>From: "Alan R. Barnard" >World Number 1= (Newish or rebuilt pianos, many grands) + (Fallboard names >like Steinway, M&H, Bechstein, Baldwin, Yamaha, Kawaii ... ) + (New York, >LA, San Fran, Chicago, ...) > >World Number 2 = (Old uprights, trash consoles and spinets, family >"heirlooms", beat up Hamilton studios ...) + (Fallboard names like >Gulbransen, Monarch, Howard, Lester, Bob's Piano Company ... ) + (Small >towns 2 to 4 hours from any city even large enough to have piano dealers, >small farms and ranches, Appalachia, Mississippi Delta, or in my case, the >Missouri Ozarks ...) > >I am NOT complaining. I live in World 1.5 (better known as Third World) and I love it: 50 % newish/rebuild, 50 % old uprights, only a few grands. Definitely no spinets. Brands are Schimmel, Seiler, Ibach, Grotian-Steinweg, Yamaha, Kawai......Even the old uprights are very often of high or decent qualitiy, but not always in a good condition. Fallboard names don´t matter, because there are many names you won´t find in Pierce or Europiano Atlas. I was told that exclusively in Berlin used to be much more than 100 manufacturers around 1910. No idea if that´s true. Most of my customers are families with kids playing the piano. Often they don´t have a very high claim as to quality, which makes my work more easy than in World 1. But I have to pay attention not to become lazy or to scamp. In my hometown (280.000 inhabitants) there is World 1, too. But it get´s serviced by techs/dealers who do that in the third generation. I am not sad about that evidence of the existence of parallel worlds. But here too there are some instruments which make my work hard: overdampers, particularly English overdampers with straight (non crossed) strings from around 1900, better known as English Desease (no offence to English collegues intended): beautyful furniture, but awful instruments. In the meantime, I don´t service these instruments anymore. The same with spinets as well. I think: if the customer wants to play piano, he should buy a piano, not a toy or a piece of furniture. Gregor _________________________________________________________________ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today it's FREE! http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/
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