Steinway rage at secondhand piano trade

Ronen Segev runs a used piano business, Park Avenue Pianos, in New York. When he has too many concert grands in stock, he loans them out for free.

This kind of thing does not go down well with Steinway.

Ron Losby, president of Steinway & Sons Americas, said he wasn’t familiar with Mr. Segev’s business, but that he generally takes a dim view of the secondary market.

He’s heard all too many complaints from angry buyers, he said, who have wound up with what some in the piano world call a “Stein-was,” a Steinway that has been rebuilt or refurbished with parts from another maker or by a technician without the company’s blessing….

“The consumer can be very misled,” Mr. Losby says. “They see the name, and they assume that everything inside is Steinway.”

Read full WSJ article here.