Shawn, I agree with Gregor on the Hailun. Good quality Chinese. Al Guecia From: Gregor _ Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2008 5:08 AM To: Pianotech List Subject: RE: Hardman Peck Shawn, as Andrew mentioned: check Wendl & Lung (or Hailun). Very nice Chinese pianos. I am a tech and Wendl & Lung dealer from Germany. I opened my store 13 month ago. 3 days a week I sit in the store and 3 days I am in field service. I offer used pianos (right now 12 uprights) and the W&L instruments. For me that concept works. At least until now. I am not shure what that wall street trouble will bring the next months. I would not like to be only a dealer with different brands and only new pianos. That would be a too big financial risk for me. I am shure that you could sell a new piano at times when you are out in the field and people know your face and your skills. That might work even better than a huge piano store with salesmen who can´t play or tune. That´s what I call the boilersuit bonus. I am not shure if you can get Wendl & Lung in the USA, but Hailun are available. I am not shure about the differences between the 2 brands. The pianos are in principle identical. But when it´s labled W&L you can be shure that this piano has gotten the final quality check by a W&L trained tech. E.g., all W&L pianos that come to Germany are checked, tuned and voiced by a German tech who works for W&L. The same situation in all other countries where W&L pianos are sold. I guess it´s mainly the very good voicing that makes the difference. When the pianos arrive at my store, they are nearly ready to be sold. Even the tuning is fine for the next weeks. And the brand name has a good reputation, at least here in Europe. Gregor www.weldert.de -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: shawnbrock at fuse.net To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: Hardman Peck Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:35:15 -0400 Will, I think people are misunderstanding my intentions here. I have never had any intentions of going into piano retail, I'm 99 percent technician. I am just looking at carrying between 1 and 3 pianos at a time. Yes the Hardman Peck is Chinese. We are talking about uprights that start at $1300 wholesale. So I don't know that it would be a major business risk for me. After all, I have sold used pianos that I have had as much money in. The 2 things that makes it easier for me to move product is I can play it and I can work on it. People seem to trust and respect you more when you can do one or the other or both. The dealers here can't do either vary well. I think you guys are correct in your thinking, but I don't think you got a clear perception on what I was trying to ask. Sorry for my lack of clarity. So, that's the bottom line, I'm just looking to shove a few pianos into the back of my shop and get rid of them as I can. Gosh! I would never want to get a retail space... Best, Shawn Brock, RPT 513-316-0563 www.shawnbrock.com ----- Original Message ----- From: Will Truitt To: 'Pianotech List' Sent: Friday, October 24, 2008 6:37 PM Subject: RE: Hardman Peck Shawn: In general, I agree with Wim. I was a Baldwin and Young Chang dealer for 7 years until 2002. I never worked so hard for so little money and so much risk. And that was when the market was still good, a low volume, high margin business, whereas now it is an even lower volume, low margin business. I would ask you this: If these well positioned and experienced dealers can’t make it work in this economy, what do you bring to the table that would lead you to believe that you will have a different result? If you want to go ahead anyway, buy one or a very few with cash and be able to let that money sit in those pianos for as long as it takes to sell them. That may be longer than you think. I don’t know the Hardman Peck (probably Chinese?), but I would say only that it has no name recognition and the name won’t be meaningful to your potential buyers. What is your business plan to market these pianos? I don’t mean to rain on your parade. I can tell you that in this market, I have no desire to be a piano dealer again. Best wishes, Will Truitt From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of wimblees at aol.com Sent: Friday, October 24, 2008 2:28 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: Hardman Peck Shawn Unless you have the capital to buy them outright, I would not recommend you get in the new piano market, even on a limited basis. It looks glorious, but in the long run, it will drive you out of business. For what you have to pay for the new pianos, and make a profit, you'll be money ahead if you bought used pianos with that money. And I would definitely stay out of the new piano business if you have to finance them. The interest will kill you. Stay with the used market for now. Take it from someone who's been there, done that, and lost his shirt. Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT Piano Tuner/Technician Mililani, Oahu, HI 808-349-2943 Author of: The Business of Piano Tuning available from Potter Press www.pianotuning.com -----Original Message----- From: Shawn Brock <shawnbrock at fuse.net> To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Fri, 24 Oct 2008 9:04 am Subject: Hardman Peck List: in this sputtering economy and with every piano dealer in Cincinnati crying about not making the capital to stay afloat I'm looking for something new to add to my arsenal. That something is new piano sales. For a while I have been picking up used pianos to push out the door as rentals or in the case of the nicer instruments good old cash on the barrel head. I would like to pick up new pianos that are decent but not priced unrealistically, or are not junk! Anyone have thoughts on the Hardman Peck? You can email me privately if you like. Most of the economical piano lines are taken for a while, but these guys have an opening and I need to decide something fairly soon. I know I have worked on a few of these, but its just that, a few and I would like to get the thoughts of some of you who might be more experienced with this product. How do they compare with Hallet Davis or other similar lines? ! ; Thanks as always! Shawn Brock, RPT 513-316-0563 www.shawnbrock.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ McCain or Obama? Stay updated on coverage of the Presidential race while you browse - Download Now! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Explore the seven wonders of the world Learn more! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20081025/ff7b7305/attachment.html
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