Ed, et al, This issue is huge. One of the most important functions of a piano course would be to educate pianists and piano faculty just what is possible. Too often when even just one aspect of a piano is perceived as "bad," the whole piano is forever dismissed as a bad instrument. The faculty then becomes a force for considering rebuilding instead of replacement. The process will take some time though, so we might be around to see the fruits of our education! Alan McCoy > -----Original Message----- > From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org]On Behalf Of > A440A@aol.com > Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2003 4:13 PM > To: caut@ptg.org > Subject: Re: budget > > > 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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