Cheap or not cheap, that's the question......

[Ron Nossaman]

Hi André,

Everything I read here looks to me to be "dead center" and much more
reasonable than ANYONE should hope to expect from a poor abused field tech.
I'd certainly want you on my side in a debate. One thing more about
manufacturers though. To a lot of manufacturers, one nationally, or
internationally, prominent name equals roughly five hundred rank and file
techs. The little guy has no credentials, and therefor no credibility. Being
right is of less value than being known. It often takes many years and many
similar complaints to a manufacturer to get them to look into production
problems. Those that are actually concerned about the quality of their
product will look into it and, depending on the problem, attempt to correct,
circumvent, or ignore it. If it's a materials, or procedural problem, they
will probably fix it. If it's a design problem/feature, you probably won't
get anywhere. In all cases, it's worth a try. If we bombard manufacturers
with bug reports and customer complaints as well as our own highly
intelligent and constructive suggestions, the overall situation may improve
somewhat. A conscientious manufacturer really does want to be informed about
production problems so he can fix them before he has ten thousand units out
there with a problem that could have been easily fixed on the production
line. As for design issues, or even mis-marketing of good design features or
the aggrandizement of meaningless ones, good luck. Meanwhile, keep those
cards, letters and phone calls rolling in.

Quality has it's price, yes, but high price doesn't necessarily guarantee
high quality.

Good stuff, Ron

At 02:34 PM 12/14/97 -0000, you wrote:
>> Blanket statements on any type of piano is always dangerous. Our
>>relationships with the musical community will only work if we just keep
>>trying to educate in a caring manner, as opposed to dogmatic opions, which
>>just leads to confrontation.
>
>After having read a number of e-mails about this issue, I would like to
express the fact that I too have an understanding about the eventual
problems that might come forward between the sale of a cheaper built
instrument, the customer who purchased it, and the technician who will be
asked afterwards to service the instrument.
>
>In my imagination it comes to this:
>There are three parties involved...the maker of the piano - the customer -
the technician.
>The maker of the piano, the owner of the factory, has found a way to earn
his bread (and hopefully much more) by fabricating instruments at the lowest
cost possible. (a healthy thought)
>The customer usually demands value "for money". (a healthy thought)
>The technician is the person on the front line...he/she has to be well
trained technically speaking, he/she has to be diplomatic, and show a
certain "customer sensitivity" in order to have a better succes in his/her
trade.
>The technician is also the "middleman/woman" between the piano dealer and
the customer.
>It must be clear and evident that the technician plays the most difficult role.
>After having been a technician for a long time, I now roughly divide the
average kind of piano tuner/technician in three categories :
>a. The tuner/tech who, after years of piano labor, takes it all for
granted, the numbing down has set in and he/she is waiting for the end of
the battle, hoping it will be over with not too much damage and as soon as
possible.(this may be the smartest tech after all!)
>b. The tuner/tech who, after years of piano labor, still takes an active
interest and is willing to improve his/her skills, but not at all cost. (not
very unintelligent either!)
>c. The tuner/tech who, after years of piano labor, still has only one goal
: to obtain the highest skill possible (within the limits of the physical
and mental capacities) by actively taking part in seminars, factory training
and non-stop day and night working on the concert and studio instruments.
(probably the dumbest of the three?)
>Furthermore, a pianotechnician, (generally speaking) is basically a
technician, and not a sales person. 
>This immediately shows a weakness and an eventual conflict in the relation
between the three described parties : The Pianomaker, the piano sales
person, the pianotechnician.
>When I, as a technician, am being called to service a newly bought but
cheap and badly fabricated piano in the home of a customer, I am not allowed
to answer with the straight truth (for diplomatic reasons) when being asked
for my opinion. 
>If however, a technical problem arises, I am the one who has to solve it
(and usually without any support from the dealer who is generally speaking
not too much interested in spending extra money) or otherwise loose one
customer and one slice of bread.
>
>In my experience, it is very difficult to have any influence in the
improvement of a bad product.
>The Factory owner usually shrugs one or two shoulders, the piano dealer
doesn't want a conflict with the main source, nor with the customer..and,
the technician again is the go-between.
>It is because of my own (of course) experiences with this matter, that I
have chosen NOT to work anymore on badly made pianos, they have cost me too
much money, spent on aspirins and pepto bismal This is obviously also a
commercial choice, and I do realise that not every technician has this luxury.
>On the other hand, if we, as tuner/technicians try to move up to higher
technical levels, we also (naturally) attract more beautiful and more
rewarding instruments (and more heartburn too). 
>By working on more "developed" instruments, we gain more insight, and
through insight we spend less energy and get a better result.
>If we have more experience and technical understanding, we might be able to
win more confidence from dealers who put their trust in us.
>Within this more structured relationship it might even be possible to have
a "voice" or at least  some influence in the process of the making of pianos.
>
>So, I am not just trying to be arrogant and venture some negative story,
but instead, try to explain that it might be possible that we, techs on the
"front line" have something to say.. and especially as a group.
>I am aware that, of course, this letter *could* again be interpreted wrongly.
>For that reason I say:  Try to understand that I have only a positive
intention..I do not want to cause a new uproar on the list. (so please..show
some consideration, it is not always necessary to immediately show the fangs
and attack ..a calm and positive discussion is much better for our health
and costs less).
>
>My final thought on this issue is:
>
>"Quality" has its price..... 
>and.. 
>I do not like to work on cheaply made instruments.
>
>And who could have anything against that?
>
>
>
>Friendly greetings from :
>          
>CONCERT PIANO SERVICE
>André Oorebeek
>Amsterdam, the Netherlands
>       
>‰  where MUSIC is no harm can be  ‰
>
>



 Ron Nossaman