[pianotech] who pays?

[Euphonious Thumpe]

     Yes, Steinway has a right to defend its reputation against being misrepresented by the "product" of the many slipshod rebuilders out there. But much of the propaganda in that website/brochure seems viciously aimed at the very CAREFUL rebuilders who've dedicated themselves to remedying what they perceive as insufficiencies in the mass-produced, Steinway design. (Such as soundboards that seem to "implode" if not kept in extremely carefully climate-controlled surroundings, resulting in pianos with a "dead" tone --- all new factory Steinways should come with a warning about this!) And so, when S&S starts defaming the CAREFUL rebuilders -- some of whom may well be more interested in quality craftsmanship than the workers at the factory,* that is when it is "playing dirty", and its propaganda becomes a mere disingenuous blather.
     Steinway mought** walk a bit more humbly: lest some of the experts on this list get hold of one of its "stock" pianos, place it in a studio adjacent to a modified version, and videotape a "Double-Blind" test that records several fine pianists and their stated preferences. (Surely, though, no "Steinway Artistes" would participate.) ***
     The irony in all this, of course, is that Steinway ADMITS to improvements over time ( even brags of them in the aforementioned piece) yet seems unwilling to adopt any measures developed beyond its walls! But don't expect that to change any time soon: it snubbed the other manufacturers at the 1893 World's Fair, and again when it boycotted the 1917 American Steel and Wire convocation of makers; and I suspect on many other occasions when it decided that it was too "classy" to "rub elbows" with the "riff-raff". (Or congenially share any methods.)
     So what's MY "beef" with Steinway? Besides the fact that I don't prefer their tone (which is moot) it's a  lifetime of looking into customers' hypnotized, "goo-goo-eyes", who will NOT consider any other piano fit for purchase or rebuild. Even if the other piano is as-well-or-better made! (A hypnotization that Steinway can justly and logically be partially held accountable for.)

Thumpe

* "The Making of L-101" drove the final nail into the coffin of any residual desire to own a Steinway. And the fact that Steinway WANTS people to see this film is also rather creepily disturbing, IMHO.
** A contraction of the "Southernism" warning of "might ought". (Ironically, around here, while most words GAIN syllables during speech, a few in fact lose them.) 
*** Actually, if a test like this were set up, and "Steinway Artistes" INVITED to play, some very valuable marketing data might be gleaned from simply recording the percentage who agreed to participate! (I suspect it would be zero.)
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