Problems with new Steinways

[RicB]

Hi Tom.

Not knowing your climate, or the nature of the DC installation I wont 
try and comment beyond saying that this would strike me on the surface 
of it as being climate caused.  I have never run into the kind of 
situation you describe myself... and rarely run into a loose lead at 
all... except on quite old instruments and even then its not common.  
Thing is... key leads and damper leads are put in by different folks at 
different places in the assembly... at least this is so in Hamburg.  
Strikes me that the chances of both sets being swagged too little is 
rather remote given this.  Could be wrong... but.

I cant speak too much for NY Steinways... because we dont get them over 
here and because the dealership arrangement is quite different.  But we 
just do not run into these horror stories over here.  One would be hard 
pressed to find a finer instrument then models D,C,B, and A from Hamburg 
anywhere in the world at any price IMHO.  The Hamburg warranty reads 
just about like any other warranty I've ever run into.  I'd always 
assumed that NY and Hamburg shared at least this much.

As for follow ups on warranties in general.  I cant speak for others but 
IME one gets roughly the same treatment regardless of manufacturer.  Oh 
there are seasons for these things to be sure... all after what PR 
policies are prevailant at any given time for any given company... but 
on the whole be it a Lincoln or a Lemon... first response is nearly 
always some kind of a brush off.

Cheers
RicB



    Light fixturesDale,
    Example of the Steinway warranty:

    6 year old B  in a private home.Serviced regularly (By me) here in
    New England with climate control system.    Action setup was good
    and visiting pianists are complimentary of the piano.    Now here's
    the rub. During regular service I hear a rattle. Not hard to find as
    it's a loose key weight. I pull the stack and all but a few are
    loose. While I'm at it I check the damper levers and guess what ? 
    I'm preparing the piano for a recital and  it's after business hours
    so I can't contact the factory for warranty information.  My
    client(s) are good friends of mine and have a well equipted home shop.
    We set up a methodology and with some improvisation found an
    appropriate punch and worked together to swedge every lead tight
    (300 leads?)
    The damper leads were tightened with a modified plier tool in my kit
    similar to ones seen advertised in the journal.  So a few hours
    later I start tuning.
     Now , next business day I call tech services at N.Y. and to my
    regret I'm informed the warr. is only five years on Steinway AND the
    problem was humidity related and would not have been covered anyway.
    When I mentioned that the piano has a climate control system the
    gentleman said it was probably disabled for a while(It was not!) and
    that could cause loose leads.  I mention that thousands of pianos in
    my service from as far back as the late 1800's have been in New
    England without climate control and have key leads as tight as the
    day installed but did not get much response other than the Warranty
    had expired anyway.

    To my mind when someone pays $50,000 for a piano a bit more support
    should come from the manufacturer. I wouldn't have been looking to
    break the bank with a bill . Perhaps the Representative 's hands
    were tied.(by the way it was someone other than Kent ) I have had
    other manufacturers --Yamaha for example ---extend the Warranty on a
    minor problem such as this.
        
    "I'm sorry your client is having a problem with our piano. In the
    interest of good customer-technician relations what would you charge
    us to fix the problem ? "
        
    The answer would have been $150.00.
        
    My clients paid me that night with a generous gratuity but it would
    have nice to get some reimbursement for them. While I'm on a roll
    why is every problem presented to Steinway the first time they've
    heard of this and someone else's fault (Frozen action centers as
    example).   End of rant.

    Tom Driscoll RPT