We have a similar thing here in Denver, where some organization has placed pianos for the public to play on the 16th Street Mall downtown, which is closed to vehicular traffic except free shuttle buses. People shop and stroll or sit and play chess, congas, or guitars, and now, pianos. Trouble is, every last one of them is a junker, or 'beater." Of course, non-pianists don't really care. But I checked them all and every one of them has about 1/2 inch of lost motion and they all need new hammers. But the soundboards are so shot, it wouldn't be worth it. And they're all painted "artsy" -- mod art or pop art or whatever. So, few good pianists will sit down and play because they're not really instruments anymore. They do throw covers over them after about 10 or 11 pm, and (I assume) when it rains. --David Nereson, RPT <div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Jul 6, 2011 at 7:36 PM, paul bruesch <<a href="mailto:paul@bruesch.net">paul@bruesch.net</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"> Interesting radio item I heard this afternoon... if you select the "Listen" option you can hear what being outside in our goofy climate does to a piano which may or may not have been an optimal instrument to begin with! <a href="http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/07/06/pianos-on-parade-st-paul/" target="_blank">http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/07/06/pianos-on-parade-st-paul/</a> Paul Bruesch Stillwater, MN </blockquote></div>