Bergman Baby Grands

[Lee Sankey]

Frances,

Be sure and examine the specific piano that your customer is considering. There are, as with most new pianos,  inconsistancies. Most notable are hammers. The Chinese products will vary according to the skill level
of the factory technicians who worked on any given piano. Some are very good and others look as though the tech was working in a Quick Wok the day before. Hammers vary a great deal. Some are just too damn hard and
others sound like marshmellows. Most do actually fall into a mid line and are easy to voice and are usually quite acceptable. In fact I prefer the hammers on the Chinese product to the Korean high end product, the
Pramberger.
There is typically regulation to be done but really should wait until the piano has some play time on it. Damper timing is normally acceptable but not 100% of the time.

I see very few "dogs" come through but when I have found them Young Chang is very aggreeable and willing to make the customer happy. I just replaced a fallboard
on a 12 year old ivory colored Young Chang that had been in direct sunlight and a small section had a barely discernable color shift (yes polyester is photo-reactive) where it had been exposed. This piano had lived
in Hawai and move to California. This really was not a warranty obligation but Phil Glenn sent me a new fallboard and paid for the labor and service call. Just try and get Steinway or Baldwn to do that. Newton Hunt
and I were teaching a class a PTG national one year and Steinway had supplied a new B for our class which I think was regulation or voicing. Steinway had set the plate in incorrectly relative to the bridge and
there was very excessive side pressure on the bridge pins. It was a voicing challange and once that side pressure split the bridge it was going to be even more of a challenge. I don't remember the outcome when
Steinway was notified but I can image that they would had said that it "happened in shipping".

If you want to contact me privately by my personal address I be happy to share with you what I know about the pianos.

Lee Sankey
San Diego


Frances Helms wrote:

> Thank you both for the response.  I would also welcome any suggestions that you have.  A client has informed me that they are purchasing one and would like for me to maintain it.  This accounts for my interest.
> Fran
>
> Duplexdan@AOL.COM wrote:
>
> >Thanks Lee,
> >
> >...for your input on Bergman pianos. It is curious that a piano  of Chinese
> >origin produced in Korea with Mr. Pramberger's stamp on it should have a
> >Nordic accent (I'm thinking of Ingemar Bergman the film maker). I'd like to
> >know more about this piano because I have seen the new Pramberger concert
> >grand in Valley Forge and I am particularly interested in the duplex scale
> >design.
> >
> >I have noticed that most pianos of Chinese origin include a duplex scale, and
> >there seems to be some awareness of how to incorporate this feature in scale
> >design, but there seems to be a universal shortcoming in all of these
> >instruments. And that is that the duplex scale is not in tune...that is,
> >according to CFT Steinway's concept which I thoroughly endorse, and which has
> >proven to be a significant factor in creating good piano tone.
> >
> >I must add, objectively, that certain asian manufacturers have made
> >statements to me and to various technicians I have spoken with that they
> >deliberately mute or tune the duplex scales out of tune for acoustic reasons
> >by choice. I find this hard to accept because none of these defenders of the
> >abstruse duplex scales can produce any statistical studies to support their
> >dissonant conclusions.
> >
> >My interest would be to find a way to tune all of their duplex scales and
> >thus enhance the tonal qualities of their pianos. Since you service them,
> >perhaps we have a common interest. I would welcome any information about the
> >duplex scales of the Bergmans that you can provide.
> >
> >Dan Franklin
> >
>
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