piano purchase specs

[Fred Sturm]

Hi Wim,
	Sounds like you had the kind of experience I am anxious to avoid. I think 
we could probably go out and purchase a Steinway D if we chose to, as a 
sole source purchase. That would be a specific and very limited instance, 
though. For general use throughout the department, I think we need to give 
all vendors and manufacturers an even playing field, if only to get the 
okay of our university purchasing department. (And I personally prefer 
variety, myself, whatever my faculty may want. I think that's in 
everybody's best interests, especially the students').
	I'm hoping there are a few boilerplate descriptions out there I could take 
as a starting point. Working from scratch is a bit troublesome.
	Eg, with respect to soundboards, one could specify solid spruce, x growth 
rings per inch. But is that really in our best interest? I don't know. I 
know there are laminated boards that perform quite well.
	Hammers: am I looking for a certain density and weight? How would I 
specify that? And would that be in my best interests? Does that really tell 
me what I want to know? (I know that many school districts specified 
stapled hammers for a few decades - maybe still do. A factory rep once told 
me that was the only reason his factory used the staples, that they served 
no other purpose than to meet specs).
	
	Step one is to establish criteria which a vendor must meet to have a bid 
accepted. Step two is to establish the criteria by which the selection 
committee will choose among the acceptable bids. Price will be one factor, 
but there should be others. And they need to be specific and weighted. (I 
haven't been through purchasing pianos for a university yet, but I have 
been through the process of establishing criteria for public purchase by my 
small  municipal government. So I am at least fairly well aware of 
applicable state law).
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico

--On Friday, November 7, 2003 5:02 PM -0500 Wimblees@aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 11/7/03 3:37:23 PM Central Standard Time,
> fssturm@unm.edu writes:
>
>
> So I wonder if those of you in similar circumstances, but with the
> advantage of actually having spent money for new piano purchases within
> the  last 20 years or so, would be willing to share whatever language you
> came  up with, or inherited or whatever. And suggestions from fellow
> inexperienced folks would be welcome as well.
> Thanks,
> Fred Sturm
> University Of New Mexico
>
>
>
> We just purchased 10 new pianos last year. We were bound and determined
> to get Boston pianos and a D. To do that, we had to fill out the paper
> work, and documentation for what they call "Sole Source Purchase
> Request." It can get very detailed, but if all the information is given,
> it will reduce the pianos on your wish list to the ones you like. Ask if
> they have something like that, provided you want to pick out only one
> brand of instrument.
>
> If you are not limited to one brand, then get the specifics on the
> instruments you do want to purchase. If you want to choose between
> Yamaha, Kawai, and Young Chang, for instance, get the specifics,
> including price, model, size, etc., for each one, and ask for bids on
> those instruments.
>
> Then, we have one more phrase on the bid sheet, that might help:
>
> "Each item quoted will be evaluated by qualified professional School of
> Music faculty/pianist and the evaluation will include, but will not be
> limited to, size of tone, quality of tone, controllability of intensity
> of after touch, sensitivity of pedal mechanism, physical and aural
> evenness of registers and apparent mechanical integrity and reliability."
>
> "Items that do not meet specification or fail to perform properly, as
> solely determined by the University of Alabama will be rejected."
>
> This more or less says it is not just the objective characteristics of
> each instrument that is important, but also the subjective
> characteristics. In other words, how does the instrument feel and sound?
> That is something that cannot be described on paper.
>
> We almost had an easy time, until one of the dealers who didn't get the
> bid, decided to threaten law suit. So the legal department had to get
> involved, and every time we thought we had answered all the questions,
> they came up with more questions. Let hope you don't have to go through
> that.
>
> Good luck
>
> Wim
> University of Alabama
>