<< The local Steinway dealer says that the first step is for him to come down for 2-3 days and do a total inventory assessment. Will spending this time building their data base be beneficial? Or will we be wasting the Porsche salesman's time. >> I would think he has lots of time to cherry pick school inventories for "trade-ins" on newer pianos. Trade in old Steinways for new Bostons... The school should consider rebuilding all their old pianos, not trading them in. The bean counters need to see the value. This takes a very coherent presentation by the 'contractor', (that would be the school's tech) to let them know there is an organized approach to the whole inventory. One attractive thing the pitch for an "All" school has is that the administrator is given a fixed target, and set expenses. This is easier to digest than the vague 5 and 10 year plans with the felt wearing at X rate, restrings whenever things begin to break, etc. that so many of us seem to have. I have never been overly organized, making up for in obsessive behaviour. We got Steinways in virtually all the teacher's studios, most vocal, and all performance. I have been with them for 31 years and it has been far less expensive to rebuild and maintain than replace. I just found the invoice for an action replacement I did in one of the pianos in 1988. It cost them $1,500. That piano has been in solid use ever since, and is in need only of a hammer filing and a regulation, to be up to playing anything in the literature. Sure, the key bushings are looser than I like, and there is a bit of noise, but it is still capable of playing at any level, and the teacher with it just loves it. Regards, Ed Foote RPT http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html <BR><BR><BR>**************<BR>Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? Get new twists on family favorites at AOL Food.<BR> (http://food.aol.com/dinner-tonight?NCID=aolfod00030000000001)</HTML>
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