It won't be a Steinway anymore!

[Farrell]

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"The case and the plate are probably the only components of a piano that =

should stay together. Those are the "guts" of the piano. Anything else =
can be=20
changed."

This was the point to my previous post. The plate is NOT made by =
Steinway when the instrument is new!  Steinway uses MAJOR non-Steinway =
components in their NEW pianos. NEW Steinways are not Steinways! So, if =
you used all Steinway parts in a rebuild, you would have an all-Steinway =
non-Steinway!

The bottom line being: "Keep your Steinway ALL Steinway" has nothing to =
do with reality. The philosophy is nothing more than marketing crud - =
and the customer that has been hooked by it would benefit from some =
education. New Steinways are not all-Steinway. So to use non-Steinway =
replacement parts is consistent with factory standards.

I hate marketing dingbats. How do they sleep at night? They are like =
little bullies in the schoolyard who laugh over having successfully made =
fun of someone and gotten away with it. Biological scum. Advertising =
with some meat and truth is OK. But to just do it with slogans, etc. - =
yuk. It makes me wonder about the public at large sometimes.

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Wimblees@AOL.COM=20
  To: pianotech@ptg.org=20
  Sent: Friday, June 01, 2001 11:21 PM
  Subject: Re: It won't be a Steinway anymore!


  In a message dated 6/1/01 12:14:48 PM Central Daylight Time,=20
  dporritt@post.cis.smu.edu writes:=20



    I have been in this work for just under 30 years.  I've heard about =
any=20
    question or comment possible by customers.  There's one though, that =

    completely stumps me!=20

    If a piano needs a new sounding board I often here "...but it won't =
be a=20
    Steinway anymore."  I often come up with a lame analogy to a race =
driver.  =20
    He doesn't care what kind of fuel pump his car has as long as it's =
the=20
    fastest it can be.  Do you want your piano to be the best it can be, =
or do=20
    you want to keep this old sounding board.  =20

    Does anyone have a good, but not glib, answer for these people?  I =
just=20
    don't understand their thinking.  =20

    dave=20




  Several years ago a letter from a lawyer appeared in the Journal =
basically=20
  telling technicians that rebuilding a Steinway is an infringement on =
patent=20
  rights. The gist of the article tried to imply that only the Steinway =
Factory=20
  is allowed to remanufacture Steinway pianos. Several months later =
another=20
  lawyer wrote an article saying the first article is full of hog wash, =
and he=20
  quoted a Supreme Court decision to prove the case.=20

  At what point does a replacement of a part other than a Steinway part =
make=20
  the piano NOT a Steinway? Can we change a string, or a hammer, or =
remove a=20
  punching under a key, and still have a "real" Steinway? As someone =
pointed=20
  out, when was the last time a member of the Steinway family build a =
piano?=20
  And as someone else pointed out, are new Steinways built entirely in =
the=20
  Steinway factory, like they used to be?=20

  The case and the plate are probably the only components of a piano =
that=20
  should stay together. Those are the "guts" of the piano. Anything else =
can be=20
  changed. Even if the piano was taken back to the factory, some of the =
parts=20
  will not be manufactured by Steinway. So even those pianos should be=20
  considered non Steinway.=20

  Dave. there is no easy answer, but I would tell your customers what =
they want=20
  to hear. Tell them the parts are the best available for the =
instruments and=20
  that you'll do your best to make the piano sound and play like they =
want it=20
  to play and sound.  If they think it looks, plays and sounds like a =
Steinway,=20
  then that is what it is.=20

  Willem=20


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