What's up with these Polish rebuilds at U.S. dealers?

[Andrew and Rebeca Anderson]

I have worked on Bosendorfer and an S&S grands from Poland that came 
through a piano show I hosted.  The work was shiny.  The details were 
annoying.  What is frightening or telling is that people didn't look 
past the glitz in their purchasing decisions.

I might add regarding SAMA that they have a menu of services that the 
dealer/tech selects from and SAMA does what is selected.  They do a 
good enough job that a least one major north american manufacturer 
sends their "rebuilds" to them for refinishing and restringing.  SAMA 
has had trouble with some outfits claiming that much more was done 
for the piano than the outfit actually requested.  They keep a log of 
what they have done for each piano that comes through their door by 
name and serial number to protect themselves from the legal 
repercussion that can ensue from such false advertising.

SAMA will install new Bolduc boards and boards from other makers as 
well.  People may debate as to the level of quality of their belly 
work is but they do it.  They aren't designers and slavishly copy 
what was there when the piano came in.  This can be problematic with 
some pianos where the scale design nears or exceeds the breaking 
strength of the wire you select for re-stringing (always get a scale 
evaluation).  If you don't want a copy you have to provide the new 
specifications.  If you want re-design work you have to get it and 
then send the specs to them.  They will recommend trashing a board on 
occasion but they report that store owners rebuilding trade-ins 
rarely accept their recommendations.  Essentially the customer gets 
what they are willing to pay for.

I have sent several pianos through them and they did a decent job of 
what I wanted them to do.  Considering the price I'm happy.  If I 
want some really high-end action work I keep it for myself.  If I 
want fine belly work I send it somewhere else.

They're good at taking a piano and doing what they say/agree they will to it.

FWIW
Andrew Anderson, Artisan Piano


At 07:31 AM 7/16/2007, you wrote:
>Paul,
>
>SAMA and several companies stemming from Poland and Eastern Europe 
>are our COSTCOs of rebuilding. The only difference is that while the 
>COSTCO or wholesaler model works great for selling stuff like juice 
>boxes and diapers in bulk, it yields some very interesting results 
>with piano restoration.
>
>Jude Reveley, RPT
>Absolute Piano Restoration, LLC
>Lowell, Massachusetts
>(978) 323-4545
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <mailto:paul at bruesch.net>paul bruesch
>To: <mailto:pianotech at ptg.org>Pianotech List
>Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2007 7:20 PM
>Subject: Re: What's up with these Polish rebuilds at U.S. dealers?
>
>For the benefit of the clueless and uninitiated (e.g. me), could 
>someone please provide a definition for "Polish rebuild" and 
>"Mexican Sama job"??
>
>Paul Bruesch
>Stillwater, MN
>
>On 7/15/07, <mailto:Erwinspiano at aol.com>Erwinspiano at aol.com 
><<mailto:Erwinspiano at aol.com>Erwinspiano at aol.com> wrote:
>   Hi Gene
>   I've seen many of these.  It's one step up from the Mexican Sama 
> job.  They don't replace boards in Europe routinely.....re crown 
> them sometimes but rarely replace from what I've heard on this 
> list. Shim it yes, many many shims
>   The thing is...... Dealers are business folks not usually 
> Artisans & some people will... just like trout .......go for shiny 
> sparkly rather than the real deal.
>   If a dealer gets the price of new M for trash like this then in 
> my book, that's fraudulent, or maybe just an excellent rip off 
> artist with a great line. same thing
>
>   In this case the client swallowed hook,line & sinker.  How truly 
> unfortunate.
>    INMO it would be better for these kinds of dealers to go do 
> something like sell refrigerators or ice to Eskimos.
>   Moral of story. Don't work for this type of retailer
>
>   Rant over...done...for now... maybe
>   Dale
>I had only one experience.
>1918 SSM
>First impression was confusing - nice high gloss poly with beautiful
>matching veneer inner rim, music desk and fallboard - this and the Steinway
>name threw the first curve. New action to include frame and keys. However,
>glides were omitted and the sostenuto monkey guide as well.
>Action was not even close to being balanced at over 70 grams down and less
>than 19 up.
>Back action was original and I replaced it. The lift lever tray was badly
>warped and they had gone to great pains to make the dampers work ok.
>Sound board appeared new but on closer inspection it had been stripped,
>bleached and refinished very carefully - it was dead.
>Many case parts did not fit well because of the extra thick finish.
>The una chorda stop on the cheek block was missing.
>All trap levers were new.
>The action was not regulated very well and a few samples showed over 10.5mm
>dip - customer did not want me to do any regulation.
>It was the shiny kind of thing that trout like people go for.
>The rebuilder did not include a disclaimer.
>The customer paid about the same price as for a new SSM.
>As I was working for the retailer it was a difficult situation.
>I will avoid them in the future.
>Gene Nelson
>
>
>
>
>
>
>----------
>Get a sneak peak of the all-new 
><http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour/?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000982>AOL.com.
>

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