Two Different Worlds ... was Kimball Consolette keytop problem

[Gregor _]

>From: "Alan R. Barnard"

>World Number 1= (Newish or rebuilt pianos, many grands) + (Fallboard names 
>like Steinway, M&H, Bechstein, Baldwin, Yamaha, Kawaii ... ) + (New York, 
>LA, San Fran, Chicago, ...)
>
>World Number 2 = (Old uprights, trash consoles and spinets, family 
>"heirlooms", beat up Hamilton studios ...) + (Fallboard names like 
>Gulbransen, Monarch, Howard, Lester, Bob's Piano Company ... ) + (Small 
>towns 2 to 4  hours from any city even large enough to have piano dealers, 
>small farms and ranches, Appalachia, Mississippi Delta, or in my case, the 
>Missouri Ozarks ...)
>
>I am NOT complaining.


I live in World 1.5 (better known as Third World) and I love it: 50 % 
newish/rebuild, 50 % old uprights, only a few grands. Definitely no spinets. 
Brands are Schimmel, Seiler, Ibach, Grotian-Steinweg, Yamaha, 
Kawai......Even the old uprights are very often of high or decent qualitiy, 
but not always in a good condition. Fallboard names don´t matter, because 
there are many names you won´t find in Pierce or Europiano Atlas. I was told 
that exclusively in Berlin used to be much more than 100 manufacturers 
around 1910. No idea if that´s true.

Most of my customers are families with kids playing the piano. Often they 
don´t have a very high claim as to quality, which makes my work more easy 
than in World 1. But I have to pay attention not to become lazy or to scamp. 
In my hometown (280.000 inhabitants) there is World 1, too. But it get´s 
serviced by techs/dealers who do that in the third generation. I am not sad 
about that evidence of the existence of parallel worlds. But here too there 
are some instruments which make my work hard: overdampers, particularly 
English overdampers with straight (non crossed) strings from around 1900, 
better known as English Desease (no offence to English collegues intended): 
beautyful furniture, but awful instruments. In the meantime, I don´t service 
these instruments anymore. The same with spinets as well. I think: if the 
customer wants to play piano, he should buy a piano, not a toy or a piece of 
furniture.

Gregor

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