<HTML>   Les Smith wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE>On Sat, 14 Feb 1998, Delwin D Fandrich wrote: > > In this business we tend to equate attention to detail and perfection > of workmanship with > performance. They are not necessarily related. Quality of construction > does not > necessarily translate into quality of tone performance. Hi, Del, List. Just a random observation here, but I would put it this way. The piano is a musical instrument, not a piece of furniture. It's function is to be played and listened to. Therefore piano-quality in not something which is SEEN at all, It is something which is HEARD. The purpose of regulation and voicing are to give the pianist maximum control over the hammers, be- cause the rubber meets the road in piano technology, that is the quality of the instrument is both determined and defined, by what happens when the hammers meet the strings. In the end, that is not the most important thing that matters, it is the ONLY thing that matters. What happens when the hammers meet the strings also defines the quality of the technician, too. Beside every great piano stands a great tech- nician. Like Love and Marriage, "you can't have one without the other"! Les Smith</BLOCKQUOTE> <HR WIDTH="100%"> Les, Yes. As usual, Les, your comments are right on the point. The piano is a musical instrument and not just a piece of furniture -- my point exactly. It is unfortunate that many of the producers of pianos seem to find it necessary (possible?) to market only the furniture. Unfortunately, when most folks want just furniture they go to Ethan Allen or Sears or wherever. They don't go to piano stores. People go to piano stores to buy musical instruments. A truth that has been lost of late. I realize that a good technician can make most modern pianos sound better than they do on the showroom floor. The problem is that if the pianos don't sound better on the showroom floor first, a large part of the potential market is being excluded from that showroom. Those potential customers will never go there. Why should they? There is little new to be seen but new furniture. And there is nothing new to hear. On the day that a piano shows up on that showroom floor that is clearly superior to everything that has gone before, the word will start to spread. And not a moment before. In the end, it is still only the music that matters. Del</HTML>