Hi John.. You make a good point here... one usually brought up with souped up cars instead of bikes... but just so. The only problem with this reasoning is that no one customizing a Harley would even dream of pass it off as a stock Harley to begin with. The custom design features are so obvious to begin with they hardly need marking... but often enough...especially in the case of hot rod cars... all manner of markings are installed to take credit for this that or the other. And of course... why should Harley care about the kind of custom work you refer to. I am sure it would be a different matter entirely tho if someone started importing all manner of counterfeit parts from some low quality importer and rebuilding worn out Harley's only to pass them off as nearly new authentic HD's.... especially if it started impacting either Harleys reputation or economics. We actually do have a loose parallel in the piano business with Yamahas disclaimers relevant to grey market instruments. Still.. you eloquently illustrate that the issue is not as straight forward as it may seem sometimes. Cheers RicB Sorry, but not exactly........... Interesting discussion though. You almost have to wonder who might be listening in. Metaphors always break down, it's their nature, but that's a tough one. There are plenty of luxury products out there with a significant side business in high profile custom work. Nothing wrong with a stock Harley, but most people think a custom model is better and it's worth more money. A lot more money. Imagine HD trying to stake claim that these bikes are not Harleys anymore. More interesting, who would really care? Marketing is powerful stuff. These are expensive luxury products the customer bought out of some passion for what they do or what they represent. They are not medications for our health and safety. Granted some customers buy purely as an investment with no intention to use them, but that is ok too. They are rarely the sort of customer to request any custom work. Can custom work go too far? Yes- I think maybe it can, but that is personal. For one person changing the soundboard is reason enough to remove the decals. To another changing key ratios might be going to far. To another, stock parts are the only way to go. Kind of hard to regulate, but I think you can see where that is going. There is a lot to think about here, but there simply isn't going to be agreement across the board. I would hate for anyone to think that any decision I made regarding service to a piano was out of pride. ouch..... We learn early on in this business that it's not about us. We learn to love the low profile but take the responsibility, and not even look for mention in the credits. thanks, Dennis Johnson
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