Hi Sean, welcome to the CAUT world! (If you are new to it that is!)
Following this. I do have a couple of thouhts (if nothing else, perhaps this will "stir the pot" a bit.)
Our SOM recently purchased a huge "FLEET" of Yamaha U1s. Due to a private donor, 29 U1s. It has been 3 years now and they are really just beginning to "settle in". One surprising thing has been the amount of regulation improvements & touch-ups these have required. These pianos were delivered to us straight OFF THE TRUCK and were prepped (barely) by our dealer but were really much more "RAW" than I have ever experienced. (Different topic though!!!) I still think this was a "good" decision for us considering the "suddeness" for lack of a better word (we had a very short time table to work with).
Not everyone has been thrilled with this but it HAS put the bulk of our practice pianos back into good inventory.
A bit of variety would have been super nice!
For example perhaps about 6 to 8 P22s and maybe 6 or so U3s, or perhaps a few of a different brand alltogether...?
We had purchase a few P22s about a year before these were purchased and these have been VERY well received. For small practice rooms these would seem to be a really pretty great choice.
I guess my point is, perhaps a good number of Hailuns would be good to try, but not to "go crazy with them". I know this may be difficult to "sell" to the admins but it very well may be "worth fighting for". In conclusion, not everyone studying music or becoming professional will be able to afford a Steinway or even Yamaha U series, etc-but at least some variety is best IMHO.
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[Kevin] [Fortenberry] [RPT]
[Staff Techician]
[Texas Tech Univ]
[Lubbock] [TX]
[8067783962]
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-12-2018 22:33
From: Sean McLaughlin
Subject: Revisiting Hailun for institutional use
hi all, I am the new lead piano technician at UCLA. Admin asked me to suggest various ideas for new piano acquisitions. The lowly upright is the focus of my inquiry here as I try to stretch our dollars. It's long been Yamaha for longevity, quality. One reason Yamaha made such inroads early on was good bang-for-the-buck. They've gotten very expensive though.
I noticed an archived thread on Hailun uprights back in 2010. I'm wondering if anyone can possibly shed more light on these in an institutional setting since that time:
How well do Hailuns hold up?
Do they suffer minor/major design flaws (like Kawai UST-7's irritating front top panel/music desk's inside 2 "wedges on a screw" closers screwed into particle board).
How is Hailun as a company for support/parts?
Thank you!
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Sean McLaughlin
UCLA lead technician
661-714-4188
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