<!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 5.50.4134.600" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080></FONT> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; = BORDER-LEFT: #000080 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: = black"><B>From:</B> <A title=Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no href="mailto:Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no">Richard Brekne</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=caut@ptg.org href="mailto:caut@ptg.org">College and University Technicians</A> = </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> December 07, 2002 9:25 = AM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Sustain in = European pianos</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV>Delwin D Fandrich wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE="CITE"> <STYLE></STYLE> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; = BORDER-LEFT: #000080 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"> </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: = black"><B>From:</B> <A title=tcoates@dtgnet.com = href="mailto:tcoates@dtgnet.com">Tim Coates</A></DIV>  <BR>Perhaps you would like to revisit = Wapin.  Europe seems to be looking for something like Wapin.  There = have been European rebuilders inquiring about Wapin. I don't have much = experience with European pianos, but I understand they have a very short sustain.</BLOCKQUOTE> <FONT face="Comic Sans MS"><FONT color=#000080>So, my question (mostly, but not limited) to our = European list members is -- where has that reputation come from? Was this = something that was true in the past but is no longer? Is it still true with some instruments but not with others? Has something changed recently in = the overall design and construction of some specific instrument makers = which has changed things? Or is this reputation generally unwarranted -- more = US propaganda we can attribute to the anti-and-to-hell-with-the-rest-of-the-world leanings of our current administration? In other words, what's up, = folks?</FONT></FONT> <FONT face="Comic Sans MS"><FONT = color=#000080>Del</FONT></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE> <P>On the other hand of all this... there were a whole spiel of = eastern european pianos... DDR and Poland quickly come to mind, that produced = a bunch of really dead sustain, thuddy pianos.. Zimmerman was a great example = of that. For that matter, some English makes from some years back had similiar qualities. Perhaps thats where the idea got started. </P></BLOCKQUOTE> <P dir=ltr><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080>Except that = I've heard it applied mostly to the high-end European pianos. Bluthner, C. Bechstein, Bosendorfer, Grotrian, Seiler, etc. Nobody really expected much out of = the others anyway.</FONT> <P dir=ltr><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" = color=#000080>Del</FONT></P></BODY></HTML>