<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1106" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY style="FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman" text=#000000 bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>Until a couple of years ago we had 2 Steinway "D"s in our larger recital hall.  One (1983) was wonderful, the other (1993) was somewhat less than wonderful.  When it came time to trade one of them (i.e. a donor was found) we didn't find any Steinway that was universally liked.  We did find a Yamaha CFIIIS that was purchased.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Since the one we kept (1983) was my favorite piano in the world, I fully expected to dislike the Yamaha.  I can't!</DIV> <DIV>My favorite now is which ever one I'm playing!</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The Steinway "faithful" can't imagine why we bought this un-Steinway.  They claim the Yamaha has a nice sound, but the Steinway has "The Steinway Sound" whatever that is.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>This morning I had a few extra minutes and both pianos were side by side.  I played one, then the other.  I played 8 measures on one, then the same 8 measures on the other.  A big chord on one, the the same big chord on the other.  At this point I started to think that the basic difference was the hammers.  The Steinway has Renner Blues, the Yamaha has factory original Yamahas.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So my question:  Has anyone ever heard, worked on, or played a CFIIIS with Renner hammers?  The hammers that are on there are too new to replace at this point, but someday they'll need to go and I'd love to have someone else's experience on this.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Thanks,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>dave</DIV></BODY></HTML> <PRE> _____________________________ David M. Porritt dporritt@mail.smu.edu Meadows School of the Arts Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX 75275 _____________________________</PRE>