Slow Times?

[Randy Potter]

Lots of talk about slow times.

I can see slow times for any competitive product, including "real" piano
sales when a company sends undercover "buyers" around passing out $100
bills to a saleperson if they pump their product. They used to do this in
the music recording business, paying DJs to play certain songs. The
result, in the music business, was first that they were able to
"control", in a way, what the public purchased, to make their own stars
by making the public think they were popular, and desirable, whether they
were or not. The other result, if I recollect correct, was that the
practice was banned, and many companies received heavy fines and were
dishonored.

And speaking of "real" pianos, I make it a practice not to say "acoustic
piano", because it is not only wrong terminology, it is misleading. It
assumes that there are "pianos" out there that are NOT acoustic. All
pianos are acoustic. At least, according to every dictionary I have seen
- and every piano I have seen. Same as all guitars are acoustic. An
"electric guitar" is either a guitar that has pick-ups added, or a piece
of wood with strings and pick-ups that folks choose to call by the same
name because it is convenient. And because the guitar makers guided them
into that vein of thought by calling them that.
But guitars, and pianos, are still acoustic, and always were. There are
NO non-acoustic pianos!
There are "piano-shaped-things" that are non-acoustic - but, as William
Shakespeare might have said, "a "piano-shaped-thing, by any other name,
is still a piano-shaped-thing". A confabulation of plastic and silicon
makes a nice instrument, in many cases, but it does not make a piano. I
do not want my clients, or people I talk to, to think that those plastic
piano-shaped-things which depreciate to less than 25% of their purchase
price within three or four years of purchase are "pianos". For them to
think this depreciates the value of the piano, which has a life of 50-100
years, and appreciates, rather than depreciates, in value. Why ruin their
opinion of a real special instrument by calling other things by the same,
or similar, name.
An electric keyboard instrument has much more in common with an organ
than with a piano.  Every wonder why makers did not call these things
"electric organ keyboards"? Or "keyboard organs"? Or "mini-organs"?
Because electric organs had a bad name, because they depreciated, and
were out of favor. They did not want people to realize that these
"electric organ keyboards" were really the modern version of an organ in
a plastic case. So, they called them "electric pianos". And now they have
many of us calling pianos "acoustic" pianos, as if that is really their
name! Therefore, I never use the word "acoustic" with the word "piano",
because it is redundant, since all pianos are acoustic.

Back to slow times? This is why we book our tunings, and why we teach our
students to book their tunings, six months to a year out. When this
election coverage stuff happens every four years, or when Desert Storm
comes, people may be home watching CNN or the news - but the piano tuner
shows up and their piano gets tuned anyway.

Randy Potter, R.P.T.



Randy Potter, R.P.T.
Randy Potter School of Piano Technology
"Training Competent Piano Technicians for the 21st Century"
New Address: rpotter@bendnet.com
New Area Code: 541. Phone: 541-382-5411. FAX: 541-382-5400.
See Us on the Net at: www.tuningschool.com