<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <META content=text/html;charset=iso-8859-1 = http-equiv=Content-Type><!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 = Transitional//EN"> <META content='"MSHTML 4.72.3110.7"' name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>Hey Del,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2></FONT><FONT size=2>Amen and = Amen!</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Elwood Doss, Jr.</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 solid 2px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-LEFT: = 5px"> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><B>-----Original = Message-----</B><BR><B>From: </B>Delwin D Fandrich <<A = href="mailto:pianobuilders@olynet.com">pianobuilders@olynet.com</A>>= <BR><B>To: </B><A href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> = <<A = href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A>><BR><B>Date: </B>Wednesday, April 25, 2001 1:47 AM<BR><B>Subject: </B>Re: = Baldwin's last gasps?<BR><BR></DIV></FONT> <DIV> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 solid 2px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; = MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- = </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: = black"><B>From:</B> <A href="mailto:Wimblees@AOL.COM" title=Wimblees@AOL.COM>Wimblees@AOL.COM</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org" title=pianotech@ptg.org>pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> April 24, 2001 4:30 = PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Baldwin's = last gasps?</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT size=2>In a = message dated 4/24/01 3:48:30 PM Central Daylight Time, <BR><A href="mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no">rbrekne@broadpark.no</A> = writes: <BR><BR><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff solid 2px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; = MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px" TYPE = CITE>Hey... maybe we all should pool together and put = up the necessary <BR>$49.95 and get Del to turn the company = around.... what do ya'll say <BR>?? I can see it now... "PTG techs save = One time Piano Giant from <BR>demise ...." = <BR><BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV><BR><BR>I'm afraid it will take a little more than $49.95 = to buy Baldwin. Last year I <BR>heard that the company is worth about = $33 million. If all PTG members (about <BR>4000 of us). each put up = about $8500, we'd have ourselves a piano company to <BR>call our own. <BR><BR>Then all we have to do is figure out a way to pay Del. <BR><BR>Willem </DIV> <DIV> <HR> </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3>Under the circumstances, = I'll take it in cash up front, thank you... I feel duty bound to point out, of = course, that I'm not at all equipped to function as a company CEO. A piano = designer, yes, but I do know my place.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3>And Willem is right, of = course. It will take considerably more than $49.95 to purchase Baldwin. Even the = past 25 plus years of somewhat less than enlightened management has not = managed to wreck that much havoc.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3>Still, much opportunity has = been lost and as to whether there is enough time and enough resources to turn = the company around at this point, only time itself will tell. It the = company is able to bring someone in soon enough to start putting the pieces = back together again -- who knows. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3>Several have mentioned that = Baldwin has the capability to build great pianos. Well, let's just say that they = have the potential to build rather nice pianos when everything goes well. = That means they have the potential to build pianos that are -- with one = or two notable exceptions -- the equal of most anything being built in = this country today. But it won't happen. No matter how hard they work on 'quality.' Because it's no longer a quality issue. It's a design and = manufacturing issue.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3>Baldwin made the decision = to transition itself out of the high-end piano market when it left Cincinnati. Not = that there is anything at all wrong with the workers in Arkansas -- = properly trained and supervised they are quite capable workers. But the = company left behind a long-term and very experienced work force that was used to = turning out first rate instruments at a moderate, but steady and dependable = pace, and attempted -- with a new and inexperienced workforce -- to speed = up the production of a fundamental design that simply does not lend itself = well to fast production. It was like Steinway's experience during the 1970s = when it was owned by CBS: there was a directive to increase production from something like 2,500 pianos a year to 5,000 per year without adding appreciably to their facility or their workforce. Couldn't be done = without great damage to the product. Those designs also were not = amenable to rushing, something Steinway's current management seems to understand = quite well and is capitalizing on.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3>Baldwin has five grand = piano designs that were intended to be built relatively slowly by workers who were = highly skilled and experienced at what they were doing. When everything = works properly most of these designs yield pianos that sound and perform = as well as any other similar, traditional design. The problem, of course, is = that if anything goes wrong along the way none of them are going to sound = all that great. Unfortunately, the way they are being built today, things go = wrong more often than they go right. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3>Which is, of course, a = complex way of saying that all of Baldwin's first line of pianos are obsolete. As = are most of their vertical designs. Their 43" (109 cm), or whatever, = console piano is a joke. It was originally designed as a 40" (101.6 cm) = scale and stretched to whatever it is today by adding a 2" (5.1 cm) = flange to the bottom of the plate and whatever to the casework and casters. = The 243 Hamilton (what is it now, 46"?) was originally designed in the = 1930s, if memory serves, and given a superficial redesign in the late = 1980s. It should have been replaced. The 248 is the only relatively new design = in their vertical lineup. Except, of course, for the rather = eclectic Model 6000 which is very much a love it/hate it sort of = piano.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3>No one wants to listen to = my solution. Which is to start over one by one with state of the art designs that = are planned from the start to be built using simple, but sturdy tooling = operated by semi-skilled to skilled workers. Designs in which most any task = or process can be learned by any reasonably intelligent worker in just = a couple of weeks. Designs which can be built with precision because they are = designed to be simple. Designs in which there is a sufficient margin = of error built into the materials selection and assembly process so = that even if perfection is not always attained -- and it won't be -- the = resulting instruments are still going to perform up there with the best = instruments of the world. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3>Is this just daydreaming? = No. Not really. A lot has been learned about both piano design and piano = building during the last seventy-five to one hundred years. And it's been = about that long since most of these pianos were designed. We can do much better = now. Such designs are now possible. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3>'But new piano design is = problematic and uncertain, isn't it? I mean...how do you know if it will 'come = out all right.' Easy. By understanding the basics of piano design. How does = an architect know that the building she is designing is going to stand = up through the next earthquake? Through study and experience. It's not = rocket science. (Well, designing buildings for earthquakes might be = -- piano design is not.)</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3>'But this would really take = a long time, wouldn't it?' The company doesn't have much time. No, Not = really. With a suitable, though not large, staff, a company committed to the = project the whole line could be done in a couple of years.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3>'But such a program would = be extremely expensive, wouldn't it?' Again, no not really. At least not for a = company already in business. At least it wouldn't have been in Baldwin's = case since one of the more expensive components of a new design is the plate = pattern and they were already investing in quite a bit of pattern work when = they switched foundries. New vertical designs can be incorporated into = ongoing production processes. And air operated rim presses are not all that complicated or expensive to make. Good grief, if we can make one in = our small workshop surely a company the size of Baldwin can do it as = well. Work tables and assembly fixtures can be modified from stuff already on = hand. Pinblock fitting is still pinblock fitting. Stringing is still = stringing. Except for spacing actions aren't going to change much. Keys are = keys. Well, you get the idea.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3>But none of this is going = to happen. This scenario would require a considerable amount of courage and = long-range thinking on the part of the companies top management. An = understanding of things like long-range product planning and an understanding market = trends early enough to deal with them pro-actively rather than trying to = react to them after the fact.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3>Bob Hoff wrote in the = latest Journal that the U.S. manufacturers could not compete against the imports. I = pretty much reject statements like this out of hand: American piano manufacturers simply chose not to compete out of -- depending on the = company -- a combination of greed, arrogance, lethargy, fear and ignorance. = They had a solid head start, but instead of reinvesting in their company's = future the various managers allowed their plants to run down and their = products to become obsolete while in other countries other managers were = investing heavily in production equipment and new designs (albeit designs = often patterned closely after old U.S. or European designs). No, we = didn't lose an industry -- we deliberately threw one away.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3>So, there. This seems = to have been another of my nights for ranting and raving. I think I've = gotten it out of my system now. At least for a while.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3>Regards,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" size=3>Del</FONT></DIV></FONT></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>