Hi Tony, Realistic plan replacement at UNL is a hard one to "sell".  We have many Steinway and Mason &  Hamilin grands in our practice rooms.  Most of them are 40-80 years old, but with new actions, key bushings, etc.  Replacing them vs. fixing them is the reality of the university setting. We have to actually see reality in that we can not just replace them with new pianos even though we would love to do so. Performance pianos, of course, get the most attention.  I am currently replacing an entire action on a 1956 Baldwin D which, still, will need a new soundboard, pinblock, and whole nine yards, but we have to spread out the budget the best we can and this piano is one of our 'concert' instruments.  We also have three Steinway D's much newer and in excellent condition.  Every school has it's own budget and by what Ive seen, we have a pretty good one, but still not what would be considered "great".  The really great schools like Oberlin, Julliard, etc probably have a great replacement program as they are recognized as world famous.  For the main-stream university programs, I would say that they only replace pianos when they just can't be worth the investment.  I  regularly tune repair etc these instruments as they are played 12-14 hours a day.  Now with summer here, I have a chance to get in an try to fix the ongoing problems with certain pianos, but still have no time to rebuild them. Does this help?? Paul <table width=100%> <tr valign=top> <td width=40%>"tony" <amastadonna@neo.rr.com> Sent by: caut-bounces@ptg.org 07/01/2008 03:55 PM <table border> <tr valign=top> <td bgcolor=white> <div align=center>Please respond to College and University Technicians <caut@ptg.org></div></table> <td width=59%> <table width=100%> <tr valign=top> <td> <div align=right>To</div> <td><caut@ptg.org> <tr valign=top> <td> <div align=right>cc</div> <td> <tr valign=top> <td> <div align=right>Subject</div> <td>[CAUT] University piano replacement program</table> <table> <tr valign=top> <td> <td></table> </table> <table width=100%> <tr> <td width=100%>I have a question........   In creating a "realistic" Piano replacement plan for approval by an university administration,   What would you recommend the basic specifications of the practice room pianos be?   How would you compare their importance to the school verses the studio and performance instruments.   If you would need to "cut" would this be the natural place?   And how many times a year do you get to these pianos for tuning?       <img src=cid:_1_075E7BF8075E79A40079324786257479>  Tony Mastadonna Institutional Sales Consultant   <img src=cid:_2_075E8884075E86300079324786257479>     Cell-330-603-8843     <img src=cid:_1_075E8F88075E8D340079324786257479> <tr> <td> <table width=100%> <tr> <td width=50%> <td width=50%></table> </table>