Kimball-was Electric Pilgrim's Progress

[Billbrpt@AOL.COM]

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List,

I'm glad so many are expressing their opinions.  If I were to take seriously 
all the bad things that people say about Kimball pianos, I'd have to think 
that the Kimball studio piano that my father bought for our family with five 
children in 1960 (built in the Chicago plant) and which he allowed me to 
learn to tune on and which he, being an engineer, taught me the importance of 
tight flanges and proper alignment, was really a "PSO" bought principally to 
take up space against one of the walls in our living room.

Hardly.  Five children got piano lessons on a piano that was within the range 
of what could be afforded, not on credit but with cash.  This, from parents 
who grew up dirt poor in the dust bowls and economic depression of the 1930's 
and who fought for freedom in World War II.  That piano today resides with my 
sister, who plays it every morning and regularly on other occasions.  Her two 
children are learning music from it.  Recently, it needed tuning and because 
I could not be there immediately to tune it, I gave the referral to a member 
of this List who lives in her neighborhood. Fortunately, he didn't go there 
with the wrong kind of attitude.

Yes, I have seen my share of manufacturing defects that came out of the 
plants in southern Indiana.  I have tightened flanges, leveled keys, reset 
the positions of actions, driven tuning pins, fixed faulty coils, replaced 
strings, regulated, filed and aligned hammers, all just the same as I might 
have been called upon to do with virtually any other kind of piano.  I have 
made good money doing it.  I have made people happy and proud of the piano 
they own and have put music in the homes of children who benifit from it.

I choose to live in an area that I consider *livable*.  There are nice pianos 
around and I get to tune and service many of them.  There are also the ones 
called "low end" too.  I really don't like those Winter spinets either.  But 
I have a neighbor who has one, she grew up with it on their farm.  She 
practically *begs* me to give her an appointment.  She always pays cash and 
the going rate.  And aside from when I have to do some other maintenance, I 
am done in 35 minutes at the most.  That's a much better return for my time 
than I get with higher end work.

I have never tuned or worked on a Kimball where I felt that I had no control 
over the situation as is implied by the "nailing Jell-O to the wall" analogy. 
 On the contrary, I have always been in control, knew what to do and how to 
do it, got the job done to professional standards and got good money for it.

Kimball, by the way, is not out of business nor did they go bankrupt.  It is 
my understanding that the company saw then end coming to the market for the 
kind of product it was making.  So many of their products are still out there 
being used, providing income for Tuner-Technicians, being sold and traded and 
will continue to do so, probably well past the time when the badmouthers 
themselves have passed on. 

The used piano market and the electronic keyboards have largely filled the 
market for the kind of instrument Kimball produced, so they decided to quit 
while they were *ahead*.  Kimball still makes furniture and high quality 
laminated wood products.  The last I knew, they still made cases for other 
piano companies to their specifications.

I never had a problem tuning verticals until last summer when I injured my 
right shoulder.  It is far easier for me to tune a grand.  For the spinets 
and the tall uprights, I've had to endure pain and fatigue and figure out 
ways to get around the problem.  If I suddenly decided I was going to be one 
of those "I only do grands" kind of guys, however, I'd be on vacation half of 
the time.  To many ordinary techs, if they had the kind of attitude that I 
see some high profile, easy to let loose with the list of all they hate and 
*won't* do techs, they'd have no work at all.

You couldn't get me to live in NYC for love nor money although I sure do like 
going there.  To me, having to drive the concrete jungle of Los Angeles where 
I grew up is nothing to aspire to either.  I like the four seasons, the green 
hills, the blue skies, the fresh air and the comfortable lifestyle of the 
small city where I live.  There's plenty of variety in my work and plenty of 
opportunity to expand skills and be creative.  In the 32 years I've been in 
business, I've never repeated the experience of a previous year yet.  In 
fact, the opportunity for me to experiment and create a new temperament and 
octave system was available to me here where I am sure that in a place like 
NY or LA, it would not have been.

Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin

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