Yamaha gold?

[Bill Ballard]

At 12:59 PM -0500 8/30/03, Ron Nossaman wrote:
>>Yamaha tells me that they no longer sell just the hammers.  You have to buy
>>them pre-hung!
>
>Sure. There always has been more profit in the package deal. 
>Bundling, and full service pricing always has the consumer buying 
>more than they need, and the supplier selling more than they 
>otherwise would. Whether or not it's a good deal is just a matter of 
>whether you're looking at the pommel or the point of that sword. The 
>easy answer is to go elsewhere and start over.

It's been a couple of years since I priced Yamaha pre-hangs, so at 
first it was a surprise to hear the recent quotes. But then it 
wasn't. Quite likely what happened was that, at the same time Yamaha 
restricted OEM repair parts to their pianos made for and sold in the 
U.S. market (Fall '01), they also figured, "Why are we giving this 
stuff away, at $350 the set. Steinway sure isn't."

Bill Ballard RPT
NH Chapter, P.T.G.

"Out here on the food chain, you either          
    diet,die, or dine"
     ...........folksinger Mark Graham
+++++++++++++++++++++