<HTML>Andrew, The piano is built by Kawai, though it's to Schiedmayer specs, supposedl= y.  Maybe Don Maninno knows.  Don? Dave Stahl In a message dated 7/2/04 4:45:55 AM Pacific Daylight Time, ANRPiano@aol= .com writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-= LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Dave, This has been a question I have been pondering for a while now.  I = have had two situations which have got me thinking about the relationship be= tween soundboard finish and tuning stability.  For several years now I = have used a marine epoxy to seal all of my old soundboards to add lost stiff= ness and then top coating with either shellac (which I am no longer using) o= r the water borne lacquer.  Once these pianos have settled down they ar= e remarkably stable with very little pitch movement.  (Quite an accompl= ishment in Chicago.) And the other experience, though with a shorter time fr= ame and more antidotal, is my friend David Graham's experience with Fazioli = pianos.  I had a conversation with Mr. Fazioli when he was in town rega= rding the finish on his soundboards, there was something of a language barri= er, but I gathered he had a water barrier sealer he applied to both sides of= his boards. David tells me, much to his disappointment, that these pianos a= re remarkably stable for their environment. So, do you have any idea what kind of finish is on the soundboard? &nbsp= ;A finishing material which doesn't do screwy things with the stiffness of t= he panel would actually be the answer to tuning stability problems at least = as far as soundboard generated problems goes. Andrew Remillard </BLOCKQUOTE> </HTML>