Rebuilding a Kimball grand...

[Delwin D Fandrich]

Ron Nossaman wrote:

> Hi Del, a question, if you will.
> When you remanufacture a "Noname" for resale, do you anonymize it? Since it
> ends up being so considerably different than when it was originally built, I
> just wondered if the original name limits the sales potential in spite of
> the improved performance. Consider, for instance, if you would have left the
> name on that Brambach, had it proved to be workable.
>
> Just curious,
>  Ron

  -----------------------------------------

And a good question it is!  We're still up in the air about it.  In this
particular case we did "anonymize" it.  Mostly just to see what would happen.  It
has been an interesting experience, all told.  We showed it at a Chapter meeting
and the response was much more positive than I think it would have been had the
original name still been on the piano -- it was not from an up-scale
manufacturer.  (Sorry about that!)  Potential customers don't seem to mind either
way.  We have a potential sale for the piano at $17,500.  I doubt we'd have gotten
that kind of an offer with the original nameboard decal.  We do find that people
-- particularly technicians -- seem to be a bit more willing to judge the
instrument on its performance and musical value than they would if it had a name
long looked down on by the trade.  We present the piano as the a good original
structure plus the sum of our design efforts and work.

I don't know if we'll do another like this or not.  I guess it will depend on
whether or not we actually get our $17,500.

Regards,

Del