Hi folks. I sat on this one for a couple days, not knowing whether to respond or not, knowing that my usual response always gets met with... well with what it usually gets met with... so I'll just ask you all a question I'd like your thoughts on... read the quote from Ron O first. "Why don't I build them for all of the pianos we do? It took me a week to build the test set on the lathe with my milling attachment. I understand the Steinway rep here (who is also a technician) criticised the parts because they weren't factory standard - amazing stuff. This is how pianos have been stuck-in-a-rut for a 100 years. The factory that dominates the others doesn't give a damn about the craft, just the politics. So nothing changes." Ron O. The question I'd like to ask you is ... ok... so what if Steinway went broke tomorrow and had to close its doors once and for all ? Do you, any of you think that the situation Ron and others so often express so much frustration about would really change ? And if so for how long ? It seems to me that, whilst I understand the frustration expressed time and time over again, it seems to me that the wrong animal is being blamed. I would think that if it wasn't Steinway which dominants so much of what is accepted piano-wise, that some other factory would. That this is part of human nature... like it or not... for better or for worse. A collapse of such a dominant force might result in some period of lots of dynamics in the industry... also for better and for worse... but that period would soon give way to the establishment of some new dominant force who relies on all the same kinds of mechanisms for survival as Steinway does today... with all the inherent frustrations of the kind expressed above that has been expressed so often. Seems to me we are stuck with that as long as we remain the animal we are today. Or what ? Cheers RicB
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC