This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment Hi Terry, >>Maybe the best thing to do is have this piano owner play a good = performing new piano and then ask her how much she is really attached to = her original antique hammers. If she can't put two-and-two together, = then perhaps it doesn't matter. <grin> Well, to tell you the truth, she's a talented composer and an excellent = violinist/violist, but she's a lousy pianist. (And she teaches piano to = pay some of her educational expenses, which is kinda scary...) She can = well appreciate the subtleties of a fine violin or viola (and has a = couple of very nice instruments), but she bangs and whangs rather = clumsily at the piano. Anyway, she has access to some very fine pianos = and has undoubtedly played them. (At the Calif. Inst. of the Arts, = where she did her undergrad work, it seems I saw 9' Bosie Imperials = sitting around everywhere!) She should know how a fine instrument = plays. On one hand, your suggestion may be valid that it doesn't matter, so = long as she can't tell the difference. On the other hand, she's not a = typical pianist. She wants to start a career scoring films, and I = really think she needs a piano that sounds/performs like other pianos. = Overly bright/flattened/grooved hammers don't sound like normal hammers. = More significantly, overly worn dampers are waaaay too slow to damp. = She might compose something that would "work" for her Knabe but would = wouldn't sound right on a well maintained piano. IMO, it needs the work = done, even if she doesn't appreciate the difference. Moreover, as you = said, Knabe made some very nice uprights. I think this one is worth a = bit of work, albeit perhaps not a complete restoration. As she moves = forward with her career, she may well want to acquire a better piano but = keep the Knabe for its karma value. Or she could always do that full = restoration. Hey, I know this guy in Florida who turns out some awsome = belly work! ;-) Thanks, Don, for the museum curator approach! Thanks also, David, for = your confidence in her ability to trust what I tell her about her piano. = Unfortunately, I'm not a professional, so she doesn't think I know = anything -- and she's a composition student, which means she knows = "everything." My best approach may well be to tell her that I sought = out the advice of professionals throughout the world, who were unanimous = in their opinion on the subject!! ;-) Peace, Sarah ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/8e/45/a1/44/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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