Jasper American Piano

[Brian Trout]

Hi Bill,

It's been interesting, seeing the various opinions expressed regarding the
Kimball and similar pianos.  And for the most part, I'd have to agree with
most of what has been said about making reasonable efforts to make them
playable and as in tune as budgets and reality permit.

I do have to take issue with one thing you said, though.  I'll paste it in
so I don't mess it up...

You wrote:
<snip>...while others who "only do Steinways" and who have
proposed "rebuilding" an instrument which is essentially new have been
labeled as crooks and gone out of business.

I'm not 100% sure what you were thinking about when you said this, so I
apologize if I read it wrong.

There are different levels of pianos, piano owners, piano technicians, and
skills associated with those playing, tuning, servicing, rebuilding, even
listening.

There are people out there, some with very large checkbooks, who want the
very best they can buy.  There are people who are not satisfied with the
quality levels of the brand new Steinway.  I don't feel it's right to tell
them that they are wrong to want a better product, and I don't feel it's
right to (in somewhat backhanded fashion) criticize those top end rebuilders
who may cater to the client who won't settle for the 'production Steinway',
but rather want a level of excellence that a few of the top rebuilders are
striving towards.  Yes, those technicians serve a very limited segment of
society, but if you look at them a little more closely, most of those people
have waiting lists going sometimes 2 or 3 years into the future, and for the
most part a long list of satisfied customers as well.

It's a complicated and diverse world.  I just don't want to see anyone,
regardless of their piano's brand name, and regardless of their
expectations, put in a bad light because they might be different than
someone else.

Forgive me if I took your statement differently than you meant it, Bill.  No
offense was intended, just wanted to offer a different perspective.

Best wishes,

Brian Trout
Quarryville, PA
btrout@desupernet.net