new soundbaord was Re: Killer Octave - Warranty Issue?

[Ron Nossaman]

>
> Ron 
>
> Point well taken. But that opens up a whole new subject. Perhaps Del, or one 
> of the factory reps, can chime in on this. At what point does a manufacturer 
> say, "this isn't done right, lets do it again." There's got to be some QC. If
>
> the engineering is done right, and the jigs make the parts the same way, how 
> come one piano has a great sound, and another, from the same line, same 
> factory, same people, is dead? What is the criteria in the factory for 
> replacing the board? 
>
> Wim 


Well, no, it doesn't open up a whole new subject. The thread title was "killer
octave" wasn't it? That was the subject of conversation, and you did say that
manufacturers corrected these problems before they went out. It's dead center
to what we are discussing. The killer octave is still primarily a soundboard
problem, regardless of who tries to pass it off as a voicing problem that a
dealer's field repair will correct, and that's my point. If manufacturing
processes and QC of a given manufacturer had any concern for soundboard
functionality built into the system (other than at the theoretical level), we
wouldn't see characteristic killer octave problems in those manufacturers'
instruments, would we? The majority of working piano technicians don't
understand enough about soundboards to diagnose poorly functioning ones as
anything but voicing deficiencies, if they notice them at all, so the vast
majority of poorly functional to outright dead soundboards aren't accurately
addressed. Whether through simple ignorance or intentional dishonesty, most of
the sales and service industry will look ANYWHERE but at the soundboard for
solutions. Seems to me the revered "soul" of the instrument ought to get
passing consideration somewhere in the process, and be accurately reported to
the dealer, manufacturers, and customer when it fails instead of throwing the
standard dealer "fix" of denial and customer massage at it. I suppose if I was
a dealer instead of the guy that was expected to make it go away cheaply, I'd
see it a little differently - but that's one of the many reasons I'm not a
dealer.

Ron N