Problems with new Steinways

[David Lawson]

Excuse my ignorance, but are the notes on this site read by the Steinways of
this world. If not, then maybe they should be given the opportunity to see
what is happening out there in the field.
Cheers,
David Lawson Wangaratta Australia
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "RicB" <ricb at pianostemmer.no>
To: <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2006 5:37 AM
Subject: Problems with new Steinways


>
> 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
>
>
>