[CAUT] cutting departments

[James Grebe]

I agree with Wim,
These days I will not even consider taking on a used piano to resell from my 
shop unless it is free to me.  Even so, it must be in great shape or a 
really great brand to consider it.  In my parts if you go over $500 asking 
price on a vertical, any vertical, it is not going to sell.  Just reality. 
It is dooming a lot of potentially decent instruments to have a 2nd life.
James
James Grebe Est. 1962
Piano Tuner-Technician
Creator of Custom Caster Cups
Creator of fine Writing Instruments
Pump Organ  & Plyr Piano benches
Table Timepieces
Theatre and Theatre Organ Historian
www.grebepiano.com
1526 Raspberry Lane
Arnold, MO 63010
(314) 608-4137
Become what you believe
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <tnrwim at aol.com>
To: <caut at ptg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2010 2:17 AM
Subject: Re: [CAUT] cutting departments





What worries me is the collapse of the dealer networks and retail
arket. When I started in the business 30 years ago, Albuquerque had
everal full size dealers: Steinway/Wurlitzer, Baldwin (two stores),
imball (two stores), Yamaha, plus smaller concerns selling Young
hang, Everett, Lowrey/Story & Clark (shopping mall), not counting
ome folks selling used instruments. All were locally owned and
easonably prosperous. Today, the latest Steinway dealer is going out
f business, and once it is gone we will be left with a fairly new
tore selling Yamaha, Schimmel and generally top end grands, a mall
tore selling Chinese product, and a small concern selling digitals
nd stocking one or two Kawai acoustics. Period. No used, no nothing
lse. In those 30 years, Albuquerque metro has at least tripled in
opulation. That is downright sobering.
Regards,
red Sturm

Part of the reason dealers are shutting their doors is not just slower 
sales, but lack of funding from financial institutions. As with a lot of 
business, banks and lending agencies are very particular to whom they give 
credit. So there are fewer and fewer companies willing to do the flooring 
that dealers depend on to put pianos in their showrooms.

On the used side, it's getting very hard for a used piano dealer to stay in 
business because of the inexpensive pianos from China and Indonesia. When I 
had my piano store, I was able to buy a half way decent used piano for 
$500 - $700 and sell it for $1500 - $2000. But now, there are new pianos 
that sell for a couple of hundred dollars more, that look much better. And 
forget about rebuilt grands. I used to be able to buy a small Howard or 
Gulbransen grand, rebuild it, and get $4-5000 for it. But between what we 
have to pay for parts and overhead, and what new small Chinese pianos are 
selling for, there is no market for them any more.

Wim

-----Original Message-----
From: Fred Sturm <fssturm at unm.edu>
To: caut <caut at ptg.org>
Sent: Tue, Oct 12, 2010 8:40 am
Subject: Re: [CAUT] cutting departments


On Oct 12, 2010, at 8:07 AM, Laurence Libin wrote:
> The linked article and comments have important implications for
 techs. Be prepared!
 Laurence

Here at UNM it seems like the liberal arts and humanities may be
tagnating or shrinking, but the performing arts, especially music and
ilm, are expanding rapidly. Studio art as well.
What worries me is the collapse of the dealer networks and retail
arket. When I started in the business 30 years ago, Albuquerque had
everal full size dealers: Steinway/Wurlitzer, Baldwin (two stores),
imball (two stores), Yamaha, plus smaller concerns selling Young
hang, Everett, Lowrey/Story & Clark (shopping mall), not counting
ome folks selling used instruments. All were locally owned and
easonably prosperous. Today, the latest Steinway dealer is going out
f business, and once it is gone we will be left with a fairly new
tore selling Yamaha, Schimmel and generally top end grands, a mall
tore selling Chinese product, and a small concern selling digitals
nd stocking one or two Kawai acoustics. Period. No used, no nothing
lse. In those 30 years, Albuquerque metro has at least tripled in
opulation. That is downright sobering.
Regards,
red Sturm
ssturm at unm.edu
ttp://www.createculture.org/profile/FredSturm
ttp://www.youtube.com/fredsturm
ttp://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/FredSturm