Foundry Castings

[Richard Brekne]

Ron Nossaman wrote:

> >
> >Sure... but you are the piano builder, not the guy who buys pianos from
> >the local 7-11 because he doesn't know any better. Until that guy and all like
> him start
> >looking closer at what they are buying, guys like you are going to remain
> >few and far between. And the knowledge base will
>
> You mean they were Master Consumers? Why and how would the consumer in this
> magical past be any better informed and advised than consumers of today,
> who are not only Master Consumers, but Visa and American Express as well?

I didn't say anything about customers in the past.. and I certainly dont view the
past as magical. Times were different and there were other social conditions that
made it possible for individual piano builders to thrive.

Today is different, and the only thing I can see that will make it possible for
individual piano makers to flourish once again is consumer awareness.  Perhaps you
see some other potential somewhere in our modern world ? My point is simply that it
would be very nice indeed if those conditions, whatever they be, should arise so
that the lone piano builder, could once again manage to make a living for their
efforts.

> ¨Today's consumer can access the Internet and get often hundreds of
> differing opinions to sort and sift, weight and score, to arrive at the
> TRUTH by statistical averaging. I recall you offering an opinion along
> those lines, and by those processes more than once.

Yes, actually they could... even toughing it out on a list like this is in the end
very instructive. But it seems that today's customer is even more willing to relax
into whatever comes easiest then our predecessors. I suppose you and I are, each in
our own way guilty on that count as well. Are we the epitome of the discerning
consumer in every regard ?


>
> >That's what the old world masters did Ron, they invented, learned
> >researched,...>became masters. Its the new guys who throw all the mythology and
> mystique
> >into thegame.
>
> They did that because they had no choice. Some of them might have become
> masters by the process, more often not - just like the rest of us. But
> nearly none of them shared what they had learned along the way. They
> carefully maintained that mythology and mystique, even if they did know
> better, as a marketing tool and to protect their secrets from competitors,
> exactly as is still being done today -  something which is much and often
> lamented and the reason the mythology and mystique still exists.

Well, we can agree by and large on this, though I suppose I would include the
passion and love for the instrument and music in general in your list of
motivations.  I certainly agree with the destructive nature of withholding
knowledge from the collective mind for the sake of prestige or personal economic
gain. But then that sadly is apparently a part of human nature.


> Why it is still so fiercely defended among those who have nothing to gain by it
> and
> are in a position to learn better, I have no idea.

Neither do I.

>
> >Its just a question of whether the market will support the endeavour or not.
>
> I sure hope so, or it's gone.

Me too.

> Ron N

--
Richard Brekne
RPT, N.P.T.F.
UiB, Bergen, Norway
mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no
http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html