Korean Prepping; Sam's Club

[Ron Nossaman]

Hi Wally,

Hoo boy, did I! About five years or so back, the two local Sam's were
selling teeny-tiny Kohler "grands" for around $4,000. I was called to see if
I would tune them after the sale, should anyone buy one. Being curious as to
what they had, I agreed. Next, they wanted me to go to each store and
uncrate and set up a display piano. Did that. It's amazing how all the hired
help evaporates when it comes time to set a piano. Anyway, the second and
last piano sold about six months later in the $3500 range. When I tuned it
the owner asked how I found it. Resisting the impulse to say "I lifted the
lid and there it was.", I said it wasn't bad for a Samick. A WHAT?!! It
seems this guy was a Korean War Vet and was somewhat less than pleased at
having bought a Korean piano with a whole STACK of pamphlets and literature
extolling the virtues and general "goodness" of the fine American name of
Kohler. I escaped as he was outlining his plan, at ever increasing volume,
to fold the piano five ways and shove it where the moon don't shine in the
person of the store manager.   

I'd recommend you go get your card back.

Ron

At 09:16 PM 12/11/97 -0500, you wrote:
>Speaking about prepping Korean pianos,
>
>I was recently thumbing through a Sam's Club catalog and saw that they are
>trying to sell pianos now. Only $1999! I guess that's nothing new. Sears
>has sold pianos, and so have other large department stores in the past.
>
>I went to the local Sam's club to inquire, and sure enough, there was a
>shiny black continental console style piano sitting there. Inside, it
>looked just like a Young Chang that my daughter had just bought which came
>from their new plant in China. However, the manager said the crate said it
>came from Indonesia. Does Young Chang have an Indonesian plant now? 
>
>The manager went on to say that if a customer wants one, he has to cart it
>home and uncrate it himself. He at least let me display my business card to
>offer my services. Maybe he'll even let me tune and prep the store piano
>some day. (He'd better let someone do it if he wants to sell any!)
>
>Has anyone else done any work for a Sam's Club "piano department"? If so,
>what experiences can you relate?
>
>Wally Scherer
>E-mail: WallyTS@compuserve.com
>Web page: http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/2411
>"Old piano tuners never die - they just go beatless."
>  
>


 Ron Nossaman