<HTML><HEAD>
<META charset=US-ASCII http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; cha=
rset=US-ASCII">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1400" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fffff=
f">
<DIV>I want to give an update on the consultant issue I posed a couple of mo=
nths ago, and tell you that the issue has more or less resolved itself. =
;</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>If you recall, the chairman of the music department, with the backing o=
f some of the piano faculty, was going to get a consultant in to look at the=
main concert Steinway D, because it was "dead." Since then, I have, without=
anyone knowing it, lacquered the hammers, voiced it, and given it real=
good regulation. I also made sure the touch weight was very even, (down in =
the 45 - 48 gram range and up in the 23 - 26 gram range.)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I kept asking permission to do this work, but the chair and one of the =
faculty members was reluctant to have me do this, for no other reason than t=
hey wanted to show the consulted how bad the piano was. I kept saying, "allo=
w me to show you what I can do, and then if you still don't like it, get the=
consultant in here." Also, the chair was adamant to get a private consultan=
t in here, while the piano faculty was leaning towards getting someone from =
Steinway here. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Well, finally on Friday, the issue was resolved in a very amicable way.=
Franz Mohr was in Birmingham for a book signing and to give a lecture at a =
symphony concert. The owner of the Steinway piano store, for whom I do =
some work and has been aware of the situation, asked me if Franz could =
come over and look at the piano. I said yes, that would be great. When he go=
t here, I got the chair and the piano faculty to hear Franz say that ba=
sically the piano was in great shape, that the regulation was very=
good, but that about 2 dozen hammers needed to be voiced up, and =
that all the piano needed was about a days worth of work to finish =
;it off. He even got out his own juice and took care of about=
6 hammers. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>It was nice to have him come and give the piano his blessing. Yesterday=
and this morning I worked for about 4 hours on the piano and this afte=
rnoon the piano was played for a voice recital. The piano player l=
oved it, as did the piano faculty members and the chair who came to lis=
ten. (I never told anyone about the work I had done earlier. I'll just leave=
that for myself. Having Franz tell me the piano was in great shape is enoug=
h patting on the back). </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Thanks to all of you who gave advice. It helped me get over some of the=
feelings I had, and helped me deal with this situation. As I said, it all w=
orked out, and we now have a fantastic instrument for our concert hall. </DI=
V>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Wim </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"=
>Willem Blees, RPT<BR>Piano Technician<BR>School of Music<BR>University of A=
labama</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>