<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1170" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <DIV>I'm sure they're not going to be willing, nor do I think they should have to do it.   But as long as Steinway makes actions that are too heavy to play, as long as that brand mystique tells them that if they don't like it at purchase time that it must be their fault not Steinways, then some will have to either pay or quit playing.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Some have to play pianos that an institution bought and they had no control over the purchase.  I wish that there weren't any actions out there that can cause injury, but they are out there.  I know of people who have quit playing jobs because the club's new "B" caused injury.  I think that was the point of the original post.  Why are these pianos out there?  Sure there are individual preferences.  Sure these are art, but there is a line that shouldn't be crossed, because there are people buying these things that don't know better, and there are institutions who buy them simply because they're Steinways and they must be good.  When a restaurant or club buys a piano they don't "select" it, they get the one that no one else has "selected".  In many cases, these pianos shouldn't have even left the factory with an action that heavy.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>dave<BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********<BR><BR>On 6/3/2003 at 9:08 AM Wimblees@aol.com wrote:</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid"><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF">In a message dated 6/3/03 7:53:05 AM Central Daylight Time, dm.porritt@verizon.net writes:<BR><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px" TYPE="CITE">Wim:<BR>  <BR>But there is.  There's a lot we can do to change it.  There are a lot of people making some good money taking too heavy Steinway actions and making them play wonderfully.  <BR><BR>dave<BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>Are we talking about "new" pianos, or older models? Are customers with "new" piano willing to pay "good money," to have these changes made? It would seem to me that someone who pays $40 -- $75 K for a new Steinway shouldn't have to pay more to make them play wonderfully.<BR><BR>Wim </FONT><FONT size=2 Arial></BLOCKQUOTE>**************** END MESSAGE FROM Wimblees@aol.com *********************</FONT> </FONT></BODY></HTML> <PRE> _____________________________ David M. Porritt dporritt@mail.smu.edu Meadows School of the Arts Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX 75275 _____________________________</PRE>