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How About "GENESIS" A New Beginning.

How About "GENESIS" A New Beginning.

Aah Bob, I think I'm hearing the singing of Archie and Edith.

Just like Charles Walter has the audacity to claim that their instruments are made in the USA because they use Renner actions and Kluge keys.

Both M&H and CW pianos are assembled in the USA. As long as QUALITY standards are maintained, who really cares where some of the parts come from. Well - apparently YOU care !!

Carey,

Not that anyone is taking this thread seriously, but I purposely didn’t mention quality or country of origin. Both are irrelevant to my statement. I was specifically referring to another posters use of the term “Made in the USA” and what that means, especially as it pertains to truth in advertising, which is, more or less, the point of this thread.

While you may not appreciate the difference between “assembled” and “made” in America, the distinction is relevant. Folks who have lost jobs to offshore labor know the difference and you can bet that because of the political implications and their, er, nod to patriotism neither Walter nor Mason are ever going to use the term “assembled” in America. They are very aware of the difference and "care" about the implications to their marketing.

Steinway piano is probably the closest to what would be considered "Made in the USA" without too many qualifications. Walter would be distant second. And Mason in my opinion would be limping in at third. All three are fairly liberal with their "Made in America" claims.


" . . . The Standard For Unqualified Made In USA Claims:
What is the standard for a product to be called Made in USA without qualification?

For a product to be called Made in USA, or claimed to be of domestic origin without qualifications or limits on the claim, the product must be "all or virtually all" made in the U.S. The term "United States," as referred to in the Enforcement Policy Statement, includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories and possessions.

What does "all or virtually all" mean?
"All or virtually all" means that all significant parts and processing that go into the product must be of U.S. origin. That is, the product should contain no — or negligible — foreign content.

What substantiation is required for a Made in USA claim?
When a manufacturer or marketer makes an unqualified claim that a product is Made in USA, it should have — and rely on — a "reasonable basis" to support the claim at the time it is made. This means a manufacturer or marketer needs competent and reliable evidence to back up the claim that its product is "all or virtually all" made in the U.S.

What factors does the Commission consider to determine whether a product is "all or virtually all" made in the U.S.?
The product’s final assembly or processing must take place in the U.S. The Commission then considers other factors, including how much of the product’s total manufacturing costs can be assigned to U.S. parts and processing, and how far removed any foreign content is from the finished product. In some instances, only a small portion of the total manufacturing costs are attributable to foreign processing, but that processing represents a significant amount of the product’s overall processing. The same could be true for some foreign parts. In these cases, the foreign content (processing or parts) is more than negligible, and, as a result, unqualified claims are inappropriate.

Example: A company produces propane barbecue grills at a plant in Nevada. The product’s major components include the gas valve, burner and aluminum housing, each of which is made in the U.S. The grill’s knobs and tubing are imported from Mexico. An unqualified Made in USA claim is not likely to be deceptive because the knobs and tubing make up a negligible portion of the product’s total manufacturing costs and are insignificant parts of the final product.

Example: A table lamp is assembled in the U.S. from American-made brass, an American-made Tiffany-style lampshade, and an imported base. The base accounts for a small percent of the total cost of making the lamp. An unqualified Made in USA claim is deceptive for two reasons: The base is not far enough removed in the manufacturing process from the finished product to be of little consequence and it is a significant part of the final product. . ."

Hope that helps ya,

Mike

Actually if someone could do for Chickering what Samick is doing for Knabe you could probably make a go of it. Baldwin isn't ever going to do that because they want Baldwin to be their upper line. Baldwin never seemed to fit in the mix with Steinway, Mason and Hamlin, Knabe, and Chickering. It seemed to be more of an entity unto itself. However, I still think Baldwin would want a pretty penny to release that name.

I assume that Genesis will be incorprated in the USA and thus would be an American Company. The pianos could be produced anywhere but could not be labeled made in the USA. Are they American pianos, however? It gets us to two interesting problems of semantics.

I'm not so sure. The reason Baldwin failed is because of the perceived value of the brand name "Wurlitzer" and "Chickering". They weren't worth the price tag on the piano, so nobody bought them.

Baldwin never seemed to fit in the mix with Steinway, Mason and Hamlin, Knabe, and Chickering. It seemed to be more of an entity unto itself. However, I still think Baldwin would want a pretty penny to release that name.

On what do you base that statement? I don't think it has any validity. There were far more compelling issue that lead to Baldwin's failure.