Reports of Stuart & Sons 'death' greatly exaggerated...

Dear fellow Pianoteq players/observers,

As the borrowed quote above, appropriated from an original statement by Mark Twain, is itself an exaggeration of that original statement, so recent reports of the demise of Stuart & Sons in this forum must be understood similarly.

Concerned by these reports, I decided to contact Wayne Stuart for verification or denial.

His swift response has considerably heartened me. He has invited me to share these comments with you all, which you will find directly below [I trust the original posted comments I had drawn to his attention, being in quotation marks, will be easily differentiated from his interspersed responses]:

Hello Stephen,

Great to hear from you. 

I’m currently in the process of packing the factory to relocate so not much time to spare. 

On the points your raise below much might be said but suffice to say it’s incorrect. 

"The chance for Stuarts seems narrow indeed, since the factory has fallen on hard times. No orders. Very likely a result of Steinway's response to the instrument, which in Australia took the form of a price reduction below that of Stuarts'. Seriousness of the intent can be gauged by the amounts, a sacrifice of half the market rates. Going nowhere, pity." 

The only place this reference could have come from is The Beethoven Obsession where Brendan Ward made a number of indiscreet references to certain business matters.

The facts are: 

1.       The past 18 months has seen strong sales, in fact one of the better periods for some unknown reason…

2.       We are commencing an inter-generational transition of the enterprise and as such are in the process of relocating the factory to a more cost effective and convivial location for this to happen.

3.       As far as Steinway is concerned, I am not aware that they have lowered their prices – if they have it will be more to do with the AUD. It is important to note that Steinway pianos (as with most commercial products) are built for less than 1/3 of their retail price so there is a lot of ‘wriggle room’ for price cutting. They have always done deals despite their best protestations to the contrary. My general response to this reference is that we are not in the same business and our buyers are not Steinway buyers. In fact most hate the so-called Steinway monopoly and come to us. No brand can hope to have 100% of any market niche.

4.       Micro makers have nothing to fear from Steinway – we exist because folk want choice and point of difference…if that evaporates then so do we,  but I cannot see that happening anytime soon. The real challenge is that we have to hang in there and cut our cloth according to the prevailing economic trends and keep on keeping on. Enquiries are strong and prospects, as always, variable.
   

"Wow, I can't help thinking what I would do next in Wayne Stuart's position.
Price war ?  Probably not, that becomes a race to the bottom.
SOMEHOW capitalize on it ?   It IS high praise indeed.
Could he advertise ON this move ?
In the USA he might be able to allege "Dumping", i.e. under selling in order to starve him out.
No idea if Australia has similar laws against that practice."

 
I love this response. Definitely no price war…we simply have a product that Steinway does not and it costs what it costs to build, not less than 1/3 of the retail price. If they should think for one moment that we are a threat, such paranoia would be symptomatic of much deeper concerns and issues. Stuart & Sons has, as borne out in the testimonials of so many from around the world over the past 20 years, offered hope and enlightenment to the piano world. It is a very long time since Steinway attracted such intense emotional outpouring beyond the veiled threat of excommunication from wayward players who express interest and love for anything non Steinway.

"Aus has a principle - 'in restraint of trade' - that notionally is illegal, and which I guess a smart lawyer could twist to whatever his purpose; and it also recognises 'dumping', at least in media reports. But no government or other official action EVER follows any clear infraction sourced from overseas (at-home infractions are different, if griped against by the right lobby). My source is THE BEETHOVEN OBSESSION, a performance-bio of the sole recording-history of Stuart pianos you'll ever get to hear, probably, and all by the pianist Gerard Willems."

There have been so many recordings that I have lost count…the Beethoven project is but one!

“Wayne Stuart” wrote:
Officially I have mothballed production. [. . .] I will eventually store the plant and retire. It will be held so long as I survive in case someone wants to resurrect it. Otherwise, it will go to the grave with me."

This is a quote from The Beethoven Obsession as I recall and has been posted not by me but some reader... As I said, Ward over-stepped, making some outrageous comments about my affairs… I think the origins are centred on my inevitable retirement… I don’t know anyone who can go on forever. Ward was remiss in telling the whole story of my plans for our inter-generational transfer. After all, it is Stuart and Sons!

Many thanks for this indeed, 

Cheers for now,
Wayne