[pianotech] who pays? P.S.

[Euphonious Thumpe]

Just a little bit more on why I'm sore at Steinway:

     For years I tended all the pianos at the University of Georgia that were not in the actual School of Music. 
(At the student center, dorms, cafeterias, and etc..) Then, the muscular pianist Yefim Bronfman ("Bronfman the Brontosaur") was brought in to inaugurate the new "B" that the University's swank conference center and hotel ("The Georgia Center") had purchased for its auditorium. Having tuned and played it, and found that its action was HORRIFICALLY heavy and uneven, I warned the management that he would not be pleased! And BEGGED them to let me do something about it!!! (Even something as little as lubricating the keypins.) 
     But they, fully infected with the myths and marketing hype that so commonly results in a glassy-eyed, numb, "Steinwayitis", were impossible to convince that the piano was anything but perfect, as-is.*
     As Mr. Bronfman struggled through compositions that he could probably, on a decent instrument, play while sleeping (rattling off "clunker" after "clunker" -- DOZENS of them!) a steady stream of profanities became ever more audible from the stage. And then, red faced (as the audience quietly whispered to itself that "poor Mr. B" is obviously having an "off day") he bowed and descended. I felt so badly for him that I ran up and apologized for the obstinacy of the management, and the condition of the piano; whereupon even MORE colorful language issued from his lips!  (Much more.) And then the Georgia Center, deeming me an "upstart" and "troublemaker", soon started using someone else.......
     For this: for letting a piano that is so horribly maladjusted and/or executed be sold, and for infecting the populace with the LIE that Steinways are worshipable entities (and for costing me my job) I hold Steinway accountable. Pianos should be valued according to their actual merits: not some manufactured "worth", as is done with "Beanie Babies", "Cabbage Patch Dolls", Franklin Mint "collectibles", and many examples of vulgar "Modern Art". (Imagine what we could get for a restored instrument, if our work was valued at the same rate-per-effort as is that of some of the drug-addled "artistes" who fling paint at canvas and reap $MILLIONS$!)

     No, I don't put ANY Steinway in the same category as such items of questionable worth. But I DO consider the company guilty of the same type of marketing hype! A conduct which is DOUBLY unbecoming, as it issues from a firm which PAINTS itself as the paragon of dignity and refinement! (If you want to see "snob appeal" at its most nauseating, peruse a copy of the "Steinway Magazine". Its even worse than "Town and Country", and blatantly markets pianos more as "investments", than as musical instruments - in my humble opinion, of course.)

     Bluntly: if Steinway and Sons REALLY cared about building great pianos, it would TAKE the suggestions for improvements mentioned on this list (free research and development from the finest, most dedicated craftsmen on Earth!) and incorporate them into its manufacturing practices. SO WHAT if that would result in a slightly 
"new sound" for Steinway? It would ALSO result in MORE SALES, and a vastly improved reputation!
     So this it should do: NOT demean those dedicating their precious lives to performing the research and development. (And maybe even thank and cite the developers, and then I'm sure we'd all get along just fine!)

     'Nuff said. Subject closed (for me)! I have better things to do.

Thumpe

*A pretty funny Zombie-movie short could be developed on this theme!
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