<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> Newton, Knowing how to "operate" a piano, as you state, is not the same as knowing how to care for one, and I certainly wouldn't equate money with intelligence, as you stated.  I'm guessing most of us could tell stories about how uninformed new piano owners often are. Has it really been your experience that every new piano owner you've met knows instinctively how often the piano should be tuned, info about tone and regulation, how to clean the keys and care for the case, where the piano should not be located, humidity control, what those two other pedals do, etc.?  I haven't found that to be the case. I am sometimes surprised at how ignorant even some piano teachers are about their instruments.  I'm not going to start a crusade about owner's manuals, but without doubt they should be included, in my opinion. Regards, Clyde Reikiharp@AOL.COM wrote: <blockquote TYPE=CITE>In a message dated 5/28/02 9:53:50 AM Eastern Daylight Time, nhunt@optonline.net writes:     <blockquote TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Manuals are NOT included with pianos, including _extremely_ expensive ones. If you have enough money to buy one you are smart enough to know how to operate one.</blockquote>        Oh no, you couldn't be more wrong. On the other hand, I make a lot of money doing pitch raises and other neglected/abused piano related stuff on 2 yr old pianos being serviced the first time.                                                                                   Joseph D. Gotta RPT</blockquote> </html>