Jory A. Olson wrote: > > Please somebody gently let me know if I'm out of bounds here. I'm not a technician, so I feel like I really don't belong here. I'm just trying to learn about pianos so I can be more knowledgeable when I ask for help from my technician. > > As an engineer (yes, I'm one of THOSE too) I don't expect my piano to behave like my car. > > First of all my car is made out of man-made materials that are well controlled. My piano is made out of natural materials with all of the variation that goes with natural materials. This is why I think plastic actions parts are a great idea. They don't absorb moisture, so they don't change size, twist or warp over time. They all pretty much weigh exactly the same, making regulation much easier. > > Secondly, my car has fewer moving parts. > > Thirdly, car's are built in very large volumes that allow even small problems to surface during production and get solved before the car is shipped. All of the world's piano production during a given year doesn't even amount to a few weeks of the world's car production. Even Yamaha doesn't make pianos in the volumes needed to flush out all of the problems. > > So if your car had 1200 moving parts including felt parts that packed down over time, wooden parts that changed size over time, and was one of only 4000 cars to be built in a year, my guess is you would have the same problems. > > Jory > > Jory, hello to you. I am a former engineer so I hear what you are saying. The fact about pianos is that some are better than others. I like Yamahas because they seem to work very well right from the factory. (I won't discuss tone, however.) They do a good job of prepping their instruments and their quality control (QC) is great. Yes, plastic has advantages. Yamaha does use some plastic in some of their painos. But Steinway used teflon bushings for a while then went back to traditional felt bushings. The idea was not as good in practice as in theory. As to quality control of parts, well...back to Yamaha. They have an excellent QC reputation. Get a part from them and it will fit. But buy from the supply houses, and you may not be as lucky. Not always, but sometimes. It seems to me that you get what you pay for in the piano world. If you pay $2000 more for a similar sized piano, the extra quality is there. But many of the things I notice in a piano are NOT notice by my clients until after the purchase, if at all. For example, one client recently purchased a Korean grand. The bass strings have a terrible sound and getting good clean notes is not possible. When I asked her if she liked the sound of the bass, she said no. She didn't know what she disliked, just that it could be better. I showed her how the strings did not produce a stable note...the pitch wandered. Unfortunately, she didn't notice this when she purchased the piano. After discussions with more experenced techs (some are well kown rebuilders), the fix seems to be replacement of the factory strings with high quality aftermarket strings. There could be other problems, like poor bridge design, but I could replace a few strings just to test the thoery. Unfortunately, that fix is a lot of money for someone who just purchased a new paino. But, the purchase price was right for this client. Everyone wants a grand but most can't afford quality. I tell folks it's better to buy a high-end vetical (upright) than a low-end grand. But...they go for the cheap grand and I have to deal with the problems. Yes, as the paino is made today, and will continue to be made in the near future, requires lots of maitenance. But, a piano will last 20 - 40 years (mileage will vary with use). What other mechanical device lasts that long? Do you want to learn more about pianos? Purchase "The Piano Book" by Larry Fine. It's packed full of great info. -- Frank Cahill Associate Member Northern Va
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