<!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 5.50.4913.1100" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>David wrote:</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV>    "I think the reason for the poor reputation of = Aeolian products comes not<BR>from their early years, but from the mediocre = products of the second half of<BR>the 20th Century -- the cheap, thin-sounding, = spinets, consoles, and small<BR>grands with poor quality of construction and = materials, but carrying names<BR>of makes that were once the finer quality pianos, = like Chickering, Ivers &<BR>Pond, Henry F. Miller, Knabe, Mason & = Hamlin, Weber, etc.  On top of that is<BR>the slogan along the lines of = "made in America by American Craftsmen",<BR>which adds an ironic insult to = injury.  It's like the Wessell, Nickel, &<BR>Gross actions -- once the best = (early 1900's) but in later years (1960's) a<BR>mockery of their former quality."      --David Nereson, RPT, = Denver</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>    I found myself = having to tune a few of these kind of pianos at a moving sale recently, and remember thinking;"There's a reason these guys aren't in business any more."</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>