Anyone familiar with a letter dated 4/24/2001 from Dr. Shank to Brookside Press about Boston and Kawai Pianos?
Any follow up on this in the past?
Maybe the Kawai people know about this and can follow up?
I received the letter when visiting a store in Tucson over the weekend, when we were on vacation.
Regards & Merry Christmas
Brian

What did the letter say? Your post is too vague to be answered.

Clef, I was hoping someone who had seen it would commit on it, I did not really want to commit on what is said, I wanted to be vague, hoping someone would know what I was asking.
Anyway the letter talked about Larry Fine and how Rice would no longer use the piano book for their technology degree program, and fine's preference for kawais over boston, Shank says they have very few issues with boston but lots of issues with kawais i.e. string breakage lid and key frame warpage and chronic loosening of action parts. He states other schools in the area Houston, have had similar problems with Kawai. But the letter goes on and at the end he says the shepherd school no he officially endorse any one brand of piano.
Says the piano book i not an objective professional guide.

I cannot imagine why any letter dated April 24, 2001, should have much currency now.

I'll bet there's an interesting context we're unlikely ever to learn.

Meanwhile, the world has moved on quite a bit since the date of that alleged letter.

I did not write the letter, I was just wanting to know from someone what was behind it, I may send an email to Dr. Shank and ask him about it.
I found his link.
http://music.rice.edu/facultybios/shank.shtml
If anyone wants a copy pm me with a fax or address and I will send it.
Kind Regards,
Brian

Who is this Dr. Shank and what gives his opinion any weight?

The Rice.edu facultybios clearly explains it in the last paragraph. "Since his training in the concert departments of Steinway Halls in New York & London, he has developed courses in piano technology at the Shepherd School."

Makes ya wonder if Dr. Shank (funny name for a piano tech.) gave any thought to the implications of his statements.

This certainly puts this opinion in perspective. Frankly, I have heard many professional opinions to the contrary as well.

Bottom line - as long as you are comparing apples with apples- neither piano will likely result in any serious problems. I say ignore the letter and give it no credence. Buy what you love and enjoy it.

Good Luck!

I spoke to Larry and he doesn't remember corresponding with Dr. Shank, although the name rung a bell. Being over 10 years ago, any opinions would be moot.

Also, a retailer using a 10 year old letter to sway a shopper sounds fishy to me.

Who was the dealer?

And I struck at the bait, chump that I am. Now... I know about as much as I did to begin with.

I visited a Steinway dealer in tucson when on vacation, that is how I got the letter. Now it all makes since to me...rice a Steinway School.
But, I think that Rice and Steinway are still a good University and a very fine piano as well as the boston brands, which I like very much, but, I will discount the letter. I think it may just be an attack to create fear in buying something other than Boston or Steinway. I am still leaning towards the Kawai.
Thanks to all for sharing.
Kind Regards

Gee, ya think??

Who actually makes Boston pianos, anyway?

It's a meaningless suck up and face-saving letter. This type of nonsense goes on all the time in both commerce and academia. Hard to believe this letter is still floating around after more than a decade. Maybe Prof. Shank gets royalties per paragraph. Maybe he couldn't find a stamp and never sent it.

You could scan the letter and post it for us all to have a chuckle over.

Exactly! The irony of all this is that Steinway chose Kawai to make Boston pianos. The author of this outdated letter obviously had some kind of agenda. It is like a Steinway "artist" discrediting all non Steinway brands. It's unbalanced and biased.

Kind regards,

Robert.

In fairness, perhaps Mr. Shank has also forgotten about his goofy letter. It may be only one dim piano salesperson in Tucson, Arizona who treasures it.

Boston pianos are made by Kawai.

"...Shank says they have very few issues with boston but lots of issues with kawais i.e. string breakage lid and key frame warpage and chronic loosening of action parts..."

Sorry, frog97, but the quote is crap. Kawai is famous, not only for their quality product, but for their customer service in addressing any difficulties that may occur.

My last piano teacher did his best to break a string on my Kawai RX-5, with his very powerful concert-hall technique--- but with no luck. The worst that happened was that my ears rang for a week, and the piano needed a pitch raise. Who knows, maybe it was even good for it. My tech has reported none of the issues 'Dr. Shank' raised.

Is not 'shank' a term used in prisons, for a homemade knife used to murder other inmates?

I'm glad Jeff addressed the string breakage issue. I've seen a Kawai keyframe, it's made of extruded aluminum, hardly prone to warpage (the Boston keyframe is IIRC made of wood and thus potentially more prone to warpage). Also the carbon infused ABS I was told was impervious to changes in humidity which is typically what would cause action parts to loosen. Again the wooden action of the Boston would be more prone in that regard. It's not my intent to besmirch the Boston. Those that I've played have not exhibited any issues with the action, they in fact played quite nicely. I'm simply pointing out that Kawai's technology would indicate that most customers should have a very different experience than what the letter suggests. In other words the writer had an agenda and my guess is that the statements were not based on fact. Be that as it may, they're now 11 years old.

String breakage is mostly due to use. A lot of heavy playing will fatigue the strings, no matter what piano it is. I have seen heavily used Kawais which break strings, but I do not think it is because of a particular design or materials flaw.