Sohmer

[Delwin D Fandrich]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Lynn Rosenberg" <Lynn@eznet.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: October 23, 2000 6:06 PM
Subject: Re: Sohmer


> I was told by a technician friend that the industry has had a problem
since
> the 1920s.
> Pianos have been to well built, and as long as pianos last, the industry
> can't survive.  %70 pianos sold are used.  How can an industry keep up if
> 70% sold are used.  Also, pianos are getting terribly expensive.  The
> average person can't afford to spend $4000 or more for a piano.  If the
> industry is to survive, pianos will get cheaper, cheaper, and cheaper, to
> survive.  Do you think the industry is dying, because of the above
> mentioned, and electronics, and if so how much longer?? Lynn
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Delwin D Fandrich <pianobuilders@olynet.com>
> To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: Sunday, October 22, 2000 12:08 AM
> Subject: Re: Sohmer
>
---------------------------------------------------

Yes, pianos do last a long time.  I don't know that I consider this to be a
problem, however.  The earth does not have enough resources for us all to
keep on buying and discarding disposable products.  Pianos should last a
long time -- and there should be penalties levied against manufacturers who
build pianos that don't last a long time.  And cars.  And buildings.  And
whatever.  We cannot continue to build disposable products and discard them
when we no longer want them.

We are at the point at which we, as a society, must decide whether or not we
wish to survive as a species.  Until just a few hundred years ago the earth
saw about one species go extinct about ever thousand years.  There are now
approximately 1,000 species going extinct every year.  Humans could well be
one of them, and sooner than we think.  (And if you really want to get me
going, just bring up what is happening to our forests.  Or the rate at which
we are spewing various types of garbage into the atmosphere.  Or the rate at
which we are reproducing ourselves.  Or...)

As may be -- have you ever gone to the NAMM show in So. California?  If not,
you should.  Take a good look at the 'new' pianos being offered by the
various manufacturers.  You'll find a lot of really wonderful new finishes.
A few new styles, i.e., different legs and music desks, etc.  And a couple
more German and/or U.S. designs ported over to high-volume Asian
manufacturer.  And at least one Asian manufacturer exhibiting even more of
the 'features' of a certain U.S. piano than it did last year.  But, it is
rare to find any manufacturer offering a piano that actually has better
performance than did its predecessors, especially its predecessors of, say,
75 to 100 years ago.  (Last year I found just one.)  Indeed, it is rare to
find one that performs as well.

In fact, if your client has a 75 year old Whatever and wants to upgrade to a
new piano, quite probably his/her best option -- that is, the most musical
option -- will be to have that old piano rebuilt/remanufactured and pass on
the new piano.  Each time that is done it has cost some manufacturer a new
sale.

Now, enough has been learned about piano design that this should not be the
case.  Any manufacturer whose product has traveled down through the decades
essentially unchanged is contributing to the problem.  Any manufacturer who
simply reintroduces a design abandoned by some other company that has gone
out of business is contributing to the problem.  Any company ... well, you
get the idea.

My point here -- and, again, it's the same one I made in my Journal
article -- is that the industry has given the existing piano owner very
little incentive to trade in his/her piano for a new one.  Very few people
buy new pianos just because the new one looks better.  Most want something
that plays -- sounds -- better.

Why is the piano industry -- seemingly alone in the manufacturing world --
stuck in this mindset?  Who knows?  Perhaps because musical instruments in
general tend to evolve to a certain point -- perfection? -- and then the
design more-or-less freezes.  In the case of the piano, however, the design
is not finished yet.  That is, there is still much room for acoustical
improvement for anyone who will get up the nerve to kick themselves out of
the 19th century.  (An oblique reference to one of my favorite books, "A
Kick In The Seat Of The Pants."  Roger von Oech.  Not about pianos, but good
reading all the same.)

Regards,

Del