I miss a point in the ongoing prepping discussion: what do you exactly do before you sale a new piano? Regarding all the posts one could assume that new pianos arrive in a wimpy condition at the dealer. Is it really so? Perhaps we should differentiate between high and low end pianos. As a dealer I would accept that a low budget piano arrives in another condition than a high end piano. In the first line I sell used upright pianos and I have only one brand in stock that I sell new: Wendl & Lung. Although it´s a low budget piano it arrives in a very good condition in my store. When they arrive in Germany a German collegue makes the end control and some prepp work, e.g. string seating, string mating, tuning, voicing and a rough contoll of the regulation. Not till then it gets delivered to the dealers. My part is to work on the key balance holes, tightening the action screws and to tweak the regulation if needed or desired. But I am talking about a economically priced Chinese piano, so I don´t care about a key drop of 10.5 mm instead of 10 mm. I seldom refine the regulation and I had many professional players or teachers in my store who were thrilled not oly about the sound but also about how they can play the action just in the condition the piano arrived at my store. Will mentioned that many manufacturers don´t pound in the pianos. I can´t belive that. I am sure that e.g. every German factory uses a pounding in machine and even a Chinese producer like Wendl & Lung (Hailun) uses it. Look at the video on step 8. Delivery without pounding in is senseless and I think even most of the cheap manufacturers are aware of it. http://www.wendl-lung.com/jart/prj3/wendl_lung/main.jart?rel=en&content-id=1225437990106&reserve-mode=active Selling an used piano is another story. This is what I do on every used upright (I seldom work on grands): -string seating -tightening all action screws and if necessary changing center pins -lubricating damper springs and damper rod -hammer reshaping -burning hammer shanks -travelling hammers -hammer string mating -polishing and lubricating key pins and capstans -key levelling -regulation and voicing -new felts on trapwork With used pianos I get paid for that work with my margin. New pianos should leave my store in the same prepped state, but they require much less work, at least the Wendl & Lung. I can´t compare with other brands as I don´t sell other brands. So, what are your experiences with other brands? What has to be done? Gregor ------------------------------------------ piano technician - tuner - dealer Münster, Germany www.weldert.de _________________________________________________________________ http://redirect.gimas.net/?n=M0911xIE2 Sicher ist besser. Internet Explorer 8. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20091128/ba8d174e/attachment.htm>
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