Steinway Mystikk

[Richard Brekne]

All these posts about when it is and is not a Steinway anymore just
underline a growing feeling of concern I have for this company.
Ok... they are financially sound...tho they have had a few minor
scares in the not so distant past...and the instruments they make
(at least the grands) sound wonderfull by and large.

But if there is anything that in the end will kill this company its
this absurd reliance on mystikk and an almost religious fervour to
sell and market their instruments and technicians. One direct result
that affects most of us quite frequently is the attidude of many of
the Steinway techs.

Most of these guys are fairly competant in what they actually know.
But they are human, and they have this "stamp of quality" on their
forheads... and it so very very often goes so to THE degree to their
heads. You end up with an arrogance that wayyyyy overstates its own
knowledge base and justifies nearly everything it doesnt understand
with some reference to mystifying concepts that have no basis in
anything rational on this earth... things like "the Circle of
Sound".. etc

Personally, I see a lot of piano interested folks beginning to see
through this nonsense. They certainly want the product that is
produced...but are sick and tired of hearing how they have to spend
20 times more for replacement parts then is neccessary because
anything less will be to the detriment of the instrument... or that
the only tech capable of servicing this instrument is 600 miles away
and you have to pay for his plane ticket... and if you use someone
else well..... we are not quite sure what this means for your
guarentee..

That kind of stuff just doesnt get it. In the end it just will
alienate Steinway from too many of exactly the kind of people they
should be putting on their "team".  Meanwhile companies like Yamaha
are just snapping these same folks up one after another.

You ask me... the writting is on the wall. I like Steinways...
actaully very much. But far to many Steinway people and the
organization... seems unweildy and difficult to deal with.... and
quite frankly...greedy and self consumed. I would like to see that
changed. For their own sake as much as for anything else.

--
Richard Brekne
RPT, N.P.T.F.
Bergen, Norway
mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no