America still had a thriving and growing middle class and pianos were still considered a family necessity—you weren’t considered “cultured” unless you had a piano in the living room and it didn’t matter if it was played or not. My dad had a piano store in the suburb of Chicago from 1960 to 1990. He actually had a customer ask if he had a piano case, without the insides, so that when people came to her house, they would see she had "culture". Wim -----Original Message----- From: Delwin D Fandrich <del at fandrichpiano.com> To: pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Thu, Sep 27, 2012 10:48 am Subject: Re: [pianotech] pulley key... Well, that was about $2,300 in today’s dollars and I’m not sure you can buy a piano for that much now. Back then—early 1960s—a minimally decent console ran about $500 to $700 or about $3,800 $5,400 (if memory serves). Not all that much different from today’s market. Except that now they are all coming from Japan, Indonesia and China. And technicians did complain about the poor quality and performance of these pianos. But who was listening? Manufacturers (and dealers) were still selling everything they could crank out the doors regardless of quality or performance. America still had a thriving and growing middle class and pianos were still considered a family necessity—you weren’t considered “cultured” unless you had a piano in the living room and it didn’t matter if it was played or not. So who cared how many picky technicians complained? They just didn’t understand anything about “business.” Not real business, anyway. ddf Delwin D Fandrich Piano Design & Fabrication 6939 Foothill Court SW, Olympia, Washington 98512 USA Phone 360.515.0119 — Cell 360.388.6525 del at fandrichpiano.com — ddfandrich at gmail.com From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Paul Williams Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 1:01 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] pulley key... Thank God I've only had to deal with a few of these beasts over the years… What's worse: that, a Betsy Ross spinet, a Lester? All nasty abuse (and demise) of the American piano! Or, the disintegration of great old names who became pianos "made in America by factory workers" or whatever that stupid sticker says. Why did technicians let this continue back in the day and not speak up?? Did they really expect lots of business from these sad excuses for pianos?? If somebody bought a piano for $300, they certainly didn't consider keeping them up, right? Doesn't matter if the tunings back then were only $15-20. Don't take me as snobby here, but since I do very little tuning outside UNL, if somebody calls with a spinet (most any brand, although some Acrosonics I've tuned are sort of tolerable and playable when I'm finished with them) I refer them to another technician….someone in financial need of business mostly. I won't refer them to a busy tech with enough to do… Is that so wronggggg? Paul From: Delwin D Fandrich <del at fandrichpiano.com> Reply-To: "pianotech at ptg.org" <pianotech at ptg.org> Date: Thursday, September 27, 2012 2:46 PM To: "pianotech at ptg.org" <pianotech at ptg.org> Subject: Re: [pianotech] pulley key... No, the idea was that the dealer could run newspaper ads and put up big banners advertising, “New Grand Pianos from $295!” Even back in the 1960s that was a pretty low price and the strategy did bring in few customers. The dealer would then try to upgrade those customers to a real piano but there were always some who insisted on buying what was advertised. ddf Delwin D Fandrich Piano Design & Fabrication 6939 Foothill Court SW,Olympia, Washington 98512 USA Phone 360.515.0119 — Cell 360.388.6525 del at fandrichpiano.com — ddfandrich at gmail.com From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Euphonious Thumpe Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 10:51 AM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] pulley key... The "Grand" spinet (by, I believe, the "Grand Piano Company" of Roanoke) is quite possibly the worst piano ever built -- outside of something cobbled together in a garage by a hobbyist. They almost visibly twist while a tuning is attempted to be put into them, and were created, I suspect, so that people of very limited means ( and/or education) could say: "I own a Grand Piano!" Despicable!!! While passing through Roanoke some years ago I noticed a burned-out hulk of a building downtown with "GRAND PIANO COMPANY" painted on it, which is why I suspect they were conjured up there. Thumpe -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20120927/8fa4515e/attachment.htm>
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