<HTML>If these peop= le will marble their shower stall, spend $40,000 on landscaping, $75,000 for= the Land Rover or Hummer or fly first class to Europe for a vacation they c= an afford the best piano on the market. It is partly up to us, the technicia= n, to help educate in this regard.  How many potential life long piano = students lose interest because their inexpensive piano just doesn't have the= pretty tone, long decay, and singing quality of a beautiful handmade piano.= Ask any real professional why they insist on a minimum level of quality. &n= bsp;It's not the name on the fallboard, it's the quality of the sound they a= re getting. Just my opinion. TP It isn't just the sound.  It's also the consistency of play, respon= siveness, ease of maintenance, availability of parts, and honoring of warran= ties that one gets with a reputable company that's been around for awhile. Given a choice between a high quality used instrument and a poor quality= used piano, I would recommend that my customer buy a used instrument that h= as been checked out by a technician.   You won't find me arguing your claim that even some of the least desirab= le instruments from the far east are probably more serviceable than the low-= end Aeolian products(Winter, Wellington, Andrew Kohler, etc., etc.) from the= 70s.   Dave S. In a message dated 1/30/04 6:28:10 AM Pacific Standard Time, Topperpiano= @aol.com writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-= LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">What I am about to say is r= eally aimed at the customer so don't assume that I am talking down to the li= st: I tell customers who are considering a Chinese piano that they are much = better than the inexpensive pianos of yesteryear.  Meaning that they ha= ve better scaling, better execution and more reliable consistency of manufac= turing than the Winter spinets, Rudolph Wurlitzers, or Cable pianos of the p= ast and at least the cabinets are very unobtrusive in design and don't have = ugly grill cloth, yellow oak, photo finishes or plates that look like someth= ing salvaged from a WWII scrap yard.  What I do say is that the main di= fference between pianos of this quality is not really the mechanical or stru= ctural integrity (laminate materials are very stable) but the acoustically f= avorable materials and design.  Higher quality pianos will just last lo= nger under stressful institutional use and sound better in the process. When= speaking to the customer I try to explain that when you are paying triple t= he price for a piano what you are getting is sound.  I have no problem = with the dealers selling this lower quality of pianos to people who can't af= ford more, I just have a problem with the quality being portrayed to the cus= tomer as something they are not. Most of the time the sales people are so un= informed that they march the customer over to the cheapest piano on the floo= r and start touting the virtues of the quality because they are so afraid of= losing the sale to another Chinese pianos at a competitive dealer.  Th= ey forget that many people can afford something better and with very little = real education can hear the difference.  How many times have we walked = into a $500,000 home and seen a piano that cost less then the kitchen stove = or refrigerator.   </BLOCKQUOTE> </HTML>