<HTML><HTML>In a message dated 4/2/2006 11:10:19 AM Central Standard Time, absolutepiano@comcast.net writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Steinway agraffes are readily available and buying new will give you that shining brass but as Paul mentions, there's still work to be done even on the new ones.</BLOCKQUOTE> Jude, thanks for the mention. As you say, the whole point is not the shininess but the shape on the inside curve which is where the real pay-off is. We just completed a Boesendorfer rebuild (c 1915), and the clarity of tone is startling and wonderful. Of course, it won't last as all things decay, but nicer to start from some level of perfectability than just, as you say, "spray bomb" them. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to let us know. Paul Revenko-Jones</HTML>