Longterm future of piano business

[Barbara J. Fandrich]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Julio Barea" <pianoelf@lycos.com>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2003 7:13 AM
Subject: Longterm future of piano business


> I am curious about others opinions on the long term future of the piano
business.  Piano dealers are going under right and left.  Used pianos are at
historic lows and even then do not sell.  There will always be tuning and
rebuilding business since there are still millions of pianos out there.  But
do you feel about the long term growth of our field.
> -----------

I've written about this issue as well. See my Journal article of several
years back titled, "If it Ain't Broke--Break It."

Essentially, what we have is a problem of supply and demand. There is plenty
of supply but a shrinking demand for that supply. I can't speak for the
European market--or for the African, Asian, Australian, South American or
Antarctica markets for that matter--but the U.S. market is becoming smaller
every year. There are some bumps up from time to time but overall it is
declining.

There are many reasons for this. Two, I think, bear noting.

First, as a nation we no longer consider music or the visual arts to be a
basic component in the education of our children. So-called "team sports"
are important enough to pour huge sums of money into, but when was the last
time you heard of any school district considering the construction of a
music and fine arts facility? How many elementary schools have even
minimally adequate facilities for music education?

Secondly, as an industry we have written off what is potentially our largest
market segment--the current piano owner. This is the result of the almost
total stagnation of the piano industry. It's as if the whole automobile
industry had followed the example of the U.S. automakers from the 1950s
through, roughly, the 1980s. With huge amounts of money being poured into
marketing and advertising and very little going into R&D and engineering the
entire industry was stagnating. Strong competition from Japan and Europe
finally jolted the industry into action with the result that once again the
U.S. automakers are turning out interesting and competitive products. Even
if most of them are gargantuan tanks they are still products people want to
buy--enough so that they are willing to trade in their only slightly used
two or three year old models for something newer and more exciting..

Now consider that the fundamental design of the piano has not changed
appreciably in something like 125 to 150 years. What incentive does the
current piano owner have to trade in his/her old Whatever piano for
something new? It is unlikely that the new piano will sound or play any
better. In fact, it is more likely that the new piano won't sound as good!
For some companies this has become a major problem. As far back as the 1970s
some of Steinway's major competition was coming from the rebuilders of
Steinway pianos. This situation does not have to continue. There is still
enough room in the fundamental design of the piano to develop instruments
that offer superior performance to those designed 125 years ago. And,
perhaps naively, I believe there will be a marked for these instruments
among the current world of piano owners. Build a better product and they
will come.

As for the piano tuning and rebuilding industries, yes, I agree that they
will probably continue on for some time. But, lest we become overly
complacent, let us consider where our parts and materials come from for
those wonderful rebuildings we want to do. We are already having some
difficulty obtaining some of the parts and materials we need to rebuild
pianos the way we would like. Certain felts are becoming difficult to
obtain. Hammers with any sense of resiliency are almost a thing of the past.
Large screws are becoming harder to find. We depend on a thriving piano
manufacturing business to keep these and other materials coming. What
happens when there is no longer enough demand to keep the tuning pin
manufacturers going? The action makers? The felters?

I see the future of the industry as potentially viable but possibly shakey.
Much depends on us--:"I have seen the enemy and he is us...."

Del