Factory loan/sale programs.

[Bdshull@aol.com]

I have dealt with a lease program for 9 years now.  It is true that it is a
good thing for schools which have not maintained their pianos - at least for
the short haul.  I have dealt with both Yamaha and Kawai, and have had the
best luck with Yamaha;  usually less tuning instability (still unstable, of
course), less repair problems - very few actual service problems.  These are
good pianos which perform well, but the drawbacks relate to the original
problem the school probably had:  the lack of maintenance funds.   These
pianos often need extensive voicing and must be tuned several times in the
year - and twice in the first month or two.   The school must at least budget
for the frequent tunings.  If they are used as performance instruments you
must be permitted to do whatever is necessary to make the piano work for your
recital hall/teaching studio, etc.  One dealer would not let me do that (!);
fortunately that school switched to another dealer  the next year.

Another reason that dealer/manufacturer was dropped by that school is because
pianos were moved in and out during the year;  you must have inventory
stability from one year to the next, or else just as a piano becomes stable it
gets replaced by an unstable one.  The school cannot be a store showroom
throughout the school year.

Many schools have a good inventory of Steinways and other fine pianos which
are neglected because of the program - especially if the tech service program
is contract.

The schools all have a big sale at least once a year, preferably just before
the summer session.  Having a sale at a university gives the sale unsurpassed
credibility.  Most people think these pianos all were used at the school, but
often only 15 or 20 were and 150 were brought in by the dealer to sell - some
real junk too.
I have received many complaints from my private clientele who went to these
sales and discovered that it was the same used car game as at any store.  I
cannot resist the analogy that the school prostitutes itself a weekend a year
to have decent pianos the rest of the year.

As long as this program is good for the piano industry it will continue (and
we should be sympathetic with the struggles of the piano industry), but I
understand it is no longer quite as successful as it once was.  The piano
lease program may get terminated or become too expensive for a school.

The program can work, but we techs must redouble our efforts to persuade the
school to budget to maintain its Steinway-type pianos and to plan for the long
term.

Bill Shull
University of Redlands, La Sierra University
(909)  796-4226