In a message dated 4/16/99 5:55:56 PM Central Daylight Time, kam544@earthlink.net writes: << Aside from all this, I know you are an exceptional technician, and that is what ultimately matters in a piano forum. Count me as one who is thankful you have returned to the Pianotech List.. Sincerely, Keith McGavern >> I agree with you Keith and I was impressed by you remarks as I was of Anteres'. It is one thing to identify a situation and condition and give it a name and/or acronym, it is another to make a professional lifestyle out of always finding the *worst* you can say about nearly any piano rather than the best or at least trying to be impartial. Yes, you have the right and privilege to say whatever you think about any piano on a List like this. I heard when Kimball went out of business which was quite a while before I ever got a computer and found my way here, that there were many ugly, cynical and vulgar denouncements of Kimball and how the prevailing attitude was "good riddance!". To me, it was a tragedy because the company had made some very good improvements in the last years. The list member who thought it was just fine to throw in the comment, <<regulation is not something I >identify vertical Kimballs as being subjected to in any great detail, at the >factory. >> did so as a gratuitous insult to the company and its products. It was not pertinent to the discussion at hand. It went beyond merely having an opinion about a topic but to a display of general cynicism. He asked me in in a response if I didn't realize that "Kimball is no longer around". The poorly built pianos in this country that were only meant to last 15 years *are* gone. The Kimball piano had a 75 year warranty on its soundboard against failure. Now, although that warranty cannot be honored, companies don't make warranties for periods longer than they expect the product to last. If anything, they underestimate it as a margin of safety. I believe that Kimball, a strong company, ceased the business of building pianos because of the declining market for a low end product. Baldwin's most recent report has been consistent with this. At this point, sales of the high end product are supporting the low end, not the other way around as it used to be or as you might still expect it to be. The fact is that there are so many common pianos out there that, in spite of the condemnation, ridicule and standardized neglect by the "good ol' boy" type of person who writes and makes public, over and over, derogatory remarks about these instruments, there is very little market for any more. These instruments are holding up and are being kept and traded in the used piano market. The high end pianos are being sold to the people with deep pockets and the used piano market has the greater share of the mid and low ends. It was time for Kimball to quit while it was ahead. If you decided you wanted some first hand medical information and you went on a Physician's List to see what they were saying, would you expect to see the equivilent kind of language, which is largely indicative of ignorance and an inability to express oneself? If you did, what kind of confidence would you have in that profession? One of the very first posts I ever saw on this List was by someone who had already told the whole tale at the dinner table at a regional seminar. I, being the President of the Chapter, held my tongue and let him talk, not wanting to make a fuss nor to encourage him. I tried to introduce another subject without responding to his. The other people at the table did not comment other than with polite nods and "Oh?"'s that indicated they were listening. Till, he went on and on to give every incompetently done detail and make many speculations while guffawing at what he thought was such an amusing story. If that weren't enough, I saw the whole thing here a short time later, in print and called it, "junk mail". Of course, *that* was not the right thing to say, as I have so clearly learned, but I'm not really so sure that I wouldn't do the very same thing again if I had it to do over. Then again, I saw the whole thing printed over in the PTG Journal, complete with "PSO" but with no explanation of the acronym. It was assumed that anyone reading it would know. The author claimed that writing all of this up this way was meant to be used in "teaching" at a Chapter technical. It was a very good example of teaching what not to do, I suppose. Then, finally, at the Convention in Providence, I was again confronted with this story that I had never wanted to hear in the first place. Now, it was the sequel. I was shown a picture of it in a flower garden, I think, I don't know, I didn't look at it very long. I suppose at this point, as a flower box, it would be appropriate to say it is no longer a piano but a "PSO". Not wanting to hear any more, I very briefly told the distinguished gentleman that I know he really is, that I did not think the whole exposé was appropriate. He didn't take that well and has tried to be the gadfly ever since. I don't think in the position he has as a technician that he needs to engage in the kind of talk that demeans other technicians and the pianos they work on. He is free to make any comment, observation or remark, yes, but to make a lifestyle out of it is bad for business. The ones who want to talk that way have made their own place to do it. I say they keep it over there, out of the mainstream of information about piano technology. Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC