<!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 6.00.2900.2627" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hello List</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I thought I would add a little "je ne = sais quoi" to the battle. Although I am not a real devotee of John Broadwood they had = some very revolutionary designs. And good for them! R&D is a = cause worth pursuing - without it Ron Overs would not have developed his rather = elegant new grand action design - just to mention one. Broadwoods were very = innovative. They developed the "barless" grand, the repetition spring in upright pianos = and, the point in question now (under the Collen-Broadwood banner) the fully = agraffed strung frame. In this we find brass agraffes throughout, not only at the = top end but on the bridge also. I cannot say I like the quality of = the tone these pianos produce but I wonder what they were like when new? These = brass agraffes are not fitted like the standard model but are attached by a = screw through a counter-sunk hole. String spacing is by the holes on one = side and string speaking-length is terminated on the rim opposite. I have not = heard any false strings on one of these yet.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Regards during a respite from cutting = the grass in my Sussex garden</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Michael = G.(UK)</FONT> </DIV></BODY></HTML>