It's an ingenious idea, but I just don't see it getting far in the piano market as we know it. A new technology always starts out with small sales (because people are unfamiliar with the technology and/or its advantages) and high cost (because of limited production). Assume that the self-tuning feature adds an extra $1000. If a potential piano buyer can get an honest reckoning of how many tunings they would have put into a conventional piano (most of the time not very many), then they could figure how quickly this new technology will pay for itself in conventional tuning fees avoided. If a prospective buyer honestly declares that they're not likely to pay for more than one conventional tuning per year, and if they're more likely to stop playing the piano after five years (and thereafter, neglect it), the self-tuning feature will never pay for itself. That $1000 feature cost would probably be the same on the cheapest console as on the biggest grand. But it's a much bigger addition to the price at the bottom end of the line than at the top. Which is why we probably won't see it on the cheap pianos. And at the top of the line, where the profit margins can easily absorb it? Is that where the large number of unit sales can be found which are needed to 1.) popularize the feature and 2.) let the economies of scale work their magic on the feature's cost? I could be wrong, but I'm not betting a boat payment on it. Besides, who ever heard of a new-technology feature sparking interest in an consumer item which was being left behind by the consumers. (With all due respect to Del's life mission of bringing long-overdue re-designing of piano manufacture.) For my own business, I'm not worried. Of course I was never going to suggest to my sons that they follow on in my line of work. Bill Ballard RPT NH Chapter, P.T.G. "If you think that Mick Jagger will still be doing the whole rock star thing at age fifty, well, then, you are sorely, sorely mistaken." ...........Jimmy Fallon as the uber-road manager in "Almost Famous" +++++++++++++++++++++
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