<HTML>In a message dated 5/17/02 9:58:06 PM !!!First Boot!!!, jminor@uiuc.edu writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">So, does anyone else get frustrated with the yamaha pianos that come every fall and go away in the spring? We end up running around trying to find replacements for the summer session. That, combined with an administrator who keeps much of the info about when the pianos will be delivered and taken away to himself! Finally, we are committed to spending 20K per year on Yamahas! All for the use of 15 or so pianos for 9 months! I'm about ready to say "no more"! John Minor University of Illinois </BLOCKQUOTE> Here at U of A, we just a got a terrific deal from Steinway. With the cooperation of the local S&S dealer, we are getting 12 new Boston and Steinway pianos, leased through the Steinway Factory. The deal is that for no money down, we lease the pianos for 1 year, before we start making payments of about $12,000 per year. The advantage is three fold. One, we get to keep those piano. Two, the payments don't get started for a year. Three, it gives us time to look for funds to buy the pianos outright. In any case, it's better than the Kawai deal we had for 10 years, who they replaced the pianos constantly. Just this spring, I called the dealer to ask him if we could move a 7' Steinway from a classroom to a teaching studio, and a one of his grands from one studio to another. The following week he replaced 6 of my pianos. But his movers forgot to bring a 7' board, so the one piano I wanted moved most, the B, didn't get moved. Wim</HTML>