Steinway bashing, cont.

[Richard Brekne]

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Delwin D Fandrich wrote:

> Ah, Richard...you still miss the point of this discussion. Except for the
> folks buying the Steinway decal very few piano buyers give much
> consideration to what the piano is going to be like five years down. All
> pianos last 500 years or more and they only need tuning once every century
> or so and anything that goes wrong before the 50 year warranty is up, it's
> the manufacturers fault. "Why, you should see my grandmothers piano...came
> around the Horn in a canoe...hasn't been tuned since...still sounds great!."
> You and I know how a piano deteriorates over the years, but even the skilled
> pianist/buyer sees and hears what is on the floor in front of them.

Granted.... and 100 % so... even the part about Aunty Emm :) tho Gordon was
talking about a University piano in presumably a semi concert / perfomance
situation. And besides....you know me and Petrofs..

> I had this same discussion with untold numbers of folks back in the 1960s
> and 1970s who were considering a certain new import from Japan that was
> being compared (by their dealers and a growing number of technicians)
> favorably with the Steinway -- similar design, "better workmanship," --
> "Just look at the detailing, the stringing, the plate finish, the...," well,
> if you were there, you know. One dealer printed a comparison flyer complete
> with photos of what to look for -- and to top it off, a much lower cost and
> a shiny plastic finish. Little was said about sound quality or longevity. I
> said, "yes, but five or ten years from now those pianos you're really not
> going to like the sound...." But I may as well have been talking to the
> wind.

I was there.... tho just on the tail end of all that. And I remember the
Yamahnamahas of the 60's and early 70's.... brashy bright metalic sounding
things that turned into tubs in a few years. Yet I also witnessed them turn into
a fine instrument. To this day the C3 is my favorite all around piano ever made
by anyone. It wont fill Carnigy Hall... but it will do just about anything
else... and do it pretty darned well. But now they cost and arm and a leg, and
if Petrof is to follow their lead in quality workmanship.... well they will get
expensive too... But thats ok... I think a really good piano has to cost a good
junk of cash. Hell, even a bus driver costs alot these days... not to demean bus
drivers mind you... :)


> Bottom line? The Petrof's I've heard on the showroom floor do sound good.
> More musical than many, if not most, of the high-priced spread. Our words of
> caution are thrown to the wind as the pianist gets wrapped up in the music.

Agreed again... and no Aunty Emm this time.  Petrof has a fine all around sound.
Music can indeed be made on these. Its what makes them fun to work on too. You
can go a long ways just by doing some really thorough action reworking on one of
these instruments.

>
> The lesson here is that every manufacturer should be working really hard to
> make their pianos sound musical on the showroom floor. "What a wonderful
> world it would be...." Barring that, the market is wide open to the
> manufacturer or, for that, the dealer, who is willing to take a low-end
> piano, spend just a little bit of time on it and make it into musical and
> present it as a superior piano. The technician may be able to look five
> years down the road, but who, besides the experienced technician, is going
> to be able to present a case against it. Let's just go out and sell those
> features.
>
> Del
>

Did you know that Petrof has the largest manufacturing facilities in Europe now
?... and I believe the 3rd or 4th biggest in the world at this point. They have
lots of potential.... and judging by the fellows they brought to our convention
this past fall... all the right kind of enthusiasm as well. Nothing would please
me more then to see them come around the courner.

Cheers Del

RicB

--
Richard Brekne
RPT, N.P.T.F.
UiB, Bergen, Norway
mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no
http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html


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