[CAUT] University piano replacement program

[Paul T Williams]

That sounds about the same as here, David.  The M&H's and Steinways are 
"tough enough" to handle the pounding.  In the classrooms, we have 
Steinway and Baldwin R's and a couple upright Disklaviers. They all get 
tuned probably 3-4 times a year where the practice rooms I do often and 
the concert pianos sometimes several times a week!

The classroom and practice pianos need to be better than average quality 
as they (the classrooms) are often rehersal rooms for small ensembles.  I 
could see having Yamaha or Kawai in the classrooms, but how many times can 
you rebuild them with confidence and smart fund allocating? Disposable 
pianos I just wouldn't want to consider.

Does this help some more?

Paul




"Porritt, David" <dporritt at mail.smu.edu> 
Sent by: caut-bounces at ptg.org
07/02/2008 07:15 AM
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College and University Technicians <caut at ptg.org>


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Re: [CAUT] University piano replacement program






Tony:
 
I my experience the pianos subjected to the hardest use are the practice 
room grands.  They have a grueling life.  They need to be as substantially 
made as possible.  Since they are substantial pianos rebuilding is 
logical.  If you have pianos there with light rims, light duty key beds 
etc. when you approach the second or third rebuild you start to question 
the foundation.  All of our practice room grand pianos are Steinways – not 
that they are the only heavy duty pianos – it’s just that’s what we happen 
to have.  As to tuning, I do all the practice room grands about every 6 
weeks or whenever I walk down that hallway and am embarrassed by what I 
hear.  Only the performance pianos are tuned more frequently.
 
Classroom pianos, while important, don’t get either the use or the care 
that practice room pianos get – at least here.
 
dp
 
David M. Porritt, RPT
dporritt at smu.edu
 
From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of tony
Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 6:45 AM
To: College and University Technicians
Subject: Re: [CAUT] University piano replacement program
 

Thanks Paul and David,
 
I was assuming the importance of the concert, & studio instruments. That's 
a given! 
 
What I was getting at, is, if (and I know this might be a large if) but if 
we were to submit a plan for total "long term" replacement (with repair & 
rebuilding concert instruments)  How important is it to have "High 
quality" Classroom & Practice rooms pianos.
To cut costs in a replacement program do you feel "middle priced" Grands 
or verticals would hold up? (Yamaha, Kawai, Pramberger, Knabe, etc.) How 
important is the price range of these pianos?
 
My experience is the more expensive the piano, the more delicate it is 
(more sensitive to humidity changes and less tuning stability. In a new 
piano, assuming the pinblock is tight, doesn't the board move more in a 
"high quality" piano with a thinner board designed for better tone? Is 
that necessary for the Practice room pianos? How frequently can you get to 
these pianos to tune them in a year? Doesn't the care & maintenance of the 
"Quality" Concert and Studio pianos constantly change you tuning plans and 
become priority?
 
Your thoughts please..........and anyone else!

   Tony Mastadonna 
Institutional Sales Consultant
 

    Cell-330-603-8843
 
-------Original Message-------
 
From: Porritt, David
Date: 7/1/2008 6:58:14 PM
To: College and University Technicians
Subject: Re: [CAUT] University piano replacement program
 
Paul:
 
We all have to do whatever our leaders and our budget will allow but 
frankly I’d like it if we only bought new grand pianos if we needed 
additional instruments.  I’ve long been convinced that full 
remanufacturing will get you more instrument for less money than trading 
them.  We had one D redesigned 3 years ago and is in my view far better 
than the new ones.  We have another out right now that will be returned 
just before school starts that………..I’ll let you know how it does but my 
prediction is it will blow away any new ones.  AND we will have spent a 
small fraction of the cost of a new one.
 
Uprights on the other hand, I’m trying to get a plan in place that will 
replace 2 uprights a year in perpetuity.  Uprights are not as cost 
effective to remanufacture (at least in my experience) so replacement is 
the logical course of action.
 
dave
 
 
David M. Porritt, RPT
dporritt at smu.edu
 
From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Paul 
T Williams
Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2008 5:04 PM
To: College and University Technicians
Subject: Re: [CAUT] University piano replacement program
 

Hi Tony, 

Realistic plan replacement at UNL is a hard one to "sell".  We have many 
Steinway and Mason &  Hamilin grands in our practice rooms.  Most of them 
are 40-80 years old, but with new actions, key bushings, etc.  Replacing 
them vs. fixing them is the reality of the university setting. We have to 
actually see reality in that we can not just replace them with new pianos 
even though we would love to do so. Performance pianos, of course, get the 
most attention.  I am currently replacing an entire action on a 1956 
Baldwin D which, still, will need a new soundboard, pinblock, and whole 
nine yards, but we have to spread out the budget the best we can and this 
piano is one of our 'concert' instruments.  We also have three Steinway 
D's much newer and in excellent condition.  Every school has it's own 
budget and by what Ive seen, we have a pretty good one, but still not what 
would be considered "great".  The really great schools like Oberlin, 
Julliard, etc probably have a great replacement program as they are 
recognized as world famous.  For the main-stream university programs, I 
would say that they only replace pianos when they just can't be worth the 
investment.  I  regularly tune repair etc these instruments as they are 
played 12-14 hours a day.  Now with summer here, I have a chance to get in 
an try to fix the ongoing problems with certain pianos, but still have no 
time to rebuild them. 

Does this help?? 

Paul 






"tony" <amastadonna at neo.rr.com> 
Sent by: caut-bounces at ptg.org 
07/01/2008 03:55 PM 


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[CAUT] University piano replacement program
 





 


I have a question........ 
  
In creating a "realistic" Piano replacement plan for approval by an 
university administration, 
  
What would you recommend the basic specifications of the practice room 
pianos be? 
  
How would you compare their importance to the school verses the studio and 
performance instruments. 
  
If you would need to "cut" would this be the natural place? 
  
And how many times a year do you get to these pianos for tuning? 
  
  
  

 Tony Mastadonna 
Institutional Sales Consultant 
  

    Cell-330-603-8843 
 





 
 





 

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