<HTML>In a message dated 9/10/01 5:45:07 PM Central Daylight Time, mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px"> Hi Wim. I have a couple questions for you. I think you have done some rebuilding in your time (???). Let's say you recap a long bridge on a 50 year old Steinway M (and do whatever else you normally do on a restring job) and you recap a long bridge on a 50 year old Cable-Nelson 5' 8" grand (and do whatever else you normally do on a restring job). Both customers come back to you and inform you that there are prominent false beats in the top two octaves and the bridge pins appear loose. Then they demonstrate by sounding the note - false beats. Then they place a brass rod on top of bridge pins and apply slight pressure and sound note - clear tone. Do you feel there is a problem? Do you feel you should fix it? My guess is you will say yes to both these questions, and that is why I call this a defect. Terry Farrell </BLOCKQUOTE> If I rebuilt both pianos the way you said, and if I got paid the same amount of money to do both pianos, and if both pianos left my shop without the false beats, and if the customers came back to me and noticed the false beats, (it wasn't pointed out to them by another tuner), yes I would fix the problem. But take any of the IFs out of there, and no, I wouldn't fix the problem. Jim said "when a customer has a choice of a 5 foot something piano that cost 6,900 dollars and a 5 foot something piano that costs 37,600 dollars...what criteria should the customer use for making the choice????." By the same token, what criteria should a manufacturer make when producing a $6900 piano and a $37,600 piano? As I said in my previous post, a company that is going to make $10,000 from the sale of an instrument is going to be able to spend more time on fixing problems than if they make only $3000. And a customer who buys that cheaper piano is not going to have the same criteria as the one buying the expensive one. You asked the question if you should tell your customer about wild strings and a lack of power in the killer octave. My answer, and that of several others, is no. That is my opinion, and I'm sticking to it. Someday, hopefully, you will understand why. Wim </HTML>