> > It doesn't. In design, even "cheap" pianos are engineered to have proper down > > bearing, bridges etc. The problem between the cheap and the expensive ones > are that in the manufacturing process, if a problem is discovered with the > expensive one, it is sent back through, while with the cheap ones, there > isn't the time, nor the money, to do it over again. So the piano is sent out > as is. But that is why it is a "cheap" piano. I wonder which expensive piano that might be that gets sent back through for soundboard replacement when the problem is "discovered"? With such a fine QC and recursive correction system in place, I surely must be imagining all those killer octaves, zero bearing, and negative crowned soundboards in all those expensive pianos as well as in the cheap ones. > > When the piano gets to the dealer, we have the same problem. When a dealer > can make $10,000 on a piano, he/she is more willing to pay a technician a > couple of hundred dollars to correct any problems. How can it be necessary to have to pay a tech to correct problems when they are corrected by sending the faulty pianos back through the line at the factory? We seem to have two mutually exclusive points here. Also, if you know a tech that can cure reverse crown soundboards in killer octaves on site for $200, I'll pay you for the name and phone number. > > Or if the problem is > serious, it will get sent back. (In this case, the manufacturer realizes > there is a reputation at stake, and is willing to absorb a certain amount of > loss to redo the instrument.) But when the profit margin gets reduced down to > > $2 - 3000, even if the work needs to be done, there isn't the money > available. (And by the same token, the manufacturer is very reluctant to take > > the piano back.) Again, that is why it is a "cheap" piano. And if the cheap pianos were sent back with major problems instead of being excused (just like the expensive ones should be but so rarely are), wouldn't they both try to clean up their products some and attempt to sell a product? What's the market for American made pianos in Japan, for instance? We seem to be quite willing and eager to put up with any sort of junk if the price is low enough. We even get so used to dealing with junk that we will not only accept it in high priced items, we'll DEMAND it in low priced ones. Of all the hundreds of pianos I (just me, one guy) have seen on showroom floors with major soundboard disfunction, I don't think more than a dozen have been returned and replaced in the last 25 years - and while I can't prove it, I have no doubt that the replaced pianos were sold somewhere else with no corrective action having been taken. I'm not talking about regulation and voicing here. What you say is quite true for repairs that can be made by the dealer or field tech. I'm talking about the classic killer octave for which there is no current field repair. The military classifies such conditions as Not Easily Repairable at This Station, or NERTS. If someone bought a cheap piano that's going to cost them money out of their own pocket to improve regulation or voicing in their home, so be it. How do you tell them they are stuck with a NERTS soundboard if they don't want to remanufacture the thing at their expense because neither the dealer or manufacturer will discuss it? Maybe it is high time to start experimenting with spring boosters. > > What will most likely happen, as Ron pointed out, is that the dealer, or the > manufacturer, will send out another technician, who is more "friendly," and > point out to the customer that there is nothing "wrong" with the piano. Then > the original tuner looses a customer, and he has made the dealer mad. "Friendly" wasn't exactly the term I had in mind for a tech who will go out in the dealer's employ and cheerfully lie to the customer by telling them that there is nothing wrong with their piano when the soundboard is trash. The dealer's tech offers calming and friendly assurances that nothing is wrong, does a half day's voicing proving that something was indeed wrong, and leaves assuring them that what wasn't wrong in the first place has now been corrected in a friendly and soothing manner. Realizing that where there's smoke, there are probably mirrors, the customer soon ascertains that the problem is still there and calls back the original tech - the one that DIDN'T lie to her - because he's the only one that still has any credibility left, at least with her. So the tech usually doesn't lose the customer, since he didn't rip her for something he knew he couldn't fix on site, but both the dealer and the manufacturer lose a whole lot of referrals (i.e. income) from the tech for a whole lot of years. The tech ceases to get referrals for work from both the dealer and manufacturer, but why would he want to associate himself with those sorts anyway when customer referral calls to him begin with "My piano is in trouble and Jane said you were the guy I could trust"? > > It is not the best thing, but unfortunately, that's the way it is in the real > > work. > > Wim Not everywhere. There are actually dealers that respect and trust the knowledge, honesty, and capabilities of the techs who get their referral business. Not many, but thankfully, there are some. Ron N
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