<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1106" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: = Verdana" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=rol= e_document face=Verdana color=#000000 size=3> <DIV> <DIV>Dale,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Nice report!  Thanks for the update.  AAs are near and dear t= o my heart--being an owner of one built in 1919 and completely redone in 2000.  </DIV> <DIV>Great pianos!  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Dave Stahl</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>In a message dated 5/5/05 8:33:42 PM Pacific Daylight Time, Erwinspiano@aol.com writes:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><= FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size= =2> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"= ><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 siz= e=2> <DIV> <FONT size=3>   Hi  all</FONT></FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"= > <DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color= =#000000 size=2><FONT size=3>  A whiel back I wrote about sound board de= sign changes I made to a 1920's Mason AA & said I'd report back as to my impressions. The separate transition bridge went from 2 bichords & 7= tris to a short repositioned bridge connected to the main bridge body with 9 bichords. It got a   cutoff bar that shortene= d some very long ribs to no more than 36 inches and also I added a treble fish. My first</FONT></FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV>  <FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Aria= l color=#000000 size=2><FONT size=3> It went out two weeks ago.&n= bsp;The the piano sounds<STRONG> really</STRONG> good . The bass is big ,solid, pl= enty of boom but focused. The transition bridge at the bass is virtually seamle= ss as is the plain wire break. This was a home run no question. Truly a pleasurable blending of registers. Tenor is sonorous and open. I had to wo= rk with the strike lines twice in the top two octaves & the hammers wante= d to be harder than I thought but not overly so. It wasn't speaking all that we= ll until the hammers picked up enough stiffness all over  from the lacqu= er & a few drops of keytop on the strike. Then the treble sustain go= t quite excellent & clear & projects nicely. Maybe a tiny bit stingy but  one of the best Mason AA I've heard so far that I really liked. I'm being really objectively critical you know & and the same t= ime am very pleased.</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"= > <DIV><FONT size=3>   The impression of the whole piano is th= at it's bigger than it's physical size portends. Very Musical warm dynamics= & sound slike a concert grand.  All in All the whole redesign w= as a pleasant success</FONT></FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV>   <FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Ari= al color=#000000 size=2><FONT size=3>If I had to do over I'd have = thinned the board a bit more in the top end. It went to San Luis O. in a= beautiful hillside dwelling. Beautiful polished mahogany  Custom= er is thrilled. Said it was the best money he'd ever  spent on anything.= WOW</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"= > <DIV><FONT size=3>    Dale</FONT></DIV></FONT></BLOCKQU= OTE> <DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>