[CAUT] beginning luck

[Brent Fischer]

Hey Fred,
   It's ironic to me that the same disconnect between "re-designers" andinstitutions parallels in much the same way as the Steinway lack oftechnical follow up after an "All-Steinway" school has paid a millionfor the designation. I know of several examples, get the sale and onto the next client when the criteria should include training for the school'stech at Steinway's cost. In addition, a factory program with incentives thatmotivates young techs with training that includes an authentic endorsementor better yet a  " C&A certification " giving a resume real traction.
  Product quality, marketing, and high level technical support is a triage approach so common in today's competitive world it's a head scratcher that NY doesn't comply with current trends. They're so busy designingthe label on the next spray polish going on the shelf at Ace Hardware that that the contents are secondary, much like what you are describing.So it has changed, I was the only student in the basement for a week atthe time I went, 1992.      It drives me nuts supporting the basis of the Steinway specs being the world's best only to have the arrogance in management targeting institutional sales without proper service emphasis. The disconnectmentioned earlier translates into the scenario mentioned last week when a tech has to sabotage a Steinway instrument he is in charge of to elevate the disappointing results of a rebuilder, much like Steinway selling problematic instruments only to have techs attempting solutions without
 factory acknowledgment or support of the issues. 
Fred, thanks for all your superior writing this past few weeks.
Brent 



--- On Sun, 2/27/11, Fred Sturm <fssturm at unm.edu> wrote:

From: Fred Sturm <fssturm at unm.edu>
Subject: Re: [CAUT] beginning luck
To: caut at ptg.org
Date: Sunday, February 27, 2011, 2:20 PM

On Feb 26, 2011, at 4:13 PM, Brent Fischer wrote:

>  secondly get to Steinway
> factory sessions often and mostly get to their C&A training in the basement
> and come away with their endorsement of your work, and leave your
> electronic tuning aid at home when you go.


Hi Brent,
    I think the C & A training (if you mean the final of the four regular one-week sessions) has changed quite a bit since you went. A couple years ago when I went, there were four of us in the usual room, and the only real difference between it and the "tone regulation" session was that we had Bs and Ds instead of smaller pianos. No work in the basement. I was disappointed, as I had heard there would only be two students, and there would be some work with the C & A guys, maybe in the basement. Of course, since then Kent Webb has taken over the "Academy" so it might have changed again.
    No need to leave the ETD behind, in fact better not to, as tuning was done by all four simultaneously, with only flimsy doors dividing us. Oh, and "their endorsement of your work" is at best informal. It is made clear that you are not certified by Steinway, though I did actually get a certificate for the last session. But it said something like "attended the concert prep session," not even weak wording like "completed." Obviously you can let people know you did the training, but you are not supposed to imply anything beyond that. The world changes.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu








      
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/caut.php/attachments/20110227/243fd0c5/attachment-0001.htm>