Electric piano

[Meyer Carl]

Ed;

I'm not sure I agree with your analogy.

A piano that sounds and performs well is a delight compared to a PSO.  It's
been said that you get what you pay for.  Not true.  You get what you pay
for if you are very lucky.  You can pay a lot for junk if you are not lucky
or not smart.

A Volkswagen will get you where you want to go, get you home again and it
won"t tell anybody where you've been.  And it will do it cheaper than most
other cars.

You are right that Ferrari mechanics make more money because their owners
like to brag to their friends how much it costs to fix it every other week
whereas the vw owners brag how cheap their cars are to run.

The reason to own a piano is very different than the reason to own a car.
The primary function of a piano is to produce good music.  The secondary
goal should be appearance and snob appeal.  For a car it should be the
primary function of transportation.  Secondary should be snob appeal,
comfort etc.  Transportation is not the main reason to buy a Ferrari, I
suspect.

AND!  Ferraris don't care who drives them!

I used to  compare a good stereo system and a cheap boom box to a VW and a
Cadillac, but I never liked the illustration, because I REALLY have a lot of
respect
for Volkswagens.  At least the old beetles.

My rant for the day.

Carl Meyer
Santa Clara, ca.



----- Original Message -----
From: <A440A@AOL.COM>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, January 05, 2001 6:01 PM
Subject: Re: Electric piano


> Horace writes:
> << Or, a
> > room full of 50's/60's vintage Wurlitzer and/or Kimball consoles to try
to
> > keep in tune?  I am not sure which is more frustrating....except that,
as
> > one very well known technician once said:  "Tuning a Kimball is like
trying
> > to nail Jello to a wall" - so, one starts tuning, and, when the big hand
> > goes around once, one stops and moves on, without having to worry about
> >
>
> And Billbrpt responds:
> >>I'm sure there are abundant numbers of
> piano technicians out there who have not had the kind of lofty career
> described by this man who could figure out how to tune and maintain a
group
> of Kimball 42" Consoles and have no trouble at all doing so.'
> It takes only the most basic set of skills, common sense and common
> knowledge.<<
>
> Greetings,
>     It is obvious that a point has been missed.  It takes very little to
> "figure out how to tune and maintain a group of Kimball 42" Consoles and
have
> no trouble at all doing so."  When you get to the level of compromise that
> these low-end pianos represent, there is little need for high-level
skills,
> they are the dregs of the market and all that is required to "tune" and
> service them" is the most rudimentary skills.  That is why the majority of
> them are tuned by the cheapest tuners in any given locality. In my
> experience, (which was at one time considerable), their owners rarely are
> willing to pay top dollar for the techs with the most expertise.
>     It is a great day in a tech's life when they have generated enough
> professional work to say "no more spinets or consoles" and specialize in
> grands.   I would encourage all tuners to aspire towards continually
working
> to improve their skills, both technical and personal, and filling their
> clientele with  better and better instruments, leaving the low-end work to
> the beginners.  It is like comparing Volkswagon mechanics to Ferrari
> mechanics,  the latter often begin as the former, but had the chops,
> opportunity, and ambition to attract better and better paying work.
>    There is a difference between having 25 years experience, and having
one
> year's experience 25 times.
> Regards,
> Ed Foote RPT
>
>