<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1491" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: =
Arial"
bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=rol=
e_document
face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>
<DIV>Chris</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I would suggest you go to the dealer, and look at some of the othe=
r
Steinhauer grands. If all of them have this problem, then do what Ed S.
suggested, and let the thing settle in for a couple of weeks, and see what
happens. If this grand is the only one with a bad fitted pin block,
tell the dealer he should replace it. It should be covered by the
manufacturer's warrantee. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Wim </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><=
I><B><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000>Chris=
topher
Purdy <purdy@ohio.edu></I></B> wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px sol=
id">I
ran into a new one the other day. A local dealer has pianos made for
<BR>them by Dong Bei in China. I was asked to make a service call on a
<BR>small grand that was sold to a church. This was my first encounter
<BR>with one of these pianos. The local tuner was having trouble with
<BR>tuning stability and they asked me to have a go at it.<BR><BR>Overal=
l,
it looked fairly well built and pin torque was very <BR>consistent. Stri=
ng
rendering had a mushy feel to it but I was able to <BR>set pins. It seem=
ed
stable while I tuned and sounded like a million <BR>bucks when I was
finished. The other tuner had told the dealer that <BR>the piano was goi=
ng
out of tune even while he was working on it so I <BR>was very meticulous=
with my tuning and was looking everywhere for an <BR>answer.<BR><BR>Then=
I
found something that blew me away. I checked the pin block fit <BR>and f=
ound
that the bl! ock does not even touch the flange, at any point. <BR>Not o=
nly
could I put a business card in the gap, bass to treble, but <BR>there wa=
s a
huge gap. I could have put the thickness of three or four <BR>cards in i=
t
with no problem.<BR><BR>The previous tuner had just tuned the piano eigh=
t
days before and when <BR>I got there the treble was a good 25 cents shar=
p. I
do not know this <BR>tuner so I can't speculate about his experience. I
asked a ton of <BR>questions about humidity and temperature fluctuations=
and
I gather that <BR>it has been pretty stable. They do not turn off the he=
at
during the <BR>week, etc. I am going back this week to check my tuning. =
I
can't <BR>imagine it's going to be stable with no attempt whatsoever at =
pin
block <BR>fitting.<BR><BR>Have any of you seen anything like this? I kno=
w
there is a lot of <BR>griping about the pianos coming out of China but t=
he
rest of the piano <BR>really looked fairly well made. The piano is named=
Steinhauer and is <BR>made exclusivel! y for this dealer. I would be ver=
y
interested in <BR>hearing any experiences you may have had like this. If=
I
go back there <BR>and my tuning is FUBAR I am going to have to condemn t=
his
bird. I have <BR>a good relationship with this dealer but I smell
trouble.<BR><BR>Mitch, have you dealt with any of these
yet?<BR><BR>Chris<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>