That part is no quote. I came up with it last night -----Original Message----- From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Richard Brekne Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 4:21 AM To: caut at ptg.org Subject: Re: [CAUT] Steinway or Forgery? Hi Ben.. First I'd like to echo that this last post of yours was a bit hard to sort out with regards to who said what and when your comments came in. Perhaps a bit of careful "typesetting" might help ? That said I did pick out this last quote (below) as it is such a sore point for so many. We hear a lot of talk about how the industry plays such nasty political games to gain marketing advantages and one of the is the incessant re-drawing of the basic Steinway philosophy your quote below refers to. Steinway actually does and has succeeded beyond anyones wildest imagination in meeting the needs/desires of the market by adhering to this building philosophy. It creates a whole field of instruments which vary widely, yet still retain something that is somehow recognizable as the <<Steinway sound>>. And no... this is not purely illusion. Anymore then Bohemia creates its own typical sound picture... or any other factory. Some factories and builders strive to create as predictable and equalized sound response instrument to instrument as they can.... and they get equally criticized for that. Seems you can win for loosing. I go back to this I've said a thousand times... live and let live. If S&S wants to do the <<let em vary>> approach then thats their bag and if Yamaha wants to do the <<make them as alike as possible thing>> then thats their bag... and so what ? I don't personally see how that in itself is an impedance to anyone else doing their thing. Nor do I see how "loosing it" over how cruddy the world of marketing politics helps anyone either... however understandable that frustration can be. Cheers RicB Steinways are born, not made. We are part of a maturation process. It is easy to get angry with a child when he or she fails to get things right immediately, or has to be told more than once what to do. We cannot know what a child will grow up to be, and a child may defy our expectations. We may not be in complete control for the process of development while raising a child, and the child may go in directions we disapprove of, but usually the child will end up finding his or her own way. This is the way it is with Steinways. Not being in control all the time discomforts us, but with a Steinway, that is the way it has to be. Each one has its own character and personality, and we abuse lacquer when we use it to change that. I am definitely getting better at not trying to make a Steinway be something it is not. And a new one is just not mature yet. It is frustrating, because we want it to be an adult immediately, but eventually with good rearing it turns into something better than we expected it to be.
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