Who needs,,,,,,,,,,

[John Musselwhite]

At 09:33 PM 1/11/2001 -0700, Kevin R. wrote:

>I agree, they are indeed wonderful instruments, but why are they so in need
>of "finishing?"

Donning my flamesuit as I wax philosophical, I can think of several 
reasons. When I refer to "finishing" I mean voicing in particular as well 
as regulating and polishing of the case. The hammers usually come soft for 
a reason.

1) If they finished the piano properly then customizing it for the 
purchaser again afterwards could be more difficult and would be a waste of 
time, effort and money. The dealer's technician is expected to do the last 
bits for the purchaser.
2) The pianos are sent from a very old and traditional factory in New York 
City. If they finished them there, by the time they got to the dealer's 
floor in Albuquerque they'd have to be finished again anyway due to climate 
changes.
3) The final purchaser gets more of the feeling that they've bought 
something that can be set up "just for them" rather than to the lowest 
common denominator, which is "factory specifications".

In the old days and to some extent now, when the wealthy bought a Rolls 
Royce, they bought a raw chassis and had it finished for their tastes. When 
they wanted a mansion they built a new one so it would be "theirs". If they 
wanted a suit of clothes they had it custom tailored rather than buying one 
off the rack. Even if they wanted their own writing instrument they'd pay 
thousands of dollars for a Waterman fountain pen that adapts to their own 
particular writing style rather than just a Cross.

In some respects the Steinway piano is like that. The factory does all the 
work necessary (hopefully!) to supply us with a "raw" piano that can then 
be customized to the owner's needs. Being hand-made they are all different 
in some way and like people, some have more potential than others and the 
potential in some instruments is never realized at all. People who are used 
to something working properly "right out of the box" are bound to be 
disappointed with them that way and if I may say so, they should stick with 
the select hardwood-rimmed Asian pianos, expecting to replace them when 
they lose their precision just like they do their used cars.

At best this means that Steinway has given us durable, traditional and 
fairly "standard" pianos that will remain in extreme service (or pampered 
luxury) and retain their value for a great many years, often outliving 
their original owners before they require rebuilding. At worst it means 
that the company has supplied and is supplying current and future 
rebuilders with viable carcasses that they can turn into magnificent 
instruments once again.  Either way, piano technicians come out ahead as 
do, hopefully, the owners. The only loser is the factory, actually.

I hope that answers the question. If not, the short version is that they 
are hand-built instruments constructed mostly after a traditional fashion 
using traditional materials and they're all a little bit different. To the 
technician and to some extent the owner, it means that in a new piano *you* 
have control over the growth of the last bit of the piano's potential 
rather than it being realized in a modern computer controlled factory 
somewhere just like the last one that rolled off the assembly line. That 
should be a *good* thing, not something to complain about.

                         John

John Musselwhite, RPT    -     Calgary, Alberta Canada
http://www.musselwhite.com  http://canadianpianopage.com/calgary
email: john@musselwhite.com    http://www.mp3.com/fatbottom