What would Steinway do

[RicB]

Oh come on Terry.... are you seriously going to reduce all Rons 
extensive redesigning work with all the express intent on changing 
(improving I'm sure some would say) the performance and sound of this 
instrument to so much superficial cosmetics ?  The instrument has 
nothing in common at all with a Steinway D outside of its case. Its 
Nossamans instrument.  And personally... if I were he I would most 
certainly not want anyone calling it a Steinway.  Nor does anyone really 
call such a Corvette a Corvette without a very express understanding of 
the fact that it really isnt a Corvette at all... its just referred to 
thus for convenience... with the qualifier <<modified>> tacked on usually.

Of course there goes a border where a redesign becomes so involved that 
the original character of the thing in question becomes something in 
itself.  I fail to see why this provokes such fervor.  Its like its 
wanted both ways.... its still a Steinway... yet its mine really... but  
its still a Steinway... This all gets a bit fantastic at times.

I'll be the first to admit that this same fantastic-ness can go the 
other way.  Some of the insistence on <<originality>> is just as of 
course ridiculous.  But thats all part of a marketing position.  You are 
not Steinway having everybody and their uncle trying to earn unfairly 
off your name, copy your inventions, steal your ideas, compete in a 
vicious market or the rest of it.  But if you were... I'm pretty darn 
sure you, like just about everyone else in just about ever other branch 
would find any defense you could to guard your position.  Thats where 
this discussion belongs... not all this ...... accusatory stuff. 

MHO... and I know clear well I am in the decided minority here... but I 
stand by it.

Cheers my friend.
RicB




    I know this has been rehashed many times, but IMHO, Ron N's D at
    Rochester
    is a Steinway. More specifically, it is a modified Steinway.

    Q: What do you call an all-original 1959 Corvette? A: A Corvette.

    Q: What do you call a 1959 Corvette with a '69 302 engine with
    four-bolt-mains, angle plugs, ported and polished valve passages,
    2.02 I&E
    valves,12:1 pistons, 0.610 lift cam, 850 double-pumper dual-feed
    carburetor,
    4.88 12-bolt rear end, etc., etc.? A: A modified Corvette.

    It started life at the factory as a Steinway/Corvette, it is still
    the same
    size and shape as a Steinway/Corvette, the basic frame and structure
    is the
    same, only some of the innerds have been changed and upgraded.

    IMHO, same thing.

    Terry Farrell

    ----- Original Message -----
     > You cant seriously say that, for example Nossamans D is a
    Steinway.   Its
     > so far removed its absurd... and hey... wasnt that the entire
    point in his
     > redesign ?  So I am sure you understand the concept... its just
    where you
     > draw the line that is up for grabs here.
     >
     > Cheers
     > RicB
     >
     >    I love it!  That is something I can't get my brain around. 
    "Will it
     >    still be a Steinway?"  I guess I'm not too bright but I don't
    get the
     >    concept.
     >
     >    dp
     >
     >    David M. Porritt
     >    dporritt at smu.edu