<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type> <META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19120"> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>Joe,</DIV> <DIV>There are "two" types of  "instruments" that have "keys" like an acoustic piano.  The industry is going two directions.  "Keyboards" have a touch and feel more like organs; "Digital Pianos" are going the direction of producing the feel and 'touch' of the acoustic piano.  August 2009 and January 2010, Yamaha had the back page of the "Journal" with an ad about their Advant Grand piano.  It is "electronic" with and acoustic action.  It not only produces sound electronically, but also produces vibrations in the cabinet making it feel like an acoustic piano.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Ken Gerler</DIV> <DIV>(Gerler Piano & "Organ" Service)</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px" dir=ltr> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=joegarrett@earthlink.net href="mailto:joegarrett@earthlink.net">Joseph Garrett</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=tnrwim@aol.com href="mailto:tnrwim@aol.com">tnrwim@aol.com</A> ; <A title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, September 02, 2011 10:33 AM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [pianotech] !!! Re: Electronic Keyboards - NOT "pianos"!!</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face="MS Sans Serif">Wim,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face="MS Sans Serif">All well and good. HOWEVER, you started out your post with the dreaded: "Electric Piano"...! You missed my point all to gether. PLEASE?!! Quit calling them Electric/Electronic PIANOS! They are Keyboards!</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face="MS Sans Serif">Your take on these things is that they are the enemy. They are not! They are a viable PART of making music, (more fun). It is sad that they don't last very long and most cannot be repaired after only a short period of time in production. The reality is that they are cheaply designed so that they cannot withstand the usual dings and bangs. That is why I recommend shock proof cases for them. And a good solid stand. Believe me, after many years of gigging with these things, they will last a long time if properly set up and maintained. In your case, where the humidity is out of sight most of the time. there is little that can be done. If only they would install the original version of the Dampp-Chaser, that Mr. Foote put into his radios, during WWII! <G></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face="MS Sans Serif">Best Regards,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face="MS Sans Serif">Joe</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV></DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt Arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=tnrwim@aol.com href="mailto:tnrwim@aol.com"></A></DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To: </B><A title=joegarrett@earthlink.net href="mailto:joegarrett@earthlink.net">joegarrett@earthlink.net</A>;<A title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A></DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> 9/2/2011 1:25:47 AM </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [pianotech] Electronic Keyboards - NOT "pianos"!!</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV><FONT size=2><FONT color=black size=2 face=arial> <DIV><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Electric pianos have their place, and do serve a purpose, as Jerry and David mentioned. But here is some information I give customers who want to buy one of them</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"></FONT> </DIV> <DIV>The tech rep for a major piano manufacturer gave a technical once where he said that his company invents a new electrictronic keyboard every 10 months, and once it's made, it's obsolete after 18 months. Once a model is made, the instrument is guaranteed for only a year, and the manufacturer is not obligated to keep spare parts around for longer than that. In humid climates, like here in Hawaii, the electric components rust out after three - five years. But since the parts for these things are no longer available, the instrument become useless. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>On the other hand, I can repair a hundred year old piano with past I have in my tool box. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Wim Blees, RPT</DIV> <DIV>Hawaii<BR><BR></DIV> <DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,helvetica; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">-----Original Message-----<BR>From: Joseph Garrett <joegarrett@earthlink.net><BR>To: pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org><BR>Sent: Thu, Sep 1, 2011 6:06 am<BR>Subject: [pianotech] Electronic Keyboards - NOT "pianos"!!<BR><BR> <DIV style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fff; MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif; COLOR: #000; FONT-SIZE: 12px" id=AOLMsgPart_0_dd79634c-38ac-4d37-9d1b-79c3bbd702f1><PRE style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt"><TT>David Boyce said: "From: David Boyce <<A href="mailto:David@piano.plus.com">David@piano.plus.com</A>> To: <A href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> Subject: Re: [pianotech] Is this the work of an RPT? Message-ID: <<A href="mailto:4E5F541E.1080308@piano.plus.com">4E5F541E.1080308@piano.plus.com</A>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; Format="flowed" Not sure whether I should have started another thread with this, as it's going off-topic a bit. But I wanted to say, interesting anecdote Ger. I was chatting to a client the week before last, who is a high school music teacher, and also an HMiE (Her Majesty's inspectorate for Education) for Music - a schools inspector for music. She was adamant that her electronic keyboard was just "a tool", useful for doing certain things, but that for playing pleasure, it would always be the old Bechstein. Another client is the same; a music teaqcher and performer with an excellent reputation (and ability to match), he has a good quality 'digital piano' as well as a very high quality upright piano. For playing pleasure, it's always the piano. The 'digital piano' is a useful addition, but not a substitute. The temptation for education departments to save money by buying keyboards for learning on, is unfortunate. They are better than nothing, and can be a useful music tool, with headphones etc. But just because they have 88 black and white keys that go up and down, that doesn't mean they're really as good as a piano! Best regards," David, The first thing we ALL need to do is...Quit calling them Pianos!!! They are NOT! They are, at best, PSOs that kind of sound like pianos, but really don't.<G> (If a high quality amplifier is used, the piano sound is VERY close...AMHIK!) They almost FEEL like a piano, but really don't. (even though some espouse that "...it has a real piano action..." Whatever) The fact remains, that many teachers jumped on that bandwagon, many years ago. They found that the students did not advance as rapidly when they were practicing on Electronic/Digital KEYBOARDS! The "weighted".."..Just like a Piano action" thangs do not promote Muscle Tone like a real PIANO does! Thus, the STUDENT is the loser! Having said all that, the Electronic/Digital Keyboards have a very real and active place in the field of making music. And, they have a very real part to play in the Teacher/Student picture. Not to mention all the neat things they can do for active Musicians in composing and such. For the "gigging" musician, they're the best thing since peanut butter....DAMHIK! So, they are here to stay. Just get on the band wagon and let's STOP calling them Pianos! K?!! Regards to all, Joe Joe Garrett, R.P.T. Captain of the Tool Police Squares R I </TT></PRE></DIV></DIV></FONT></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>