New Petrof 52" upright"

[Richard Brekne]

kam544@flash.net wrote:

> >Run don't walk away from that deal.  Try a Yamaha U1 Or U5 for that money
> >they are highly superior.
> >
> >Ed Tomlinson
>
> I have a slight problem with this advice you've given, Ed.  Maybe you can
> help me out.
>
> I have been a list subscriber on Pianotech for sometime now, so it's
> perfectly understandable for me to know of at least one reason (that isn't
> readily evident in your reply) why you would endorse the Yamaha U1 or U5 as
> being highly superior.
>
> My question is this: Don't you feel it would be extremely beneficial to at
> least identify your specific connections with Yamaha piano products, so
> your advice would be more correctly understood and evaluated, especially
> when making an indirect aspersion concerning a deal involving another
> dealer and another maker of pianos?
>
> Keith McGavern
> kam544@flash.net
> Registered Piano Technician
> Oklahoma Chapter 731
> Piano Technicians Guild
> USA

Point taken, and aggreed with to a point, but anyone who has really
gotten into
Petrofs (and at the same time have no vested interest in them) will also
shout
at least a fair warning flag up in the air.

Petrofs fool many folks with what on the surface of things seems to be a
nice
round full sound. But underneath that lies a whole lot of what I can
only call
poor workmanship. Actions are typically way out of wack and difficult at
best
to line in, the bridge pin drilling is some of the worst I have seen,
and often
as not you can drop a nickel between the plate and the pinblock if you
take the
bother to expose it underneath the felt (which these past years has
become
increasingly difficult to pull up for some reason). The pin blockitself
is
often poorly worked and of less then grade A dilignet.

Now you can run into an occasional Petrof with a stable block, and one
with
better then usual bridge pin work, and the action is always doable, but
look it
over carefully. In my mind you are playing bingo buying a Petrof. I deal
with
them daily over here.

A couple years ago a bunch of the "better" builders from the Petrof
factory
split off to form a company called Bohemian. These suffer the same
typical
problems as Petrof, Weinbach and Røsler pianos always have.

So in defense of Ed T. Be carefull putting out 9 grand for a Petrof.

Richard Brekne
I.C.P.T.G.  N.P.T.F.
Bergen, Norway