<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> Hi Jim <blockquote>My point was how close minded and anal he immediately became when I questioned his huge cantilever and short backscale. I wasn't being a jerk, I simply asked if he had considered this and then showed him one of my modified pianos. Conversation over... see you, bye! Jim </blockquote> I think perhaps another interpretation may be useful.  Its always really impossible for third parties to assess stories like this and for my part I wont try to take any sides... not even in principal.  But assume for a moment you had just presented your own piano design in such a setting and were very pleased and proud of your work... all the time it took to learn how to accomplish what you wanted to... on your own learning curve as it were... and some guy comes up and comments however so politely that your long backscale, shorter speaking lengths and altered bridge position creates a different sound that they thought perhaps could be better if a cantilever approach was used ?  Ok, you perhaps are tempted to reply along the lines of being open minded... but the fact is there are few humans on this earth that are able to really deal with these kinds of situations. Its not like the purpose of the encounter was to discuss piano design... My point is that just about every person I know who designs instruments, and I know quite a few at this point,  are in the end easily just as prejudiced as to the validity of their own ideas and non receptive to others.  I think its one of those human flaws we all have to strive with... some of us at least make an attempt... some of us dont even see our own bent nose in the mirror and couldnt care less.  All this on a background that when it comes down to it... people do indeed differ in their tastes.  Ron states blatantly that "If this guy thinks it's nonsense, it just means he hasn't tried it."  This is far from necessarily true.  By obvious self admission the design refered to in that statement creates a different sound response... and some folks, actually quite a lot when it comes down to it... pure and simple dont like it.  These folks are not significantly more (or less) guilty of prejudice then anyone else as far as I can see. Thats the beauty of the variety of piano design available in the world.  It provides something for everyone.  Its just sad that so many have such a large chip on their shoulder and basically fall into this classic... "I'm right and that part of the word what disagrees with me is wrong" syndrome.  btw... I met one of the young fellows associated with this company in Helsinki last year.  Very nice young fellow,... and tho proud of their accomplishments in getting this company off the ground... he seemed quite willing to talk about different design issues.  His opinions and thoughts are his own and he has every right to them. And, I thought the instrument he presented was quite pleasing as it was.  One never knows how untried instruments will hold up in the long run... but thats another question.  Cheers RicB </body> </html>