Hey, Wally! What a provocative post. I understand your questions and your concern. Never being one to avoid a controversy, how about the two of us walk on over to a hornet's nest, kick the hell out of it and see what happens just for fun. Here goes :) I would suggest that there are some very fine piano technicians on this list, fully capa- ble of responding to your post, who would be willing to express an opinion in private, but would be reluctant to express that opinion to the entire list. Gee, I wonder why? Let's get down to it. When I first read your post, I thought that you had made a mistake when writing it, and had meant an *1889* model B and not a *1989* model B. It was only when I read it a sec- ond time that I realized that you were talking about a Steinway that was only eight years old and NOT one that was 108 years old. Silly me , for making a mistake like that! Unfortunately, you're up you-know-what creek, in a leaky boat, without an oar to row with, and sinking fast on this one. Do you know why? Well, for over 100 years Steinway offered a ten year warranty on their pianos. If you had bought that piano in 1889, eight years later it would still would have been under warranty. But your 1989 model B? Sorry Wally, only five years.:( Which, of course, brings up the question, why did they shorten the warranty from 10 years to 5? The answer that was given to me by Steinway several years ago, was, and I quote; "Les, we build them so good now, we only have to give five years!" Now I'm only expressing an opinion here, but I would suggest that if one buys that explaination, they not only put out a plate of cookies and glass of milk for Santa Claus on Christmas eve; get up early Easter morning, hoping to catch the bunny filling the baskets; and put their loose teeth under the pillow, hoping for the Tooth fairy to pay them a visit during the night; but they probably are also waiting anxious- ly for the day when Steinway announces that they have perfected the art of piano-making to such a degree that they are now able to eliminate the warranty altogether! What a red-letter day that will be! Now, Wally, answer your own questions. You say the board is flat and exhibits no discernable crown, right. Further that this eight year old instrument has numerous cracks at the pins in the treble bridge and has a noticable loss of tone in the lower treble. How much did the customer pay for the piano? Would you, yourself have paid that much for that par- ticular piano? Do you think the crown will return to the board in time? That the small cracks in the bridge will eventually go away? That the deadness you hear in the lower treble will get better as the years go by? If you answered yes to all of the above, then maybe the piano real- ly was a good deal. If you answered no to any of them, then maybe it wasn't such a good deal, after all. But what are you going to do now? "read 'em and weep", that's what. I doubt that the dealer is going to give you any relief at this stage in the game, and down the road, say five, ten, fifteen years when more serious problems perhaps start to show up, is anyone going to care, besides you and your customer? What do you think? There, of course, is a lesson to be learned here. I have repeated it over the years maybe a ZILLION times, but I'll state it again. HAVE THE DAMN PIANO INSPECTED BEFORE YOU BUY IT, NOT AFTERWARDS. YOU are in control of the situation UNTIL you plunk your money down. After that, it's probably too late. We remember best those lessons that cost us money. And the more money they cost us, the better we remember them. You and the customer probably aren't going to forget this one for quite a while, eh, Wally? :) Having said all the above, let's try to be fair to Steinway for a mom- ent. Once that piano was sold, they had no control over the environment- al conditions under which it was kept. New England winter's often are brutal, and the changeover from excessively dry heat in the winter-time, (assuming the previous owner didn't use a humidifier) to high humidity in the spring and summer, can wreak havoc with soundboards, bridges and pinblocks. Since this piano is already exhibiting problems that COULD have resulted from being placed in an unstable environment, such as described above, I believe that it is of paramount importance that you get a humidity control system in place as soon as possible. It won't stop the inevitable, but at least it might help slow down the process. Then, too, the piano might not be as bad as it now appears. This is winter-time. The heat has been on a long time. If the piano's cur- rent owner isn't humidifying, contraction of the soundboard and a subsequent loss of tone may just be a seasonal phenomena. Reinspect the piano in late spring. You may find that the soundboard has re- sponded to the increasedd humidity by once again displaying measur- able crown and that that area in the low treble which appeared to be "dead' hs come back to life. If so, it just reinforces the im- portance of getting a HCS in place as soon as possible! I hope this helps. Les Smith lessmith@buffnet.net On Tue, 18 Mar 1997, Wallace F. Wilson wrote: > I recently inspected a 1989 vintage B that a customer of ours just purchased > -- won't say from where. The board was FLAT. Downbearing adequate in most > places, but not so much that it should squash the board. Treble bridge > riddled with little cracks by the pins. Sound not that bad - a bit of > deadness in lower treble, but that's not all that unusual. Ours is a > climate that is quite damp in summer (90-98 degrees, 90% + humidity) and > quite dry in the winter. The piano came from New England. > > My question: do they have a real problem that they should take up with the > dealer? Is this common? Acceptable if the tone is pleasing? > Wally Wilson > >
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