At 09:33 PM 1/11/2001 -0700, Kevin R. wrote: >I agree, they are indeed wonderful instruments, but why are they so in need >of "finishing?" Donning my flamesuit as I wax philosophical, I can think of several reasons. When I refer to "finishing" I mean voicing in particular as well as regulating and polishing of the case. The hammers usually come soft for a reason. 1) If they finished the piano properly then customizing it for the purchaser again afterwards could be more difficult and would be a waste of time, effort and money. The dealer's technician is expected to do the last bits for the purchaser. 2) The pianos are sent from a very old and traditional factory in New York City. If they finished them there, by the time they got to the dealer's floor in Albuquerque they'd have to be finished again anyway due to climate changes. 3) The final purchaser gets more of the feeling that they've bought something that can be set up "just for them" rather than to the lowest common denominator, which is "factory specifications". In the old days and to some extent now, when the wealthy bought a Rolls Royce, they bought a raw chassis and had it finished for their tastes. When they wanted a mansion they built a new one so it would be "theirs". If they wanted a suit of clothes they had it custom tailored rather than buying one off the rack. Even if they wanted their own writing instrument they'd pay thousands of dollars for a Waterman fountain pen that adapts to their own particular writing style rather than just a Cross. In some respects the Steinway piano is like that. The factory does all the work necessary (hopefully!) to supply us with a "raw" piano that can then be customized to the owner's needs. Being hand-made they are all different in some way and like people, some have more potential than others and the potential in some instruments is never realized at all. People who are used to something working properly "right out of the box" are bound to be disappointed with them that way and if I may say so, they should stick with the select hardwood-rimmed Asian pianos, expecting to replace them when they lose their precision just like they do their used cars. At best this means that Steinway has given us durable, traditional and fairly "standard" pianos that will remain in extreme service (or pampered luxury) and retain their value for a great many years, often outliving their original owners before they require rebuilding. At worst it means that the company has supplied and is supplying current and future rebuilders with viable carcasses that they can turn into magnificent instruments once again. Either way, piano technicians come out ahead as do, hopefully, the owners. The only loser is the factory, actually. I hope that answers the question. If not, the short version is that they are hand-built instruments constructed mostly after a traditional fashion using traditional materials and they're all a little bit different. To the technician and to some extent the owner, it means that in a new piano *you* have control over the growth of the last bit of the piano's potential rather than it being realized in a modern computer controlled factory somewhere just like the last one that rolled off the assembly line. That should be a *good* thing, not something to complain about. John John Musselwhite, RPT - Calgary, Alberta Canada http://www.musselwhite.com http://canadianpianopage.com/calgary email: john@musselwhite.com http://www.mp3.com/fatbottom
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