<HTML>I, too, am lu= cky enough to have my favorite piano sitting in my living room.  It is = a 1919 "AA" Mason and Hamlin, fully restored.  It roars, it whispers, i= t growls, it laughs, but most of all, it sings. The first piano that really did it for me was a Mason 9' that opened my = ears and mind to what a piano could sound like.  It was new in 1977, ne= aring the end of the Aeolian era(my induction into the piano biz).  It = was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but one could be engulfed= by the warmth and depth of its tone. TP, thanks for the reviving that memory!  I still hear it once in a= while, as it's in a local concert venue. Dave Stahl In a message dated 5/22/04 4:52:37 AM Pacific Daylight Time, Topperpiano= @aol.com writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-= LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Let's talk about pianos. What if we do a little Dr. Phil type exercise to reawaken our tonal mind= s.  For those of you who are European, Dr. Phil is just like Jerry Spri= nger except the people seem much nicer and they come fully dressed. Let's all think about the one piano that you have seen/heard/tuned that = really knocked your socks off.  The one piano that you wanted to implan= t the sound in your head.  The one that you hoped the little old lady w= ho owned it would leave it to you because you were the only one who really a= ppreciated how truly amazing it was.   Mine was a very old 7ft Ibach, that lived in a dark apartment on the upp= er west side of New York.  It had an elegant case, beautiful rosewood w= ith finely turned legs and handsome brasses.  It wasn't old enough to h= ave a Vienna action but old enough to pre date WWII.   The length of decay was just astounding. It had a round, beautiful tone = that was just there with no sound of the hammer impact.  In the smallis= h room it seemed overpowering but had a sweetness to the sound that I had ne= ver experienced before.  Maybe the fact that it was so different from t= he powerful piano sound that I had been accustomed to had something to do wi= th it.  Maybe it was the unexpected surprise of finding such a glorious= piano hidden away that made it seem so fantastic. After tuning it I just ha= d to play a bit, embarrassed that the owner was probably an accomplished pia= nist.  I played a little Mozart. Just enough to know that it would be t= he best I would ever sound on a piano. Your turn. TP </BLOCKQUOTE> </HTML>