Yes, folks, I know CBS didn't manufacture pianos. I clipped the description from my clients email, and figured all you educated folks would instantly understand what I meant. I apologize. As Will noted, that is precisely it. Not from the CBS era. It is the client's opinion (wright or wrong) that pianos of that era are unpleasant at best. I tend to agree that S&S pianos from the 50's can be much worse, but as Ed mentioned, I've seen way too many truly AWFUL actions from between 1960 and 1980-ish to consider picking one up sight unseen. In the end, it doesn't really matter a heck of a lot to me. We evaluate the piano for what it is and determine what it needs to be great. That can be anything from a new action only, to action, pinblock, board, bridges, finish, trapwork, lyre, etc. So, I guess my position is that I'd rather work on any piano from any era so long as the client has a clear understanding of what we're up against and what it costs to fix that problem before they commit to buying it. It's just that it sometimes simplifies things a bit to hedge a bet against 19(50) - 1980(ish). William R. Monroe On Sat, Oct 8, 2011 at 2:08 PM, Al Guecia/Allied PianoCraft < alliedpianocraft at hotmail.com> wrote: > "Personally I’d rather work on a piano built during the CBS years than one > built during the decade or two leading up to that time." > > Yes, the quality in the late 50's and early 60's was nothing to write home > about and I don't really know why. It was probably because the work force > was aging and new help was hard to find. Those that applied had to be > trained. That was my opportunity. I started there in 1963 and trained under > Fred Drasche for 1 year along with 4 other applicants. I was the only one > that stayed with the company. I'm sure that had some effect on the quality > at that time. > > As you read from other on this list, they think the opposite is true, but > as you say, CBS pumped quite a bit of money into the company to make > improvements. The thing that upset most of us working there, was when they > took two to four weeks of inventory between departments and knocked it down > to one. If there was a problem in any department, there wouldn't be enough > work to sustain the following department. Other than that, steady > improvements were made while I was there. The Tone Regulators I worked with, > were very conscientious and truly tried to make a quality piano. But we had > no old timers in that department. Most had already retired or went on the > start their own business. > > Al - > High Point, NC > > > On Oct 8, 2011, at 12:51 PM, Delwin D Fandrich wrote: > > Until recently Steinway’s build quality has never been much to write home > about. But the worst years came some before CBS purchased the company. That > was the turn-around event for the company. CBS may have screwed with the > finances but they also poured money into the company and set the stage for > the company’s comeback.**** > ** ** > I started working on pianos in the 1960s so the Steinway pianos built > during the last few years of Steinway family ownership were still new or > relatively new. Their build quality had been going down for years and, in my > view, it reached a low point during the late 60s and early 70s. I spent many > hours with Steinway executives and I worked on literally hundreds of > Steinway pianos from the 70s through the early 80s. There was a strong > desire on the part of management and workers alike to improve the quality of > the instruments. Management was trying a lot of different things; some > worked and some didn’t. I didn’t work at the factory as Al Guecia did—I > worked on the finished product—so I have no idea how various management > decisions affected the various departments or the individual workers but > during my visits to the factory the improvements in infrastructure were > obvious. These were the result of CBS money and I remain convinced that > without CBS money the both the factory infrastructure and the build quality > of Steinway pianos would have continued to decline and we probably would not > have a Steinway company today. Instead there was a turnaround during the CBS > years, a foundation was laid for the company’s recovery and the pianos have > been improving ever since. Their overall build quality is better now than at > any time in its history.**** > ** ** > Personally I’d rather work on a piano built during the CBS years than one > built during the decade or two leading up to that time.**** > ** ** > ddf**** > ** ** > Delwin D Fandrich**** > Piano Design & Fabrication**** > 6939 Foothill Court SW, Olympia, Washington 98512 USA**** > Phone 360.515.0119 — Cell 360.388.6525**** > del at fandrichpiano.com <del at fandrichpiano.com>— ddfandrich at gmail.com**** > ** ** > *From:* pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] *On > Behalf Of *Encore Pianos > *Sent:* Saturday, October 08, 2011 8:58 AM > *To:* pianotech at ptg.org > *Subject:* Re: [pianotech] S&S B**** > ** ** > Hi Al:**** > ** ** > The perceived “insinuation” may not be on William’s part. As a piano > dealer for 7 years and someone who has bought and sold may Steinway grands, > rebuilt and otherwise, it was my experience that many potential > “knowledgable” Steinway vintage buyers were disinterested in any pianos from > the CBS period. I had many phone calls where the buyer would lose interest > immediately when I informed them that a particular piano was from that era. > Right or wrong, it’s a fact of life. **** > ** ** > I did sell one 1972 Steinway B to a church. It had a great board, lots of > dynamics, and huge potential. The Teflon action was in tough shape and it > needed lots of other action work. So I sold the piano on its potential and > their faith in me that they would get a great piano after I rebuilt the > action and voiced the piano. They did.**** > ** ** > That piano did have some quality issues. Action fitting and damper action > fitting was not to Steinway’s best tolerances. Bridge notching was not > great. I won’t extrapolate beyond that to all Steinways from that period, > and I will say that mistakes were made in every era. Anyone who has rebuilt > for a while discovers dirty little secrets in every piano. **** > ** ** > Will Truitt**** > ** ** > ** ** > ** ** > *From:* pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] *On > Behalf Of *Al Guecia/Allied PianoCraft > *Sent:* Saturday, October 08, 2011 10:44 AM > *To:* pianotech at ptg.org > *Subject:* Re: [pianotech] S&S B**** > ** ** > I don't understand what you mean by "not CBS manufactured". CBS never > manufactured Steinway pianos, only Steinway manufactured Steinway pianos. > They just bought the company and screwed with the finances. **** > ** ** > I worked there during that period and the only thing that changed was the > inventory between departments. They felt it was waisted capitol and what > they accomplished by that move was layoffs for lack of inventor between > departments. The pianos got through the factory fasted and didn't have as > much time to settle, but we had the same management and the quality remained > the same.**** > ** ** > Since I and my department were the last to work on and inspect those > pianos, I take exception to the insinuation that the pianos were of lesser > quality.**** > ** ** > Al -**** > High Point, NC**** > ** ** > ** ** > ** ** > On Oct 7, 2011, at 8:30 PM, William Monroe wrote:**** > > ** ** > Hi List,**** > ** ** > Anyone have a Steinway B, unrestored, needing work, not CBS manufactured, > 1920s through 1960s?**** > ** ** > Let me know if you do, I have someone looking for one.**** > ** ** > Contact me off list:**** > bill at a440piano.net**** > ** ** > ** ** > William R. Monroe**** > ** ** > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20111008/3bda8f67/attachment-0004.htm>
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC