Steinway "pinning" dilemma

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Jim writes:
<< Who pays for any work? Steinway will say it's correct and not a
warrantee issue and the College won't cough up umpteen more dollars for
new pianos that they just paid over $500,000.00 for.
Catch 22? Maybe you're right and they'll just have to decide on what
they want. >>

Yes, they will.  
     Your part?  I think you could explain this to the department head, and 
after you follow the STeinway official procedures the piano faculty will tell 
you if they think the pianos are acceptable.  If not, then maybe Steinway will 
tell you to make it so.  I have been paid to repin and regulate brand new 
pianos, almost always paid by the manufacturer.  If you do so, don't forget the 
balanciers.  They have been erratic of late.   
     You don't want to be in between the factory and the college's decision 
makers. Just give'em the facts as you see it.  Make sure that the responsibilty 
for a decision based on finances rather than finesse will be clearly owned 
and it won't be you.  In time, the consumers may see the light and understand 
the compromises, but that might just be idealism leaking out. (and keep your 
reamers and pins handy!) 
      I differ with the factory on their pinning.  They have a 150 year 
history of pinning problems and I have 25 years of looking at the results. Recent 
pianos are pinned by solution and if the thickness of the cloth is off, 
problems show up a few humidity cycles later.  I see more of them tightening up than 
the other way around. After a year or two of use, they can be pinned looser 
with very little reaming and the results will make the piano owner your customer 
for life.    
    
   Regulation is the most profitable hourly time I can spend around my shop.  
I do a lot of it.  I know that re-pinning works and that is a rather pricey 
skill that I can and do sell.  Since consistancy is no less important than a 
well bedded keyframe, setting up performance level actions requries even 
pinning.  The other approaches always leave varied friction from pin to pin, aside 
from wholesale missing the mark, at times. 
Sell the best, you will ultimately end up with the best customers.     
Regards,  
Ed Foote RPT 
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html
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