PTG Article/reply

[Delwin D Fandrich]

Ralph,

A few months ago I wrote an article for my column titled “If It Ain’t
Broke, Break It.” I don’t think that either of the two people who
actually read that article were “in the industry.” There is a strong
belief—wish?—that things really can go on just as they have for decades.
If we can just tighten up our "quality" a little bit, if we can just
build them a little cheaper, we can make it.

In that article I drew a parallel between the auto industry and the
piano industry. If you’ll recall, the US auto industry faced a similar
dilemma in the seventies and eighties. Detroit’s cars were not selling
well against the products being imported from Japan, Germany and Sweden.
They tried “Badge Engineering” with the same old bodies, the  same old
engines and the same old chassis but with lots of bright and shiny trim.
It didn’t work. They tried putting new bodies and old engines on old
chassis and they called them new models. That didn’t work either. Then
they tried putting new bodies and old engines on new chassis and again
they called them all new models. Still didn’t work. And finally, when
none of those efforts “drove the imports back into the sea,” they
actually tried building better cars. Guess what? It’s working.

(And, by the way, like the car market of the seventies and eighties, I
don’t think the piano market is dying so much as it’s being killed off.
But that’s another story...)

It’s not just that the Asians (or the Europeans) are “building a damn
good piano.” They are good, but they aren’t perfect—they also have their
areas of vulnerability. Nor is it that Asian piano companies are
successful because their pianos are “cheap.” Have you priced a Yamaha
lately? It’s just that we haven’t quite gotten the picture yet. If we
want to gain back our share of the market, we’re going to have to fight
for it. We’re going to have to stop letting them define the battleground
and start shaping it to suit ourselves. We’re going to have to build
better pianos.

A few years ago I did some work for a dealer that had just started
selling Sohmer pianos. In the first shipment there were only 42”
consoles and a few grands. Being a curious sort, I examined carefully
how they were built and, of course, measured their string scales. In the
second shipment, there were a couple of 46” pianos that were described
as follows (and I quote from a brochure printed not long before they
went out of business): “As a professional upright, it offers greater
string length and tonal volume.” The problem was that in reality they
sounded a lot like the consoles. So, out came the measuring tools and
guess what? The stringing scale of the studio was identical to that of
the console with the exception of the back scale in the bass section—the
tail sections of the bass strings were a bit longer. The speaking
lengths were identical throughout. To “design” the studio they had
simply added a couple of inches to the bottom of the plate and back
structure. It did help the bass, but not by much. Their sales rep never
could quite understand why that great “design” wasn’t accepted by the
consumers who would look at it and then buy a Yamaha. (Yes, I know,
Sohmer wasn’t the only company to “design” pianos that way. It didn’t
work any better on that one, either.) Were actually going to have to
build better sounding pianos.

Of course you’re right, it’s going to take more than design and
construction—though it would be nice to see some fresh design and
construction ideas. But, that’s the easy part. (Well, now it is...) And
it’s certainly going to take more than redoing some moldings and some
hardware so a 1930’s design can be called a new model. That may have
worked in the fifties, sixties and seventies. It won’t work today.
(Actually, it didn't work then either, but the consequences didn't catch
up quite as fast.)

It’s going to take a whole fresh attitude, starting from the top and
working its way down. Someone who really understands the industry, the
market and the competition is going to have sit down and accurately
assess where their current products fit into that mix. (That’s not going
to be as easy as it sounds) They’ll have to decide what products they
will need to regain competitiveness. They will have to be able to form a
plan, find and hire the right people, and to make an unshakable
commitment to carrying out that plan. Someone is going to have to
determine that it is good business to build competitive pianos.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure there are all that many around who realize
that the old ways aren’t ever going to work again and that the old
designs can’t be fixed enough to get by any more. They may not seem
broke, but they are.

The good part is that once the decision is made to go ahead, it won't
take all that long or cost all that much to pull it off.
Ah, well...

ddf