HORUGEL PIANOS

[Michael Magness]

On Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 2:21 PM, Ric Thompson <ric1952 at msn.com> wrote:

>  Any information concerning this brand would be appreciated.  Have to
> Evaluate for an Insurance Company
>
> Ric
>

Hi Ric,

I have experience with one Horugal, a grand, that was, when I first saw it
about 5 years ago, 14 years old and still in fair shape. The owner tried to
convince me it was european made but I felt the polyester finish was of
asian origin and after an evening of online searching found that it had
indeed been owned and built by Samick. It was strung in the original style
(I presume) a standard 2 string unison strung around a hitch pin with the
3rd string being a single w/ a european style looped end. The strings were a
little rusty and the piano hadn't had proper maintenance for a decade but it
was still quite playable considering.

As to the Samick piano and our new young friend.
My first contact with Samick goes back to 1986 when 2 RPT friends of mine
with a combined 80+ years of experience, who had been dealers of Baldwin
pianos, were dropped as Baldwin dealers and went to the NAMM show looking
for another piano line. They chose Samick for many reasons which I won't
list here (do your own research!).
I believe that the fact that Samick was successful enough to not only stay
solvent but be able to offer to buy out Young Chang when they hit financial
hardship says a lot about them. They offered a LIFETIME warranty on
pinblock, soundboard and plate for the first 15 years they were available in
this area. As problems arose and they were reported to the tech department,
the new pianos came through with those things changed!! A true wonder in the
industry.
Do they compete with the top european brands? No, but I wouldn't put their
studio or console pianos aside for a Yamaha or Kawai.

We have a dealer that operates in this area as a "truck operation" he has no
fixed store but instead runs classified ads selling "repossessed" pianos at
lower prices than brick and mortar stores. He sells Samicks because he can
take them out of the box and sell them as is, they rarely need more than a
tuning or 2, for his purposes. He is from 150 miles away and comes to this
area to sell when he gets enough calls, as far as I can ascertain he does
nothing to the pianos, not even tuning. I see that the regulation may be off
just a bit or some keys may stick, the sort of thing a floor tech would
catch. My point is he has a piano ready to go out of the box, consoles of
course, due to a company that turns out a consitantly quality instrument.
I do not recommend him or work for him, his customers/victims call me for
tunings.

Alicia, I will address this to you and any others who wish to learn from it.
As a child I watched a Disney series on TV about Davy Crockett, I even had a
coonskin cap and a flintlock looking capgun! As a kid in Arizona that
coonskin cap took real fortitude to wear! <grin> Davy had a slogan that I
thought was the greatest thing I'd ever heard, "Make sure you're right, then
go ahead!" The older I've gotten the more I've realized how stupid that was!
I can't remember the last time I was SURE I was right about anything! One of
the first things I learned was never say never, always leave yourself some
wiggle room in any statement you make. My statements are filled with almost
nevers, hardly evers, rarelys and in my limited experience but I never say
never! Making any statement an absolute begs to have you proven wrong and
you will be, mark my words.

Welcome to the list and to PTG,
Mike

-- 
Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch
excellence.
Vince Lombardi

Michael Magness
Magness Piano Service
608-786-4404
www.IFixPianos.com
email mike at ifixpianos.com
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