<!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 5.50.4807.2300" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>    Hi Ileen:  I = service 10 Kawai UST8A's at Syracuse University's drama department, and I'll echo = Patrick Draine's comments.  They are somewhat unstable and unisons go out quickly.  Also of late, Kawai seems to have cut corners on their cabinetry.  Things get loose, come apart, screws pull out and = granted a school situation is not the best for any piano, but our experience  = with Kawai has been disappointing.  We are gradually replacing the fleet = with Yamaha P22's.  Have I met you?  I'm pretty regular about = attending S. Tier meetings, but can't remember seeing you there.  I'm in = Auburn.  Mike Kurta</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; = BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: = black"><B>From:</B> <A title=ileenpiano@stny.rr.com = href="mailto:ileenpiano@stny.rr.com">Ileen Kaplan</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A = title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, May 24, 2002 7:54 = AM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> new piano for a = school</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hello all!  Has anyone had any = experience with  the  Kawai 46" UST8 as far as how they might hold up = in a school situation?Thanks, Ileen Kaplan,  Southern Tier  Chapter</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>