Chinese Pianos

[Mark Wisner]

I don't see much difference between the Japanese pianos exported into the USA 40 years ago and the Chinese pianos exported to us within the last ten years.  Both were of dubious durability.  But the Japanese piano makers quickly improved the manufacturing process, materials and workmanship and now we all benefit from their pianos.  The Chinese have been following the same path the Japanese did (and making some of the same mistakes), and now there are some pretty respectable pianos being made in China, and they are getting better every year.
For many consumer products, including pianos, manufacturing moves to cheap, skilled, labor.  And when the labor gets too expensive, it moves again.  My personal opinion is that a future generation of piano techs will complain about the poor pianos being made in India (and perhaps refusing to work on them) and comparing them to the great, but more expensive pianos being built in China.

Mark Wisner



-----Original Message-----
From: Joe Garrett <joegarrett@earthlink.net>
Sent: Sep 29, 2005 10:18 PM
To: pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>
Subject: Re: Chinese Pianos

Mark Wisner asked: "Joe,
Do you have customers with Japanese pianos?

Mark,
Yes I do. Soooo, what the hell does that have to do with Chinese pianos?


Joe Garrett, R.P.T.
Captain, Tool Police
Squares R o