Sohmer

[Lynn Rosenberg]

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
Well, yes people want to spend they're leisure time doing other things.  =
Kids want instant gradification.  they don't want to take piano lessons =
because it involves effert.  I said that the piano really hasn't changed =
in 60 years, I am referring to the acustic piano.  Practice bars were in =
old upright pianos.  The conpetition was a lot tuffer.  Everybody was =
trying to out do everybody else.  Good entry new pianos years ago =
Everetts, Stecks, Kimball, and others were available.  Features that =
were used in cheap pianos, such as key buttons, aren't being used in mor =
expensive pianos today.  I guss the big improvement is the use of =
plastic, in piano actions.  No wood to replace.  However, they're =
certain designs in actions in my opinion have taken a steep backwards.  =
Years ago in the old American upright, the screw, but plate design was =
used.  The butt was screwed in the front with the regular wood flange in =
the front, and the center pin went through the flange into the but and =
the hole was half a hole and they're was a but plate screwed in the =
back, and the pin was griped between the butt plate and flange.  Every =
time they're was a seasonal change, you had to push the pins back in =
because of change in tempreature, plus tighten the screws in the front =
and back.  When the pianos got old, when you tightened those screws in =
the back, because of rotten wood, the butts would split.  Of course you =
could use conventional wood flange butts to solve this problem.  The =
arrangement I described above was discontinued in the american pianos =
years ago.  Yamaha, Kawai, and probably others who used it discontinued =
it also.  However, Young Chang, and others still use it.  I was told by =
a rep that they can assemble the butts quicker.  However, if a piano is =
used hard, you have to do all this extra work to keep the instrument =
working properly with a season change.  Is that design considered an =
improvement?? I think not.  You would think that these foreign =
manufacturers would change.  Lynn

  ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Glenn Grafton=20
  To: pianotech@ptg.org=20
  Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2000 2:44 PM
  Subject: Re: Sohmer


  >I have to agree, the piano hasn't improved basically in the last 60 =
years.
  >The industry is at fault, and as long as the old piano is being =
repaired, I
  >agree that the old pianos are better than most new ones, you're =
better off.
  >Can an industry survive if no improvements are being made?? In the
  >automobile industry, most cars in this part of the country, =
eventually rust
  >out, or most cars wear out, after 200000 miles. The average car =
probably
  >lasts about let's say 10 to 15 years. They're is a turn over of cars. =
The
  >industry survives, and improvements are being made. The piano is =
totally
  >different. quality is deteriorating, price goes up, and as you said =
no
  >change. I hate to see good pianos discarded because they're old. I =
could
  >probably get hundreds of old upright pianos, most could be rebuilt, =
but
  >instead people want these new, shiny looking pianos, but again =
they're no
  >better, if anything worse than the old piano. We are becoming a throw =
away
  >society. The average TV, when it quits, you throw it away and get a =
new one
  >and it's made in Japan, or some where else, the service industry is =
slowly
  >going down hill. I've never been to a Nam show, but some day will =
attend
  >one, and I'm sure it's a lot of fun. Lynn

  I would take exception to some of the conclusions made above. Some =
brands have remained virtually unchanged, others like Yamaha have done =
made a lot of improvements. Compared to many other instruments, the =
piano has morphed into many different forms-digital pianos, player =
pianos, pianos with silent practice functions, etc. Old pianos are often =
not better than new ones. Years ago the entry level piano was something =
like a Lester or Wurlitzer spinet-not exactly stellar instruments. Even =
comparing decent quality consoles, play a new Yamaha 44" console next to =
a 40" Sohmer or Knabe console and the Yamaha sounds better. Certainly =
there are many exceptions-Korean, Chinese, Indonesian and Russian pianos =
are often times nothing to write home about.

  The practicality of taking an older upright and rebuilding it usually =
does not make sense financially. I know two tuners that did that with =
their personnal instruments, only to find that when they went to sell =
them they were "overimproved" and didn't bring even close to what they =
put into them-like taking a row house and putting a $30,000 kitchen in =
it. We're a throw away society only in the sense that many products =
today sell for such low prices they don't warrant repairing them. Some =
pianos which need extensive work certainly fall into that category where =
the cost to repair them is greater and the results are lower than =
getting a new piano. Higher quality pianos-especially grands of course =
are an exception.

  I would say that with some brands on the market the real cost has gone =
down for what a compareable piano would have cost years ago. We may =
reminisce about how cheap pianos sold for years ago but remember that in =
the '70's you could get a new VW Beatle for $1995 and everyone made a =
lot less.

  The real problems often times are:
  * Peoples attention spans are shorter.
  * There's many more leasure time activities than there were years ago =
which are in direct competition with the dollars and time to the effort =
involved in learning to play the piano. Soccer, Roller Hockey, Health =
Clubs, the Internet, Computers, Satellite TV, etc. are all activities =
that people and their kids get involved with that cut into the free time =
that in the past would have been spent on piano playing.
  * People often put a higher priority on bigger & more expensive homes =
and cars over pianos. (We'll often have someone pull up in a new Ford =
Expedition looking for a nice used piano for the little tyke to start =
lessons on for a couple hundred dollars.

  The challenge we have is to extol the long term benefits of learning =
to play and owning a quality piano.
  Glenn Grafton
  Grafton Piano & Organ Co.
  Souderton PA
  http://www.dprint.com/grafton/
  gleng@fast.net
  800-272-5980

  The box said "Requires Windows 95, or better." So I bought a =
Macintosh.


---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/df/f5/63/f0/attachment.htm

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--