Kimball is gone! Now what?

[RndyPotter@aol.com]

Dave Porritt of SMU-Dallas asked
>Any indication of what will happen to warranty work on Kimballs now?  I
>note from the press release that the company is still in business, just
>not the piano business.  Has there been any press release about their
>warranty policy?

The press release I read said they would continue to honor their
committments, which, to me, means delivery of pianos previously contracted
for and also honoring their warranty to current owners.
Remember that discontinuing production of domestic pianos is not the same as
going bankrupt. The corporation is still alive, very well, turning good
profits for the stock holders, and still very involved in the music industry.
They own, and make, Bosendorfer pianos. They sold their Kemco Plant to a
Chinese company, and will be working with that company, under contract, for
the next few years. And they have said they will honor their prior
committments.
The Kimball organization, and the people who work there, have proven
themselves honorable over and over for the last, what, about 140 years? More
important, perhaps, they have proven themselves both honorable, and friends
of our industry, and also of many individuals IN our industry, for that
matter, over the last 10 and 15 years. I see no reason to worry about whether
or not they will honor their warranties.
  (By the way, anybody every see a Kimball bridge crack up? I haven't. They
are near bullet proof! So what does a 50 year warranty on a bridge matter,
when they don't go bad anyway? Why worry?)

Randy Potter, R.P.T.