On Tue, 2 Apr 1996, Cliff Maurer wrote: > In Central Ohio we are receiving shipments of China's jump into the piano > world called Pearl River. I have mixed views on these pianos and I would > like to hear from any techs who are starting to deal with these pianos. > Actually Pearl River pianos have been around for some time now. I think I first encountered them about ten years ago. Putting it as diplomatically as I can, they were junk back then and they're still junk today. They most closely resemble the early Samick pianos that came into this country under the name Horugel. "Horrible Horugels" were noted for a variety of sound- board, bridge and pinblock problems; poor to lousy tone-quality; sticking, sluggish, unresponsive actions; warped, ill-fitting case parts; and their inability to hold a tune for longer than five minutes. And those were the Horugel's GOOD points! Pearl River pianos are esentially clones of those early Horugels. Additionally, I have seen several brand new Pearl River pianos in which the strings and tuning pins were so badly rusted that they had to be restrung and repinned before they could be tuned! However, to be fair, Pearl River pianos, like the Horugels before them, usually DO have attractive-looking cases, but as musical instruments go, they're the bot- tom of the barrel. As the years went by, Samick pianos have improved con- siderably over those early Horugels. On the other hand, the newer Pearl River junkers I have seen are just as bad as they ever were. Maybe worse! Les Smith lessmith@buffnet.net
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