Hi all,  I just had to throw my two cents worth in on the new
"junk" pianos.

Regarding the stove black paint put on bridges for the strings to pass
over, Wurlitzer did that with their commercial duty school and church
console pianos in the late 60's and early 70's.  Last year I rebuilt
two of these for a school in Northern MN.  The soundboards were cracked
and coming apart behind the bridges, the pins were falling out of the
bridges and the pianos were unable to stay in tune (loose tuning pins
and no crown to the soundboard).  I was amazed that Wurlitzer made such
junk to sell to institutions 28-30 years ago.

 [ In contrast, the consoles which Wurlitzer supplied to Disneyland
 [ in the late 1950s were still in daily use when I played there
 [ ten years later.  They were very sturdy 'school grade' verticals,
 [ and the fallboard proudly displayed the logo "WurliTzer" !
 [ -- Robbie

When I was working in a piano shop in Denver in 1971-72, my boss was
saying then that most American-made pianos were being manufactured by
furniture outfits and turning to junk.  His only new line at the time
was Krakauer (which I think is now out of business too).

My latest foray into the junk pianos consisted of Young Chang baby
grands, none of them over 3 years old.  One, sold to a church by a
Minnesota music store, has seven low bass strings with loose wrappings
that buzz every time they're played.  That one also has a bad harmonic,
about mid-temperament, that I suspect is due to the plate not being
fitted properly to the pin block.  Another, smaller Young Chang had the
same harmonic and damper problems as well.

I tend to warn people away from a good number of these things and I'll
even go so far as to give them a comprehensive list of what to look for
when they're out to buy a new piano (some people have been convinced by
the slick sales diatribes that new is the _only_ way to go).

Piano stores in this state are in business to sell pianos.  They aren't
even telling their customers that they must be tuned after delivery to
their residences.  As far as most of these people have told me, the
stores have given them no information on when to tune or why.  Maybe
they're afraid a sale will be lost if the customer discovers that
regular maintenance is required to maintain a quality instrument.

Enough of my soapbox for now, but I just had to add to the rest of the
gripes...

Dan Armstrong
Armstrong Piano Tuning & Repair
Pine River, MN