<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> <body bgcolor="#D8D0C8"> Hi Del Been busy I see :) Just wanted to say that this is the first time I've heard of complaining about too much sustain as well. I dont really know much more about him then he is a harpsichord builder that has a rather special international reputation. He likes old wood. And I guess he makes a pretty fair harpsichord. I posted this because I thought it was an interesting variant as well, and his argumention likewise. Cheers RicB     "Barbara J. Fandrich" wrote: <blockquote TYPE=CITE> <blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">A little off the subject line here, this quote reminded me of something I heard a few weeks back from an eminent harpsichord builder in Northern Europe. Bear in mind the fellow is a piano forte' lover, dislikes the Steinway sound intensly, and in general dislikes the modern piano. His point was that this whole sustain issue is misunderstood from the get go. That is to say that there is no need for nearly the sustain levels modern pianos offer, ... that there is virtually no music written from any time period that requires more then half of this sustain level.  Never heard that argumentation  before. His position was that older instruments of the modern variant sounded better (read mellow) as they lost some of their power and sustain through the years.</blockquote> Your friend must not encounter the same jazz pianists that come our way.... Music evolves. This is the first time I've heard of anyone complaining about excessive sustain time. The increasingly hard and harsh sound quality of the modern piano, yes, even the excessively high overall power levels expected from them. But not sustain time. Interesting. Del</blockquote> -- Richard Brekne RPT, N.P.T.F. UiB, Bergen, Norway <A HREF="mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no">mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no</A> <A HREF="http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html">http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html</A>   </body> </html>