<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> <head> <meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 12 (filtered medium)"> <style>  </style>  </head> <body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple> <div class=Section1> Paul:<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> We’ve done it in the past and it is pretty much as you describe.  We now own all of our pianos here and our aim is to keep it that way.  We used to get 13 new (green, needing a year of use and prep) pianos each year and just when they were nice they’d be replaced with another 13 fresh-from-the-factory instruments.  <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Not fun!<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> dp<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> David M. Porritt, RPT<o:p></o:p> <a href="dporritt@smu.edu">dporritt@smu.edu</a><o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'> From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of Paul T Williams Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2008 9:26 AM To: caut@ptg.org Subject: [CAUT] Rockley Family Foundation<o:p></o:p> </div> <o:p> </o:p> Dear List, Has anyone ever heard of or worked with the Rockley Family Foundation?  I got a phone call in a semi-"cold call" style (he knew my name from some list) asking if we at UNL would be interested in a loan program of pianos to be replenished every year.  I asked him to send me some information and he e-mailed me this morning. In Seattle, several smaller colleges have done this sort of thing with a couple of the piano stores in the area.  They would loan various pianos to them for a year at no charge and then sell them a year later.  The problem I saw in this was that the stores would bring in many of their new pianos at that time, having a "SUNDAY,SUNDAY, SUNDAY!!" sale and only the school pianos were sold at much of a discount.  Lots of advertisement on every media possible would be invested and lots of people would show up, making it basically a warehouse sale. I'm a bit leary of this and having been a store tech for many years, didn't like the store's tactics in their selling styles.  Bit my lip many times from some of the crap the "used car salesmen" type folks would say to potential victims,  ahhh, customers I should say.  On a university end of it now, I would be faced with breaking in many new pianos every year and just when I get them semi-stable, I'd have to start over. Any advise or testimony y'all can bring to this subject is welcome! Best, Paul T. Williams RPT Piano Technician School of Music University of Nebraska Lincoln, NE <o:p></o:p> </div> </body> </html>