I suspect that the reality was that we both liked our own 'versions' of
Strand. The web site, before the problems was a good example, the kit available each side of the water was quite different. People like Richard Pilbrow probably did a great job in letting us both know what went on in the other country. I remember seeing these weird '
Leko' things, and reading in the books about how our American cousins used nothing else. I looked at the equipment I was using at the time - all very square, chunky and British and looked at these odd round things and decided I'd stay square! Accidentally putting a
Strand control into the strange '
tracking mode' was horrible - things didn't come back on until you went back a
bit. I re-read the chapters in the
manual to explain why anyone would possibly wish to work this way. Even the syntax was different. So I, and I suppose many other Brits simply made each control work the way the previous one had. I think we have to just accept that American influence, no matter how hard we resist, is just evolution.
PAR cans arrived - but we had to series up two to make them work on our 240V supplies. Took ages before anybody bothered to make 240V lamps. Those readers on the US side of the water may not realise that European harmonisation has required that we move from 240V to 230V. Again, with true British resistance, we made sure the specs had a +/- allowance built in. The numbers very carefully chosen so we didn't have to change a thing. We are now officially 230V, but our
power is still really 240V (it comes just inside the deviaion figure!)
Strand Electric, then Rank
Strand, then
Strand Lighting - we didn't really care because the people were the same, the products flowed from one to the other, including the odd turkey, which again, in true Brit style, many of us simply accepted and even loved! Reps from the other lighting companies would regularly visit venues, and not actually expect to be even considered. A few venues with non-lighting people in charge of finance did go for different makes, but every
venue with an old lighting man, just said they'd wait for the new
Strand - without an real thought of change. This is where New-Strand made their first error, assuming the buying
pattern would continue. If
Strand had had the promised new control about 7 years ago, it probably would have. They didn't, though - expecting customers to wait. Some did, others, through need had to buy something else. Touring shows going through venues had new and exciting controls - the excitement leaked and old
Strand venues tried new kit - and liked it! They seemed, to me, to have just lost the
plot! When I first saw a pallette, I wondered why on earth there was no grand master - a feature found on every
strand desk for 500 years (well, almost) - the explanation was that if you wanted one (if???) you could make another
fader do the job. Every other modern
desk had nice little
LCD windows for labelling.
Strand's didn't? It made me think about when I bought a 300. There was a
fader to set
fade time, but somewhere they'd forgotten to add a
button to turn it on!
So I suspect the UK's love affair with
Strand is over, and her replacement could be almost anyone. I myself had to drag myself into the world of Hogs and Avos. Hated them with a passion till it finally dawned on me they were just different
in one aspect - the lack of the word
Strand. We're now sitting with a
Chamsys in the
venue - and I have to admit it's rather nice. Multiply this by a the number of venues in the UK with an old
Strand - and work out what market
Strand have just flushed down the toilet by assuming that the American market is similar to the UK. Moving the spares to California to improve service? For whom?
Last night in our
venue I looked at the quantity of old
Strand equipment still rigged and in daily use - it was quite surprising, we won't however, be buying any more - they don't make anything like it anymore!