The Detroit-Windsor Chapter had the president of Estonia pianos as a distinguished guest, last spring. Nice fellow and a pretty darned good pianist, to boot. (Believe it or not, he's a college student(!) at either Julliard or Manhattan School...can't remember which.) He performed several pieces on a 6' instrument that sounded pleasant. Didn't have a huge sound, but it was remeniscent of the now-extinct Falcone. During the chat session with the president of Estonia pianos, we learned that the Estonia was the "state piano" for the Soviet Union. All Estonia made was one (or several?) grand piano model(s) - no uprights, another company was granted that "privilege." (That's why you see a lot of Estonias in Cuba, Newton.) So, they thought they'd gotten pretty good at turning out inexpensive grand pianos. Now that Estonia is a sovereign state, they *could* make upright pianos, but they've decided not to for the time-being. They're concentrating, instead, on making improvements to their grands using never-before available resources. I thought the piano showed a lot of promise. If they can stay in business (read "compete with other upstart piano manufacturers") they should do pretty well. Of course, your mileage may vary..... Ron Torrella, RPT Piano Technician "And like that...he's gone." University of Michigan - Roger "Verbal" Kint (Kevin Spacey) School of Music The Usual Suspects 734/764-6207 (office/shop) 734/763-5097 (fax) 734/572-7663 (home)
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