something I read

[swinfo@g2g.com]

Dear techs;

I need to shed some light on what is happening here at Steinway in NY, before
the stories have a "chance" to get too far from the truth,

Steinway and Sons has become very active in the business of restoration for the
past 10 years. More recently we have been active in also purchasing Steinways to
rebuild and offer them through Steinway Hall, NYC  for retail sales
oportunities. (Mainly from the NY area)

This is being done as an ADDITIONAL form of business as we also understand the
same as most technicians do,  that there will ALWAYS be a demand for a well
rebuilt Steinway grand.

The very fact that our own Steinway Hall retail showroom now has factory
restored Steinways has brought additional piano prospects into Steinway Hall
specifically looking for these. Since a factory  restored Steinway has a value
of about 80% of a new one, the actual sales of new pianos
has also increased, since the jump up is not a major issue for many....it's a
win/win situation.

The Steinway factory is still building pianos, both grands and verts.
The factory also is building new Steinways with Limited Edition Art Cases, in
the same tradition which more common in our past history with a newly developed
ART dept.
The demand for new pianos has increased and the NY location is currently
employing over 370 workers, an increase of over 40 in the last two years.
We plan to build over 2200 grands in 1997.

thanks

Mike Mohr
Steinway factory, NYC