Sharing, and proprietary methods

[David Andersen]

>Ours is a very generous craft, the most generous I have ever seen. Does 
>sharing mean that NOTHING should be proprietary? Is there a moral problem 
>with a competitive advantage in some small area? How about our members who 
>hold patents? Most patents are like the rest of the knowledge base in our 
>industry - based in large measure upon the work of others; with perhaps a 
>new 
>twist, or one clever feature which does not make it a different object, but 
>does distinguish it in some material way. A VERY small number represent 
>truly 
>revolutionary ways of thinking. Did David Stanwood invent action 
>geometry/metrology? No, he oranized previously known information in a way 
>which is easier to use. As generous as Del Fandrich and Ron Overs are, do 
>they share EVERYTHING with us? No, both hold patents. 
>
>I have come up with a few (a very few) original ways of thinking about 
>things. I chose not to try to protect them, in return for things others have 
>shared with me, to keep the system as open as possible. My wife has done the 
>same, with a clever method of replacing Steinway leather buttons, and other 
>refinishing details. I have written before about my appreciation of what I 
>have gained from others (probably 98% of what I know).


Great post, Bob.  I have truly appreciated your work and your incredibly 
giving nature for years, through your sharing with my partner (Steve 
Bellieu) on restoration and shop techniques and with me in the form of 
some kick-ass classes at conventions.  Your reputation is impeccable, and 
your wife and yourself are held in the highest regard around here.

Enough log-rolling......  :--)

If you have a patent, that's proprietary, obviously.  For me, I'll share 
anything else to do with my craft, because my competitive edge comes from 
actually being able to make a piano sound and feel better, and in most 
cases a LOT better, than the next guy.  I love my work, and have a big 
gift for tuning, which is, IMO, one of the biggest differences.  Virgil 
Smith (one of my true heroes) has always said that a precise, strong, and 
MUSICAL tuning can be a huge change for a good player, can cause all 
kinds of positive psycho-acoustic illusions to occur, i.e.:

  "What did you do to this action? The piano feels so much better now!"

I did nothing except tune the piano with care and precision.

"My God....the tone is so clear and smooth now; what did you do?"

I did nothing except tune the piano with care and precision.

Norm Neblitt once said:  "You need to make a positive and big difference 
in the way the piano sounds and feels, so that when you leave, there's no 
question you did a bunch of work on the damn thing....."


Piano technology is a huge, deep craft; I feel incredibly fortunate to be 
now, after 25 years, approaching some sort of mastery in one or two 
little areas of this huge, deep craft.  It's a paradox:  every day I'm 
humbled by how much I really just don't know about pianos, and at the 
same time I have what I would call supreme confidence in my ability to 
make a piano sound and feel better with the resources at my disposal.  
Wacky, yet cool............xoxxo
David Andersen
Malibu, CA