I would stick with the cost angle, because that's one of the only things that will overcome the "if its not a steinway its not a steinway" hokum. Money talks. If its made clear that Steinway, being a high end piano, requires high end prices, they will either decide to put their money where their mouth is, and pay for the arcane tubular rail system and all it attendent associated costs, or consider more cost effective (and from our point of view, efficient) solutions. Remember, that they are considering purchasing two things with this action work:
1- your work and expertise
2- they are purchasing the name on the fallboard. If they own a Steinway, they are into the name on the fallboard. The name on the fallboard confers status above all, and connection to imaginary celebrities. Status and celebrity cost a lot of money.
As technicians, we almost always facilitate achieving said status on our backs, on the cheap, as the devoted artisan.
You might also point out, that with the tubular rail system, the rails themselves, new or otherwise are, or should never be guaranteed by you. The requirements of the design, specifically shoving a relatively hard to dimension to metal working precision, wooden dowel, into a metal extrusion, whose interior is not precisely machined, cannot, in the physical world, be controlled beyond certain tolerances. New rails split and dowels shift, sometimes in the first years. Ask me how many times we had this happen. Steinway will not stand behind them, and certainly will not stand behind the major ancillary work replacing them requires. They fail, not because of anything we can control, even by our best efforts, but because the design exceeds the limits of the materials. Tell them failed new tubular rails, and the work needed to repair them, which is major, are their responsibility, beyond the rebuild costs. Repeat, not just the rails but all the attendant work entailed in replacing the rails.
As far as "its not a Steinway", I personally don't seek these customers anymore...they are a pain in ass. They have bought the BS, and will constantly expect miracles where there are none to be had. They also will never pony up the funds to treat the instrument the way it needs to be treated. I find many, not all, but many S&S customers not worth having...simply because they want the BS, but do not want to pay for it. There are some Steinway owner folks who are a pleasure, and I keep these. But the fraught ones, the ones that buy the "its not a Steinway" BS, the ones that then expect non-existent realities to emerge from their pianos, are not customers I really want to be tied to...not worth it, and I always end up losing money on them...always.
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Jim Ialeggio
grandpianosolutions.com
Shirley, MA
978 425-9026
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-21-2019 16:37
From: Alexander Brusilovsky
Subject: WNG versus Steinway frame.
Jim, thanks for great explanation.
One of my concern are customers who believe it is not Steinway if it has not Steinway parts. WNG on tubular frame has same design as Steinway wooden parts, only different material and color. So if ignore fact of different manufacturer for those who are crazy by only Steinway parts it is quite acceptable. More difficult with WNG on WNG. It is completely different design.Any suggestions? Thanks!!!!
Alexander Brusilovsky
Original Message------
Servicing S&S frame actions either takes way more time than servicing rational stacks, or never gets done. Never gets done is the default. Never gets done is a tonal issue. Voicing issues are often issues with mating on any frame. On-site, with S&S frames, when this work gets done, it mostly gets done quickly, in a way that doesn't help voicing as it should...especially alignment isues. S&S stack on-site service simply costs more.
The other path, is simply to charge more, significantly more, for an action which includes an S&S tubular brass frame, and charge more for the servicing, because really good on-site service of the stack takes more time to do well. I mean, as S&S is so happy to tell us, its a premium product. Charge the frame out as a premium product.
Make it financially attractive to make the move to the WNG stack when you bid the job. You can practically buy an entire WNG action, shanks, whips and letoffrail and the for pretty close to what I used to charge for restoring just the soldered S&S frame...no whips or shanks...just frame. If you explain this, and price it as such, only a true believer who has bought the speil, hook line and sinker, will balk at lower cost, and easier to service and voicing of a WNG frame.
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Jim Ialeggio
grandpianosolutions.com
Shirley, MA
978 425-9026
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