<!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 6.00.2800.1400" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: = #ffffff" bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>Well, it *could* be that budding musicians would have been turned = off, but if there is really that drive or passion to play, even a spinet in reasonable repair would do--for a while, anyway.  No, it's not = ideal, but talent combined with the passion to play is hard to stop.  = </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Of course, there's always the claim, "Our piano sounds different = than the piano teacher's piano!"  I laugh at that now, not only because I'm = a tech and know there can be lots of reasons for the difference in sound, but = also because we're the ones with the Steinway grand and the teacher has = the Yamaha console........(sort of reminds me of coming off of maternity = leave and practicing tuning my Steinway to get ready to go out and tune a Kimball spinet.)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Barbara Richmond, RPT</DIV> <DIV> </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=RptBob1@aol.com = href="mailto:RptBob1@aol.com">RptBob1@aol.com</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, May 20, 2004 = 11:42 AM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Betsy Ross = Spinet</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV> <DIV>In a message dated 5/20/2004 8:07:50 AM Eastern Standard Time, <A = = href="mailto:hoffsoco@martin.luther.edu">hoffsoco@martin.luther.edu</A>= writes:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px = solid"><FONT face=Arial>this list over the years. Well <BR>deserved, too.  = I find it hard to say that they have no redeeming value if <BR>they are a = springboard to a musical career, or even if they only offer the <BR>opportunity = to have live music in the home</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV> <DIV>We also have NO idea on how many budding, future musicians were = totally turned off by their experiences with these "pianos".  So let's = also consider this in the equation.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Bob Bergantino</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>