<!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 5.50.4611.1300" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>    Gee, I'm sorry Don. Of course, you are the final = authority, but I couldn't remember if it was twenty or thirty gains per = inch. Sure Looks like thirty.  Anyway, nice really tight grain. Very = uniform grain.  Good boards.</DIV> <DIV>    I think that our dealership does offer a pretty = good price on these, but not below a certain level. </DIV> <DIV>    Hey, I'm a tech, not a salesperson, and I have = seen the right salespeople offer a rock bottom deal to a "player", knowing that = word of mouth works better sometimes than paid advertising. And after someone = who can really play tries one, you can tell that they are sold. </DIV> <DIV>    Unfortunately, sometimes real players are not = the ones who can afford the really nice ones.</DIV> <DIV>Kevin E. Ramsey<BR><A href="mailto:ramsey@extremezone.com">ramsey@extremezone.com</A></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=DonMannino@mediaone.net = href="mailto:DonMannino@mediaone.net">Donald Mannino</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> Thursday, January 25, = 2001 9:21 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: S. Kawai</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV><FONT size=3>Hi Kevin,<BR><BR>Sorry, I appreciate = your posts, but I need to correct a few small things.<BR><BR>Unless your dealer is = offering some funny discounts, I think the prices are quite a bit = higher than the standard Yamaha pianos.  I have no idea how much the Yamaha S = pianos cost, though, so maybe you meant the Shigeru Kawai is similar to them.<BR><BR>Also, 30 grains per inch is a kind of tight for a good soundboard.  They maintain a fairly consistent 14 grains per = inch, and don't want to go finer than that or the board would likely be too = stiff.  The main thing about the boards is that the spruce is air-dried for so = long before the final seasoning.  I think this makes a big difference = in the tone.<BR><BR>They sure are nice to play, aren't they? I sometimes = spend part of my lunch break practicing on one of them.  We have a mighty = nice SK-6 in the Kawai showroom right now that I have trouble staying away from.<BR><BR>Don Mannino<BR><BR><BR>At 08:13 PM 1/25/01 -0700, you = wrote:<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE class=cite cite type="cite">    Terry wrote:<BR>How does price compare to a similar size Yamaha?<BR> <BR>Terry Farrell<BR>Piano Tuning & = Service<BR>Tampa, Florida<BR><A = href="mailto:mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com">mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com</A><BR>=  <BR> <BR>    Very slightly more, but have you ever seen a Yamaha "S" series? They = were hand made too, and you can tell, so I believe the Shigeru's are just = as good, but more reasonably priced than the handmade Yamaha's. <BR>    And for all of you that have been asking, = yes, they are really "hand made". Every technician (There are only twenty) who = builds these, work by themselves in a corner of the manufacturing plant. = They are the Concert Techs for Kawai, training in Europe, and they also get = to hand select the best materials over anything they have. The soundboards = have a minimum of about 30 grains per inch.<BR>    You get = what you pay for, ( as opposed to "You get what you think you're paying for".)<BR>    <BR> <BR> <BR>Kevin E. = Ramsey<BR><A = href="mailto:ramsey@extremezone.com">ramsey@extremezone.com</A></FONT><= /BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>