<HTML><HEAD> <META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19170"></HEAD> <BODY> <DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face="MS Sans Serif">Wim,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face="MS Sans Serif">That has not been my experience. Every Asian POS that i've worked on has a built in "can of worms" set of problems.....fix one thing and it creates another. If I were new at this biz, I'd have to assume it was me, but I'm not. The "select hardwoods" used in most of the asian pianos is and has been suspect in my shop setup/mindset. It's just me, I suspect. But? Maybe not.. The proof will be in how long they last. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face="MS Sans Serif">The American Spinet is still here after 80 or so years. I don't think the Asian counterparts will last that long. Then again, I could be wrong about that too.<G></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face="MS Sans Serif">You are in the heart of the Asian market, so to speak. Also, you have a unique set of problems, unlike the "lower 48".or I suspect in Hawaii they say "the other 49".<G> </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face="MS Sans Serif">I will admit that the past 5-6 years of chinese pianos is a definate improvement over what came before. They are, finally, learning how to build pianos. But, it's my opinion that they aren't there yet. There are many spinets that NEVER were worth a darn, IMO. So, </FONT><FONT size=2 face="MS Sans Serif"> back to the spinet issue: perhaps we should get on a big push to either FIX the good ones and Land Fill the rest, or just refuse to work on them altogether, forcing all spinet owners to Upgrade.<G></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2 face="MS Sans Serif">Best,</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> 1/7/2012 10:46:55 AM </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> American vs Asian pianos, was Re: [pianotech] re; spinet repetitionproblems</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV><FONT size=2><FONT color=black size=2 face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><WBR>Joe said<BR> <DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,helvetica; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> <BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 3px"><PRE><TT>A large percentage of the existing spinets were made out of REAL wood and nice aesthetic designed cases. They are far superior to the POS's coming out of China, Indonesia, etc!! (BTW I HATE shiny black!!! buullaaaccckkk!<G>) </PRE></TT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV> <DIV>Joe</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>From my experience, pianos coming out of China and Indonesia for the past 5  - 10 are much better instruments than the spinets manufactured by the American piano companies in the 60's and 70's. Yes, they were made out of "real" wood, but mechanically, and even structurally, the Asian pianos are much better. As far as the finish, (whether it's buullaaaccckkk, or another wood color,) that's a matter of personal taste. Apparently consumers like the shiny look, otherwise they wouldn't be making them. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Wim<BR></DIV> <DIV style="CLEAR: both"> <DIV> </DIV></DIV><BR><BR> <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: Sat, Jan 7, 2012 8:03 am<BR>Subject: [pianotech] re; spinet repetition problems<BR><BR> <DIV id=AOLMsgPart_2_30bc9767-4694-4305-b3e1-dfadcccd7a6a> <DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; COLOR: #777; FONT-SIZE: 12px"><A style="COLOR: #5e96ea; TEXT-DECORATION: none" href="https://www.boxbe.com/overview" target=_blank><IMG style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; MARGIN-BOTTOM: -1px; MARGIN-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" alt=Boxbe src="http://www.boxbe.com/images/logo_dark_small.png" width=64></A> <IMG src="http://www.boxbe.com/stfopen?tc=10419224515_1738591160"> You chose to allow <A href="mailto:joegarrett@earthlink.net">joegarrett@earthlink.net</A> even though this message failed authentication <BR><A style="COLOR: #5e96ea; TEXT-DECORATION: none" href="https://www.boxbe.com/anno?tc=10419224515_1738591160&action=authfail&set=false" target=_blank>Click to disallow</A> <BR></DIV></DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fff; MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif; COLOR: #000; FONT-SIZE: 12px" id=AOLMsgPart_3_30bc9767-4694-4305-b3e1-dfadcccd7a6a><PRE style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt"><TT>Dean said: "If Jiffy Leads are fully functional, do not take away the aesthetic look of the outside cabinet the customer sees, last just as long, AND SAVES THE CUSTOMER MONEY, why would they not be considered "doing the job right?" I'm sorry to sound snippy, but I grow weary of the mindset that it has to be like the factory in order to qualify as doing it right. In my book, if it works well and saves the customer money, that is doing it right, and that is how I want other people to treat me. " Dean, I'd like to agree with you but the essence of "jiffy leads" is that you just screw them puppies on the ends of the keys and voila'! you have really faster, better piano.....NOT! First the jiffies are too heavy!! Secondly, each key's balance weight is different. This is due to various widths, wood densities, sharps vs naturals, etc.The method I use is a balance system and a gram scale. I've found that a back weight of 1-3 grams will make the key settle on it's back rail and not increase the "touch" a noticeable amount. The end results is: you take the key out of the action rep. picture, so to speak and leave the repetition to the ACTION itself.<G> If the action is still "sluggish", then your next step is to repin. I think there was little quality control of the S-2 parts that most spinets have. All parts pinning should be suspect imo. Although, I too, like to be given the least expensive route to repairing a piece of my equipment, I've found that it is not always the long term best route.<G> Mostly I've found: "Cheap is just Cheap, it's not always the best"! One other thing: A large percentage of the existing spinets were made out of REAL wood and nice aesthetic designed cases. They are far superior to the POS's coming out of China, Indonesia, etc!! (BTW I HATE shiny black!!! buullaaaccckkk!<G>) So, what is the alternative to the NEW pianos? Fix the Spinets to work the way they were originally designed to, not how they came off the assembly line! It will be cheaper for the client in the long run and the client will not regret that route, imho. There are some spinets that should have NEVER been manufactured. Those should go into the nearest land fill, imo....er Winter comes to mind<G>. Joe Joe Garrett, R.P.T. Captain of the Tool Police Squares R I </TT></PRE></DIV></DIV></FONT></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>