Greetings

[Greg Torres]

Dear Newton.

WELCOME BACK!  We missed ya!
I would like to know if there is a way for those on this list to maybe get
involved somehow, perhaps sending parts, or  ??? I have some boxes of
hammers, flanges, etc., I would be willing to send them ???  I would also
like to know if there is going to be another trip of this sort in the future
and if I or others on this list can go and what would be the cost, etc.

Glad you're with us again.

Sincerely,
Greg Torres

Newton Hunt wrote:

> Hello All,
>
> I am back from Cuba after a two week stint of teaching and regulating.
>
> If you think there are some problem prone, unstable and less satifactory
> pianos on the American market place, you should see what the Russians
> have been making!
>
> My student and I worked on a MOCKBA (Moskva made in Moskow) which has a
> renner action and hammers, but is the worst copy of a Steinway D you can
> imagine.  The action is not set up properly, which makes regulation for
> a fine touch difficult and the sound is much less than flexible.
>
> The Estonia is worse, but better.  It has a nice tone and can sound
> rather nice, but the action is a nightmare.  It started life as a
> Herberger-Brooks Schwander style, but the keys are a disgrace,
> especially for a nine foot piano, and the action setup is all wrong.
> What a pain.
>
> We were able to improve them substantially, but not to what I would like
> to have them be.  Oh, well, silk purses and sow's ears.
>
> I have been enjoying reading the threads that evolved while I was gone
> and I will be responding to various ones from time to time.
>
> I am so glad to get home where the food is predictable, the showers are
> hot, the toilets have wooden seats and sewers work well.
>
> The Cubans desperately need knowledge, skills, parts, tools and
> supplies; everything we take for granted, even this list, is not
> available to them.  They have been cut off from most of the world for 30
> years, and whatever pianos skills were once there have not been passed
> on to the second and third generations, yet they are far more involved
> with music of all kinds than we Americans.
>
> In all the time I was there, I saw two good pianos;  a two year old
> Hamburg D in superior condition and next to it a 15 year old Hamburg D,
> which needs new hammers and strings, but functioned well.
>
> Everything else is a disaster from corrosive humidity and termite
> infestations.  Simple things like string replacement to minor regulation
> are unknown there.  Even teaching instruments are in severe states of
> deteriation.
>
> I am SO glad to be back home, again.
>
> It makes me appreciate what I have even more, including this list of
> friends.
>
>         Newton