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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: =
black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no
href="mailto:Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no">Richard Brekne</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=davidlovepianos@earthlink.net
=
href="mailto:davidlovepianos@earthlink.net">davidlovepianos@earthlink.n=
et</A>
; <A title=pianotech@ptg.org =
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> September 27, 2003 10:02 =
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: compression ridges =
in New
Baldwin grand</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>David... I understand this reasoning... along with all =
the
market argumentation, and the traditionalist stuff... and sure... its =
most
definantly a factor.. much bigger a factor then it should be.
<P>But for the life of me... I cant get these to even come close to =
covering
the disparagy I find between the dominance of the market they have, =
and this
self destructing soundboard proposition.
<P>That alone is too alarming a contrast for me to simply brush aside, =
which
is where all this started this time around.
<P>Cheers <BR>RicB </P></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P dir=ltr><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080>There is more =
to life than
market dominance. I am old enough to remember when the Cadillac ruled =
the world
(at least the U.S. part of the world) in the luxury car market. It was, =
if you
can recall, The Standard of the World. It was also a mediocre car that =
held its
position through very aggressive and might I suggest, arrogant,
marketing.</FONT>
<P dir=ltr><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080>And then along =
came some
viable alternatives first from Europe and then from Japan. It took these =
folks a
while to build the requisite dealer infrastructure and momentum but =
"suddenly"
the folks at GM were in serious trouble. They rallied on with their =
Standard of
the World theme for years -- decades -- but no amount of marketing =
or brand
management or badge engineering could reverse their tumble off the =
mountain. It
took them another decade or so of mucking around in the mud with the =
have-beens
but they finally got the picture. If you want to run with the best you =
actually
have to be the best. Hype doesn't make it, it takes more than just =
claiming the
title. Now that they've decided to fight back aggressively they are =
actually
beginning to design, engineer and build some decent cars. Disregarding =
their
somewhat grotesque styling theme, their performance and build quality is =
right
up there with the best and I expect they will begin regaining some =
of their
lost luster.</FONT>
<P dir=ltr><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080>Market =
dominance is an
elusive thing. It can be held without much effort as long as no one else =
is out
their trying to knock you off the mountain. I've noticed some serious
contenders, both from Europe and from Japan, working rather =
hard of
late to do just that. Have you looked at the Kawai Shigeru pianos =
lately? To
site just one example. We'll see. I wish them all well. The industry =
can't help
but benefit from the increased competition. </FONT>
<P dir=ltr><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080>Del</FONT>
<P dir=ltr><FONT face="Comic Sans MS"
color=#000080></FONT> </P></BODY></HTML>