Juarez rebuilding

[Richard Raskob]

Hello list,

	Over the past few days we have had several post concerning the two
pianos inspected by Dale Erwin.  He was told that they were rebuilt by a
firm in Juarez.  Guy Nichols, the present owner of the U.S. brokerage known
as SAMA, has responded to the questions about the pianos in question.  Dale
Erwin, in one of his post, suggested that technicians who have experience
with this or other firms "weigh in  & testify to what is really being done
in Juarez".  I have hesitated to jump into this exchange because it seemed
to me that it was best handled between Mr. Nichols and Mr. Erwin privately.
The judgments from other technicians have continued despite posts suggesting
that Mr. Nichols and Mr. Erwins are working toward a solution.  Mr. Nichols
has received support from some posts as a great person (which he is) but to
date no one has posted about the quality of work coming from his firm.

	I am about to return to its owner a Steinway M.  The piano was in a
house fire and required refinishing, new pinblock, restringing, new dampers,
and new action parts.  The soundboard did not have any cracks but did need
to be refinished.  The bridges were fine.  SAMA refinished the case,
installed a new pinblock, restrung the piano and installed new damper felts.
I did all of the action work.  The work done by SAMA was very, very good.
The refinish is wonderful.  The owner says it looks better than it did new.
The pinblock is beautifully fit and attached to the stretcher.  The coils
were close to perfect and the bearing is good.  In short, I could not be
happier with the quality of the work I received from SAMA.  

	One of the parts of this work I hate is telling a client that they
have made a poor purchase.  Somehow, in the end, I always feel that it
reflects on me if someone in the business misrepresents a piano to a
customer.  I can get emotional about the situation and make unfortunate
judgments and statements.  I do understand Mr. Erwins frustration.  I hope
that all of us will think before sending post to this list which are
negative in tone or content.  When I have a post which is negative in tone
or content I wait at least 12 hours before sending it to the list.  That
practice has saved me from embarrassment more that once.  


Respectfully,

Richard Raskob RPT