Economics of rebuilding grands

[Diane Hofstetter]

Hi Brian and List!

As Brian said:
>As I have progressed in the detail of work I'm doing, I have tended to put 
>more into the pianos I do parts wise.  But when you do that, the hours 
>needed to 'refurbish' all those old parts are significantly diminished as 
>well.
>
My take on this question:

As we work our perspective changes and our valuations get raised; better 
parts are more expensive, but we find out that they are worth every penny in 
terms of the results and the amount of effort necessary to make the piano 
sound and play the way it should to give our customers the experience of 
beauty they are looking forward to when they sit down to play.  Obviously 
some pianos are not worth this and some customers cannot afford it.

The best thing I discovered in learning this work was to acquire for myself 
the best piano I could possibly manage to have so that my own sights could 
be raised to a higher level.  My partner and I lived in a shack, bought 
clothes from Goodwill, but purchased a Kawai GS30 brand new (on time).  That 
piano taught us a lot, (regulated, tuned and voiced it regularly), and when 
a customer begged to buy it, we sold it for more than we paid for it and 
purchased a Kawai GS 50 used, needing about $2,000 worth of work (which by 
then I knew how to do), netted $3,000 profit on the exchange and have a 
piano we love even more.

Since I have never worked for a store where there are a lot of new pianos to 
play, I needed this piano so I could understand what quality IS.

>From: "Brian Trout" <btrout@desupernet.net>
>Reply-To: pianotech@ptg.org
>To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
>Subject: Re: Economics of rebuilding grands ...Roger
>Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1999 09:19:44 -0400
>
>Hi Roger,
>
>Re: M&H,
>I guess it would make a difference what is going in>
>But lets say for the sake of argument that we did go ahead and spend $1500 
>for action parts.  Does that mean we didn't make any money on the job?  Not 
>by a long shot.  (I would actually have rather spent more on this job, but 
>I'm not the guy who made that decision.)
>
>As I have progressed in the detail of work I'm doing, I have tended to put 
>more into the pianos I do parts wise.  But when you do that, the hours 
>needed to 'refurbish' all those old parts are significantly diminished as 
>well.
>
>btrout@desupernet.net
>
>
>     -----Original Message-----
>     From: Roger Jolly <baldyam@sk.sympatico.ca>
>     To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org>
>     Date: Monday, August 09, 1999 12:03 AM
>     Subject: Re: Economics of rebuilding grands
>
>
>
>
>     Hi Brian,
>                     I would like to know where you get your inexpensive 
>parts, Action materials alone cost me about $1,500 US. Add a board, 
>strings, pins, dampers and misc. other felt products, and the bill would be 
>a lot more than $1,600.
>     Regards Roger
>
>     Roger Jolly
>     Baldwin Yamaha Piano Centre
>     Saskatoon and Regina
>     Saskatchewan, Canada.
>     306-665-0213
>     Fax 652-0505


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