Sealed pianos

[Richard Moody]

Greetings Les,
	If we are talking about the same piano and you think "Everett studio
uprights rank as some of the worst pianos ever made" you must have
had a very sheltered tech life during the '70's and '80's.  Glad you
didn't have to deal with Kimball, Wurlitzer, Kohler and Cambell and
Story and Clark studios over which I rate Everett. And I don't mean
that they are bad.   I won't even mention the "worst ever made" such
as the smaller pianos made by Aeolian, Kincaid, or that one called
"Grand".   And I am one who thinks "Betsy Ross" is unfairly maligned
and the Howard studio over rated.
	In an earlier post you mention the glory days of American piano
manufacturing of which I agree, execpt that you left out Baldwin, and
the player pianos  : )  Yes, we were the leaders.  Never was a mass
market graced with such beautiful instruments by so many makers. Sure
there were the lower grades and "stencils" but take a look at what
remains today of the amazing number of top grades of yesterday.  Like
the 1913 Bush and Lane in for routine repairs. It is 57 inches tall
and weighs over 600 pounds.   With original hammers, strings, (bass
even) dampers and action, that piano will still sound better than
most anything that can be bought new today. After the somewhat ornate
oak case is refinished, the family will have an heirloom for a few
more generations.
	Times have changed, canned music has replaced the main source of
music in the household, the piano.  No longer is the home piano even
considered for purchase by the mass of middle class families as it
once was.  Only since the '70's has the imported piano been a choice
for the American consumer. And now in the 90's the consumer is
offered the digital piano.  How soon will it be that salespeople will
be saying, "And look at all the stuff you can get off the internet,
that will make this $3,000  instrument sound like this?"  Or, "This
CD will play these selections on this digital keyboard."   Its the
player piano all over again without the technician.
	Yet the demographics of acoustic piano sales for the mass market
exists, so it is up to the companies to address this market as it
exists.  As long as the cost of labor varies by region, there will
always be "imports" to serve this mass market.  However there has
always been a market for the piano that has never changed, that of
the artist's instrument.  So far it is the European and American
makers that continue meet most of this demand.  In America it appears
there are only two, down from ten, in the last 150 years.  In Europe
the top ten for two hundred years, have been going strong.  In the
last twenty years two from Asia have entered.  In this market, the
cost of labor is of no advantage, only the effort and resources of
quality make the differnce.  I appreciate this forum for being one of
those resources.
Richard Moody
----------
> From: Les Smith <lessmith@buffnet.net>
> To: pianotech@byu.edu
> Subject: Re: Sealed pianos
> Date: Sunday, March 09, 1997 1:41 PM
>
>
> I guess that I'm just having "one of those days", but it seems to
me
> that if the technician really wanted to "make it easy" on himself,
he
> would stop doing work for schools and avoid those "sealed" Everette
>  studio uprights altogether. Certainly they rank as some of the
worst
> pianos ever made.
>
> Les Smith  (Opinionated, and proud of it!)
> lessmith@buffnet.net
>
>
>
>
>