Fred writes: << My chair tells me he is almost certain the upper administration will approve our request for a new course fee of $5/credit hour for all music dept courses, targeted at pianos. This will generate $40,000 to $60,000/year, but the bulk will go to piano replacement.>> AAAAAAARRRRGGG!!! I see this all too often! Several years ago, I found that a major state university had received the funds to purchase a new Steinway D. They had two older ones, one of which had been horribly "rebuilt" about 5 years before, and was unusable. The other was in poorly regulated and voiced limbo. I tried to tell them that for the price of a new one, the old one could be completely, (and I mean COMPLETELY) restored and they would still have $50,000 left over to bring others up to par. It didn't wash, they had been convinced that a NEW one was the only way to have the 'genuine' experience. I just returned from that school where I spent time with the "other" piano. I repinned the hammerline and assorted whippen problems, reshaped hammers, worked over the stringing, regulated, tuned and voiced. When I was done, the first faculty member that played it said, "Wow, I wish our new piano played and sounded this good"! Maybe we can figure out a way for you to restore the really bad one". As Caut members, we really need to get our sales pitch down to a science so that schools can be made to understand that replacement of better brands of pianos is far more expensive than restoration, and the results are NOT superior. It blows my mind to see a school turn in a handful of worn out Steinways in trade-in on a like number of new ones. That is a great deal for the factory, but the school is getting taken to the cleaners. Regards, Ed Foote RPT www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/ www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html <A HREF="http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/399/six_degrees_of_tonality.html"> MP3.com: Six Degrees of Tonality</A>
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