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Joined: May 2001
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Originally posted by LJC: " I have been on the Steinway tour at least twice so I know exactly what they are like. I would hope and expect the person giving the tour has pride in his product, but to think that there is no spin involved in these tours(or the tour of any other piano factory)is incredibly naive."
But you werent on this tour and you don't know what you're talking about. To start with your tone is very nasty. Do you really think the tour you were on is so different from all the others? You're just nitpicking. Can you be so naive as to not realize there is spin on every factory tour from every manufacturer? Do you think the endlessly repeated sales pitch that "Steinways increase in value" is true also? All my points about the original post I objected to and my reasons stand and I notice you didn't respond to those. Even the owner of PW agreed with me.
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Like I said you werent there and you don't know what youre talking about. Talk about nasty and nickpicking....geez.
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Good post James, it refreshing to see a well thought out post after having to read one by Pianonooneloveshim.
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Originally posted by LJC: Like I said you werent there and you don't know what youre talking about. Talk about nasty and nickpicking....geez. Only trouble with your "reply" is I wasn't nasty or nitpicking. You were. Not going to read any more of your replies. They're just filled with sarcasm and nastiness.
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Good. Its better if youre not here either.
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Sorry, we've been without power/heat since the tour due to an ice storm and things are just now beginning to get back to normal.
Thanks to everyone at Steinway for a VERY fun and informative tour. Both Alanna and I had a great time. Thanks for the reserved parking too!
I'll post the pictures I took of people soon (sorry Frank, no group shot).
Regarding the one who caused all the hubbub at the Q&A session (who nobody has named yet, so I won't either): Alanna and I stopped by his place in CT on our way north after going to my companies office in NJ (the same day as the tour). He opened up just for us, at 9PM(!), and was still going strong at 1AM when I had to reluctantly leave. While he may have been a bit forceful in his dialog with the folks at Steinway his premise did have merit. Would I have asked the questions they way he did, no. I even tried to rephrase his core question in a slightly more palatable way - but I too got the same answer. That not withstanding, he is one of the most knowledgeable people I've ever met regarding pianos. He has at his disposal 2/3 of the tier 1A brands, 1/3 of the 1Bs, 1/2 of the 1Cs, 2/3 of the 2As, 1 3A, 1 4A - and I'm sure I missed a few. On top of that, man can he PLAY. All the pianos were perfectly setup too. I'm not trying to start a fan club - but there's more to the story than what you saw in NY. I'd recommend seeing him on his own turf before passing final judgement.
A special thanks to the folks at Steinway for Alanna's book - she really enjoys it.
Kawai MP5 / Ivory Italian Grand C.C. Harvey 52" Upright Grand Yamaha M202 Console
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well if his premise had so much merit what would be wrong with providing who he is and what questions were posed?
On the mountain of the lord it will be provided.
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LJC and James, While I absolutely respect the "branding" that Steinway has achieved over the past century and more, James's post is very one-sided and in the interest of balance, I feel compelled to respond. 1. Product – From day one they carved out a niche market, namely the high end with premium pianos, which they have managed to maintain to this day. Recognizing the changing factors (consumer taste, competition from cheaper labor parts of the world, etc), they created a new business model by adding two less expensive lines – the Boston and Essex. Apparently this strategy is very successful, which is imitated by some but not exactly successfully (remember Brodmann? which started as a less expensive line of another premium piano co., but was abandoned because obviously they could not successfully implement it, and it is now a completely separate company). Your first point is dead on. S&S has made some great pianos. However, the Boston concept is not revolutionary, nor is it new. It was called an imitation of Baldwin by many when the the piano first hit the marketplace. Yes, Steinway sells Bostons and Essex pianos. But Baldwin was selling Howards, Hamiltons, and Ellingtons before Bruce Clarke was born. Also, just to remain factual - the project now called the Brodmann was abandoned by Bosendorfer because of lack of interest from upper management. It was not wanted in Vienna by them. When the manager who did the development of the idea parted ways with Bosendorfer the project was dropped. It was never more than a manager's idea in Vienna and the fact that it did not happen had nothing at all to do with ability to implement it. 2. Production – By combining modern production methods with traditional craftsmanship, they constantly cut costs and improve quality, while maintaining the characteristic “Steinway Sound†that its fans love. I will give you this. I will also add that the inconsistency of pianos from S&S confuses many would be buyers. It is well established that the "Steinway Sound" is not evident in many of their pianos. For this reason, I think it is reasonable to assume that the "branding" is what is purchased by some. 3. Pricing – They are the only company in the piano world that does not play the “discount game†which tends to confuse most potential consumers, some of whom also tend to feel deceived. The discount game may be OK for low-end markets, but has no place in the high-end market. Personally this was a big factor in deciding to buy a Steinway piano. It is possible that you just did not speak to the right person, James. Today, and for years, S&S, Boston, and Essex pianos have been discounted to consumers. Yes, the first price is sometimes ABOVE retail (at least here in Philly) but discounts of over 20% are possible on S&S. These are simply the facts. Maybe that was not true years ago. 4. Place – Steinway has evolved to be a true global company with production strategically located in the US, Germany, and OEM in Japan and China, and sales in every major market serving the end consumers. No other premium pianos have this kind of globalization. True - you forgot Indonesia. My thoughts - is it fair to call Boston and Essex pianos premium? You may have to pay a premium to buy them (if you pay retail), yes, but they have been consistently compared to other makes and brands that I don't think I would call "premium". 5. People – They have the largest army of famous pianists as “Steinway Artists†to serve as their marketers to “pullâ€, and famous people including the members of the Steinway family to “pushâ€. They are unmatched in this area by any other premium brands, at least size-wise. Again, true. This is the result of over a century of placing pianos (many for free), giving away pianos, bribing judges to win awards, which in turn heavily influenced possible buyers, etc. This is all documented stuff but at the time it was happening it was only known by those involved - until the bribing hit the newspapers. That was apparently quite a scandal. Read "The Steinway Saga" by Fostle and "Steinway & Sons" by Lieberman. Both of these men are quoted in Barron's "Piano" as well and some of these things are touched upon in his book as well. This is powerful marketing that has resulted in lots of "branding". It has resulted in a generation of pianists, particularly American pianists, who are terribly undereducated on what is available to them - present company accepted, of course. However, there have been ensembles opting for other pianos recently and dropping S&S. This may be a trend to watch as some other top tier brands begin to produce more concert grands. 6. Promotion – again they are unmatched in this area. Their key strategies, all are highly effective to the delight of some and chagrin of others, are (1) the above mentioned “Steinway Artists†program, (2) “All Steinway Schools†that dominate music schools, and (3) Dominance of performance stages especially those large and famous ones. True. But are they what they seem to be? 1) Paderewsky was paid over $38,000.00 in the early 1900's to play only S&S, while S&S themselves claimed to NOT be paying him a dime for his choice. (This is well documented). Could this have happened later? Could it have influenced others who did not know the truth? 2) If discounts make this an appropriate choice for a school, then who am I to argue? Frankly, there are many beautiful voices out there. Only offering one of them, particularly when the mission is to educate, seems irresponsible at best. It may also be a testament to how influential the early 20th century "pay for play" times were for Steinway. I personally agree with the administrator of a music school that I spoke with who simply stated, "I see no need to become an all Steinway school. It does nothing to help us. Our reputation is based on our faculty, programs, and graduates. The only one who would be helped by us becoming an all Steinway school is Steinway." 3) Placing pianos in the right place is a great way to gain "branding". S&S loans lots of Ds. We know this. It has worked for them for a long time. They may loan more concert grands than most other Tier 1 companies even make. Do you think people are ever under the impression that loaned pianos were bought? Might that "untrue" impression influence them? My thoughts. I would love some counter point.
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jman37, I'm hoping he replies - he is a member here afterall.
The root issue was why hasn't S&S introduced/designed a new piano in the past ~80 years (I can't remember the exact number). Other comparable manufacturers have, why not S&S?
I reformed his questions into something along the lines of, "If S&S where to take a clean-sheet approach and design a brand new piano would they be able to improve upon their older designs will still retaining the Steinway sound - surely new manufacturing techniques and the knowledge that's been gained over the past 100 years could be incorporated into a new design."
Their response was along the lines of "their pianos incorporate hundreds of improvements since their initial production, their designs aren't static."
Kawai MP5 / Ivory Italian Grand C.C. Harvey 52" Upright Grand Yamaha M202 Console
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Rich G, My previous posting was a quick summary of my thoughts related to the factory tour, not meant to be a comprehensive dissertation that included historically accurate accounts of the company. All I was saying was that Steinway has got all the basics right in this tough piano business, as they have highly effective strategies in every aspects of the business.
I have no affiliation with the piano industry, let alone the Steinway co. I just think Steinway is one of the many American success stories, along with others companies such as the Hewlett Packard, Harley Davison, Cannondale Bicycle Co., Microsoft, Walmart, etc. One does not need to like their products to notice their successes. Their successes are not the results of accidents, but the results of highly effective strategies. And I understand that these companies, their products, their successes, and particularly their strategies are often feared and/or attacked by their competitors who are usually less successful.
Honestly I am not sure what points you are trying to make. Therefore I will not offer any counter points, except an explanation on the “discount gameâ€: Does Steinway offer discounts? Surely they do. However they routinely sell some (do not ask me for statistics because I have none) Steinway brand pianos at the list prices, which therefore serve as useful reference price points. No other piano company sells even one of their pianos in retail at their list price – This makes their list prices completely useless, thus I call it “discount gameâ€. Also legally, in this country at least, one can not claim a “sale†price unless some units of the product are sold at the “regular†price. Oh well, who is going to catch the violators when all companies but one in the industry are doing this?
Weber WC-46, Kawai RX-2, Steinway B
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Originally posted by JeffBC:
The root issue was why hasn't S&S introduced/designed a new piano in the past ~80 years (I can't remember the exact number). Other comparable manufacturers have, why not S&S? I hear this question from some very bright people in the industry. It is a legitimate question. However, it is my very strong opinion, and I am not alone in this, that several of the top tier makers who have radically changed their designs from what they had 80 - 100 years ago have resulted in pianos that are tonally inferior. And not by a little. Of course this is totally subjective. Some of these companies have certainly made some real objective improvements. They just don't sound very good to me. I honestly think that several of the Steinway designs of 100+ years ago were the stuff of real genius, and they were way ahead of most. Most of the new designs that I try are brilliant on computers, but the final product just doesn't sound that good, and I wish they would go back to the amazing designs that they had 100 years ago. Originally posted by JeffBC: I reformed his questions into something along the lines of, "If S&S where to take a clean-sheet approach and design a brand new piano would they be able to improve upon their older designs will still retaining the Steinway sound - surely new manufacturing techniques and the knowledge that's been gained over the past 100 years could be incorporated into a new design."
Their response was along the lines of "their pianos incorporate hundreds of improvements since their initial production, their designs aren't static." Steinway's answer makes a lot of sense to me, even if it doesn't always show in their final product. PianoCraft is well known for doing lots of custom work when we rebuild Steinways. But we are always striving to keep the authentic voice of the original instrument. We don't want to change its voice, we just want to make sure that, for instance, the piano doesn't feel out of balance towards the bass, or have weak spots in the killer octave etc. Sometimes, in order to achieve this, we use ideas or technology that weren't around when Steinway designed these instruments. Just as often, we use an idea or technique that we learned from taking apart and rebuilding a 100 year old instrument that just worked better in that particular area. Sometimes, we use a feature of design from one Steinway on another Steinway. I know I am not being very specific here, but I hope it makes some sense. It is difficult to be specific here without giving away the farm.
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JeffBC I'm going to make a general statement since I wasn't on the tour and did not see what happened. But IMHO it seems someone's character is not revealed so much by what they do on their own turf when trying to impress potential customers/supporters but rather how they deal with people with whom they disagree and with people who have opened their doors and given their hospitality to him.
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Rich G, My previous posting was a quick summary of my thoughts related to the factory tour, not meant to be a comprehensive dissertation that included historically accurate accounts of the company. All I was saying was that Steinway has got all the basics right in this tough piano business, as they have highly effective strategies in every aspects of the business. James, I thought that might be the case and you are right on the money. They've gotten lots of things right. I just needed to give my thoughts on the subject.
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One thing is certain:
In the "Pantheon of brand names" if there is one, Steinway ranks way up there on the list - with the likes of Coke, Xerox, Kleenex, and other brands that have fantastic equity.
Amateur Pianist and raconteur.
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Originally posted by Furtwangler: One thing is certain:
In the "Pantheon of brand names" if there is one, Steinway ranks way up there on the list - with the likes of Coke, Xerox, Kleenex, and other brands that have fantastic equity. ..and whats even more amazing is the manner in which they accomplished this. Steinway is, dont quote me on this, only a $~300,000,000 company. PEANUTS compared to the others listed. What an amazing success story, one to which every American and immigrant can look to with awe and aspiration.
On the mountain of the lord it will be provided.
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Originally posted by JeffBC:
Regarding the one who caused all the hubbub at the Q&A session (who nobody has named yet, so I won't either): He opened up just for us, at 9PM(!), and was still going strong at 1AM when I had to reluctantly leave. While he may have been a bit forceful in his dialog with the folks at Steinway his premise did have merit. Would I have asked the questions they way he did, no. I even tried to rephrase his core question in a slightly more palatable way - but I too got the same answer. That not withstanding, he is one of the most knowledgeable people I've ever met regarding pianos. He has at his disposal 2/3 of the tier 1A brands, 1/3 of the 1Bs, 1/2 of the 1Cs, 2/3 of the 2As, 1 3A, 1 4A - and I'm sure I missed a few. On top of that, man can he PLAY. All the pianos were perfectly setup too. I'm not trying to start a fan club - but there's more to the story than what you saw in NY. I'd recommend seeing him on his own turf before passing final judgement.
I hear where you're coming from, but consider: do you think he would have been as patient as the folks at S&S were if, when you walked in, his shop had 20 other potential customers in it and while eating his food you took it upon yourself to repeatedly question his skill and integrity, and the quality of his product, in a loud voice in front of everyone? He should have aired his issues, real or imagined, in a forum like you spent with him -- in PRIVATE. I have since learned who he is, which quite surprised me. It was bizarre. I don't doubt his knowledge--just his motives, his professionalism, and his judgement. In short, I saw enough!
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I suppose anyone can make up there own ideas as to the reasons for their success..
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Rich I don't necessarily agree 100% with James post, I only remarked that it was well thought out.
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Enough already!
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Piano
by Gino2 - 04/17/24 02:34 PM
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Piano
by Gino2 - 04/17/24 02:23 PM
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