improvements

[Kdivad@AOL.COM]

In a message dated Sat, 4 May 2002  8:40:08 PM Eastern Daylight Time, John Musselwhite <john@musselwhite.com> writes:

>As I mentioned in a previous message, it's the same trend you see with 
>other American musical instrument makers. Why should Steinway be any 
>different? It is, after all, a publicly-traded company that needs to make 
>rising profits in order to attract and keep investors.
>
>Since the number of pianos they can make in a year in NYC is pretty-well 
>fixed what other options do they have that won't compromise the quality of 
>their instrument (the "Standard Piano of the World") in light of the rising 
>costs of doing business? There are two obvious directions that have been 
>very successful for other musical instrument manufacturers while retaining 
>the integrity of their main products. They could make some of the cases 
>more elegant and more expensive as well as more profitable, which they have 
>done, and they could start selling more inexpensive pianos made under their 
>auspices but with a different brand name made overseas, which they have 
>also done.
>
>Sounds like a good plan to me compared to how the company was bled dry by 
>CBS for two decades in the last century and we still have to put up with 
>that whole era of their pianos. Regardless of the vintage at least Steinway 
>has left us with a standard salvageable "carcass" in different sizes that 
>we can restore, detail or customize at will. We should salute them for 
>that, not berate them because their instruments have been basically the 
>same for a hundred years.
>
>                 John
>
>John Musselwhite, RPT    -     Calgary, Alberta Canada
>http://www.musselwhite.com  http://canadianpianopage.com/calgary
>Pianotech IRC chats Tuesday and Thursday nights and Sunday Mornings
>http://www.bigfoot.com/~kmvander/ircpiano.html
>
>
John, I'm sure you have seen the fit and finish of new Steinways, I'm not sure how you can say they have retained the same quality and integrity.  I wish they would take the money spent on R&D for their fancy art cases and use it to raise quality, consistancy and technical developement.  
Steinway is not the same as most other companies and relies unproportionatly on its mostly deserved reputation, a reputation that has an abnormaly high factor in its percieved worth.  A reputation that I believe we all recognize has a great deal to do with mystique.  I hope taking on other lesser lines doesn't de-mystify the consumers confidence in the Steinway piano that is slipping in consistancy, technical developement and in my humble opinion quality.  
Steinway integrity should not be a gimmick or a sales ploy, just reputation or mystique, it should be based on Steinway striving to continue to be one of the finest pianos in the world.
By the way, I certainly do agree and salute them for their carcases.

David Koelzer
DFW