAARRRRGGG!!! > I see this all too often! Several years ago, I found that a major > state university had received the funds to purchase a new Steinway D. > They had two older ones, one of which had been horribly "rebuilt" about > 5 years before, and was unusable. The other was in poorly regulated > and voiced limbo. I tried to tell them that for the price of a new > one, the old one could be completely, (and I mean COMPLETELY) restored > and they would still have $50,000 left over to bring others up to par. > It didn't wash, they had been convinced that a NEW one was the only way > to have the 'genuine' experience. I just returned from that school > where I spent time with the "other" piano. I repinned the hammerline > and assorted whippen problems, reshaped hammers, worked over the > stringing, regulated, tuned and voiced. When I was done, the first > faculty member that played it said, "Wow, I wish our new piano played > and sounded this good"! Maybe we can figure out a way for you to restore > the really bad one". > As Caut members, we really need to get our sales pitch down to a > science so that schools can be made to understand that replacement of > better brands of pianos is far more expensive than restoration, and the > results are NOT superior. It blows my mind to see a school turn in a > handful of worn out Steinways in trade-in on a like number of new ones. > That is a great deal for the factory, but the school is getting taken to > the cleaners. > Regards, > Ed Foote RPT > www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/ > www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html > <A > HREF="http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/399/six_degrees_of_tonality.html"> > MP3.com: Six Degrees of Tonality</A> > _______________________________________________ > caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
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