<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" = http-equiv=Content-Type> <META content="MSHTML 5.00.2314.1000" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Georgia>Hi List,</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Georgia>Speaking of Baldwin action noise, I thought = I'd relate an experience.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Georgia>I went to the home of a lady who had bought a = new Baldwin console who wanted a 'muffler bar'  or 'mute bar' = installed.  (In case I don't have the name right, it's one of those bars that has a = long piece of felt attached that comes down between the hammer and the = string, muffling the sound.)</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Georgia>Anyway, I installed the muffler bar.  But = when she engaged it and sat down to play, she was horrified to find out that her = new piano made horrible action noises, mostly upon key rebound.  = </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Georgia>The solution ended up being a replacement of = the balance rail punchings (which were extremely hard) and adjusting the key upstop = rail just a bit.  </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Georgia>The main thing that irritated me was that this = was a new piano.  We shouldn't 'need' to replace all the balance rail = punchings on a piano that was just made a few months ago.  (Should we??)  I = played a number of other brand name pianos in a showroom later on that week, and = was actually surprised at how quiet some of them were.  But the = Baldwins... ouch...</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Georgia>All that being said, I like Baldwins.  I = see a lot of potential there.  I think they're capable of making very fine pianos.  Of all places to cut corners, though, it's hard to think = that using a little higher quality of felt punchings could be 'that' = expensive.  In all sincerity, I do hope the quality levels don't take enough of a = downward spiral as to be unrecoverable.  (The name Kimball comes to = mind.)  And perhaps they will surprise me and I'll start seeing improvements in the = new pianos.? :-)  One can hope.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Georgia>Just an experience.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Georgia>Hope you're all having a nice = weekend.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Georgia>Brian Trout</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Georgia>Quarryville, PA</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Georgia><A href="mailto:btrout@desupernet.net">btrout@desupernet.net</A></FONT></D= IV> <DIV> </DIV></BODY></HTML>