<html> At 01:15 PM 11/18/2004 -0700, Jim wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>I m not kidding, really. Only our trained stage managers or the technicians remove the covers (or move the pianos) and we have a special place for the covers. Pianos are kept in a piano garage. (I m talking about the concert instruments, of course.) Are we the only ones who do it this way? </blockquote> Newport Arts Center in Oregon just bought a new Steinway D. They had been really careless about bashing pianos, and their old concert grand just had a big oversized unfitted quilt laid over it. Abruptly, they changed their ways, and incipient trends toward piano-police-hood began to appear in several of them. They are buying fitted covers for ALL their other pianos (the 9 foot Baldwin, the 6 foot Baldwin, and three uprights.) But what really amazed me was that (all by themselves) they bought a nice new (tall) bin on wheels to hold the Steinway cover when it is off of the piano, and they put a big fat label on the lid of the bin. "PIANO COVER STORAGE" And they have been using it. I would never have predicted this. The empty bin fits in the piano garage right along with the piano and the artists bench. Now, a question -- their SD-10 now gets to leave its lid in its own room, and gets to share the stage with the new D for two piano concerts. It has two rails along the straight side, no doubt for protecting the lid when it has to be tilted for moving. They are offended by the sight of these rails. It's not likely to be moved on its side in the foreseeable future. Shall I try to get them to just let me sand and repaint the rails to make them look better (which will probably not be enough cosmetic improvement to satisfy them), or would it be reasonable to rout them down so they aren't as apparent onstage? They've been there all along, of course, but the piano has never turned that side to the audience till now. Susan Kline </html>