[pianotech] Steinway parts list

[Israel Stein]

Wim,

Now that's as level-headed an approach 
as I have seen. Suppliers the bulk of 
whose business is to the trade have 
policies that favor this clientele, and 
allow them to make a profit on their 
products if they so choose. Some 
suppliers who do also sell to the public 
(for example, auto parts and building 
materials suppliers) have different 
price structures for the trade and for 
the public and make great efforts to 
keep the wholesale prices secret. We are 
all familiar with the Jansen catalog 
which quotes retail prices for your 
customer's benefit - but then gives you 
the price you pay in confidence.

Steinway? If they wanted their parts 
prices made public, they would post them 
on their website and save themselves a 
whole lot of trouble and cost. Do they 
care that if some ambitious amateur or 
do-it-yourselfer manages to buy some 
parts directly from them? Probably not. 
They do what any supplier who is focused 
primarily on selling to the trade - 
release the price lists to their clients 
and not to the public, basically to 
enable their clients to make a profit on 
the products if they so choose. Common 
business practice. Will they go after 
someone on copyright violation because 
they published their price list? I 
sincerely doubt it, there is no harm to 
Steinway here, though technically there 
might be a violation. The only harm is 
to those of us who might be negotiating 
a price on a rebuilding job - and the 
client comes armed with a parts list. 
And yes, as Wim writes, some clients 
will go to the ends of the earth to find 
out this information and come to the 
negotiation armed to the teeth. 
Fortunately for us - there aren't that 
many of them. So let's not make it easy 
for them by spreading this information 
around public lists. It only harms us. 
If a technician needs the information - 
send it privately, or refer them to 
Steinway.

Israel Stein


On 11:59 AM, tnrwim at aol.com wrote:
> Perhaps Steinway has a strict policy 
> on who may buy their parts, other 
> supply companies have very lax 
> policies, and allow the public to buy 
> parts over the counter. These supply 
> companies sell Steinway parts.
> I agree that we should be able to make 
> a profit off the parts we sell to our 
> customer, as I say in my 
> book. However, there are some 
> technicians who have opted not to do 
> that. A customer who wants to go to 
> the trouble of looking up wholesale 
> price lists, will also go to the 
> trouble of calling enough technicians 
> until he finds one that does the work 
> for the least amount of money.
> Wim
>

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