Hi all- Since NIU was about as close as anyone ever was to an all S&S school (still 44 out of 45 grands) , I've spent most of my working life on these pianos in an institutional setting. Andrew Remillard has already pointed out the major problem of getting all new inventory at once -it all wears out pretty much at the same time. (I did get REALLY proficient at working on teflon before it did, though.) Would I trade away our inventory? No. Would I recommend such a purchase plan? NO. It virtually guarantees that the maintenance budget will not be sufficient, unless you begin immediately to stockpile parts. In an institution that is not moving into a new building,such a large purchase can easily alienate the non-piano faculty, because they have legitimate needs too. If the money is a gift, however, that is not likely to be such a problem.Once they are alienated, you can forget trying to increase your maintenance budget. The local S&S dealer just presented us with the results of their survey of our current inventory. The piano faculty members present were not interested in a new inventory. They didn't even want to trade out their pianos. What they agreed with is that our capital need is for replacing an aging stock of uprights in faculty offices and open access practice rooms, and it does look like this is what we will pursue, though maybe not all Bostons and definitely not S&S uprights. As for wondering about the 1970's pianos- they are definitely reparable, and I would be happy to put any of the rebuilt pianos, with new actions and Stanwood Touch Designs, up against the new pianos coming out of the factory. They may not look pretty, but I never met a pianist who played the finish. --- ---------------------- > >Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 11:03:34 EST >From: Wimblees@aol.com >Subject: Re: replace/rebuild > >
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