<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> <body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" style="FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">   Farrell wrote: <blockquote TYPE=CITE>A few thoughts. Pianos are much more like cars than they are violins. Violins improve with age, pianos do not.--</blockquote> Hmmm.. I wonder about this statement.  I have heard pianos that definantly improved with time. Not your heavily used instruments that get just plane beat to smitherins... but Intruments that get used a good deal, nicely as it were... and significantly (me thinks anyways..) they all seemed to have a pretty optimal environment. We dont really know all what happens to wood used in acoustics over time. I know Del and Ron tend to point to what little is known about this and point out that nothing about this knowledge base can explain any improvment acoustically.. but then like I said... there is really lots and lots we simply dont know... lots of questions we havent even dreamed of asking. I personally firmly believe that any wooden instrument has the potential to mature in a positive or negative manner... all dependant on how its treated. Tho admittedly I can not explain why.     Richard Brekne RPT, N.P.T.F. Bergen, Norway <A HREF="mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no">mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no</A>   </body> </html>