state of the industry

[Wimblees@AOL.COM]

At the Texas State Association Seminar last weekend, I attended a class on the
state of the piano industry. It was brought up that sales of new pianos is on
the increase. One of the contributing factors of this is the economy. With
more people making more money, which gives them disposable income to allow
them to buy new instruments.

The other factor in this equation is the condition of the older pianos. Pianos
that were made at the turn of the century getting to the point that
restoration has become an act of futility. Also pianos, that were mass
produced after WWII, are also beginning to become landfill.

Yesterday I was "forced" to make some minor repairs and tune one of those old
explayer uprights. The customer got the piano from his brother, so that his
wife could have something to play on. (no kids yet). I told him that
structurally and mechanically the piano had gotten ot the point of no return.
I could repair the three keys that were not working at all, and I could make
the piano sound a little better than it was, but that anything beyond that
would be useless. 

This is something all of us should try to encourage with our customers. With
few exceptions, customers should be encouraged to dispose their old uprights.
We should take the initiative to tell them that these pianos do have a life
expectancy of no more than 75 - 100 years, and that spending money to restore
them should only be done in very rare circumstances. 

This is not only true for uprights, but for some of the grand pianos also.
Yesterday I gave an estimate to rebuild a 1928 5' Bush & Gerts piano. This
piano needed everything, and then some. The customer wanted to restore the
piano because he inherited it from his great aunt. However, he understood that
for $11,000, which is how much the estimate was, he realized he could buy a
new piano. 

The bottom line: in order for the piano industry survive, the manufacturers
need to sell new instruments. We can help them by getting rid of the glut of
old uprights and old grands that are too expensive to restore. Please, don't
encourage customers to spend money on older pianos. Instead, encourage them to
buy a new piano, or a newer used piano. 

Just my view.

Willem Blees RPT
St. Louis