People should note that the Passat 7' grand is an all-new piano with a number of innovations in it that are being championed by high-end rebuilders today. The quality of assembly may not be up to Kawai standards but the piano represents some of the best design thinking today. I would recommend trying both out because they are quite different. Also, availability may be an issue. When I was in discussions with Geneva about carrying Petrof they told me I would have to wait my turn, something like two years at the time to get one of these pianos. Andrew Anderson, Artisan Piano On Sep 20, 2008, at 9:14 PM, Leslie Bartlett wrote: > I'm pretty ignorant of a lot of the esoterica of pianos. I only know > that none of my customers owning a Petrof has done other than > praise it highly. > les bartlett > > Bruce Dornfeld wrote: >> >> >> I have worked on many Petrof pianos and would add a few >> observations. Petrofs have been imported from Prague for many >> years now. Early Petrofs show Czechoslovakia, later ones the Czech >> Republic as country of origin. The quality of the pianos improved >> a lot over the years. I would not make a recommendation about a >> new Petrof from experience with older models. Geneva International >> was until recently the only legal distributor of Petrofs in the >> USA. Joe Swenson, when he was their head of technical services, >> visited the factory frequently. Not long after the fall of the >> iron curtain he noticed such improvements in the pianos that he >> asked the factory workers about why. After consulting each other >> in Czech, they laughingly told Joe in English, "We could be fired >> now." They have had a R&D department which has taught classes >> about their research at PTG seminars and technical institutes. >> >> If I recall, the new 7' Petrof was called the Passat. It had not >> only a new scale, but is the only Petrof I've seen with all >> individually tied (looped) tenor and treble strings. It was a very >> impressive looking and sounding piano. I won't try to compare with >> the Kawai; both are excellent pianos, the Kawai is a better known >> commodity. >> >> One thing I always recommend for Petrofs and most European pianos >> is a complete Dampp-Chaser system. If your climate is anything >> like here in Chicago, the Petrof will suffer from it more than the >> Kawai. >> >> I would also make sure of the source of the warranty of the >> Petrof. Geneva International was involved in a legal battle over >> distribution rights for the Petrof in the USA. Geneva has since >> closed their doors. I do not think they will handle warranty >> claims in the future. Currently the importer is Petrof U.S.A., >> LLC. Paul Rea is listed as the contact, their address is in >> Liburn, Georgia. The website is www.petrof.com and email: >> petrofpianosusa.com. If the dealer bought the piano from Geneva, >> will the warranty be honored? >> >> For my money, the Petrof is a great piano and value. I would let >> the buyer choose by playing, the tone and touch of the Petrof and >> the Kawai are different enough for this to be a big factor. >> >> >> Bruce Dornfeld, RPT >> bdornfeld at earthlink.net >> North Shore Chapter -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20080921/6ab79f8f/attachment.html
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