Kimball Whitney

[Farrell]

> The Whitney spinets I service are low quality instruments, and some of
> them sound pretty bad even after they're tuned.  I wouldn't particularly
> encourage a customer to buy one, but some families work on a very
> limited budget and we need to recognize that.

Absolutely. And hence shopping in the $500 price range. One also needs to recognize that for every bad Whitney, or Grand, or Winter spinet out there, there is a good condition $500 Baldwin Acrosonic. Or a later model console. It is not unusual to find a like-new condition Kimball, Lowrey, Conn, WhateverNo-nameSpecial in the 10 to 25 year old range for close to $500. So you have quite a choice. It may take a bit of looking, but the better ones are out there.

I call it my $500 piano lecture. I gave the $500 lecture to a client whose old upright I condemned a while back. She had a limited budget. She went out and found a 12 year old Baldwin console for $900. The piano was in like-new condition. Think of the difference between the nice Baldwin console and the 40 year old Whitney spinet. Think about it for about 1/2 second. We are talking night and day here. IMHO, one should say no to the Whitney and look for something nicer.

Terry Farrell
  
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Clyde Hollinger" <cedel@supernet.com>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, January 06, 2003 7:19 AM
Subject: Re: Kimball Whitney


> Corte,
> 
> Having only "Kimball Whitney" is not enough to go on.  In my tuning
> files I have 16 Whitneys.  Seven are consoles, studios or grands, nine
> are spinets.  If it is a vertical piano, it is likely a spinet, but you
> can't say for sure until you see the piano.
> 
> The Whitney spinets I service are low quality instruments, and some of
> them sound pretty bad even after they're tuned.  I wouldn't particularly
> encourage a customer to buy one, but some families work on a very
> limited budget and we need to recognize that.  Been there.
> 
> Regards,
> Clyde Hollinger, RPT
> 
> SUSAN P SWEARINGEN wrote:
> 
> > Any opinions on the quality of Kimball Whitney pianos?  Is it a
> > spinet?? A customer of mine is looking at buying one for about $500
> > and asked me but I've never tuned one. Thanks in advance for your
> > responses. Corte Swearingen
>