[CAUT] University piano replacement program

[David Ilvedson]

It seems to me a practice room piano with softer hammers and lower tension would be a plus...?   Add a rubber coated finish and you are there...the "Bat Piano...;-] ...Isn't  C. Walters coming out with a lower tension, Ronsen hammered piano?   I have always loved the old yellow oak finished school pianos like Wurlitzer, Everett...they were built like tanks.   Not exactly a fine working instrument but durable.   

David Ilvedson, RPT
Pacifica, CA  94044

----- Original message ----------------------------------------
From: A440A at aol.com
To: caut at ptg.org
Received: 7/4/2008 2:49:37 AM
Subject: Re: [CAUT] University piano replacement program



><< My simple question is, if the tone of a "Mid -priced" (not least expensive)
>vertical piano is less desirable, but cost affordable, would that be a
>reasonable compromise for the non-pianist practice rooms? Given these
>instruments seam to have a history of tuning stability, wouldn't this be the
>logical place to compromise? >>


>Greetings, 
>   The number one priority I have found in the practise room pianos is 
>durability. Pianos that require a lot of care are expensive to use.    What I have 
>found is that usually price and dependability go hand in hand. Over a twenty 
>year period, the cost savings of buying cheaper pianos is lost to their earlier 
>demise or higher maintenance costs, not to mention the lesser performance, 
>musically, of the instruments over their life time.  When someone comes out with 
>a more dependable, more durable, more sensitive, more stable piano for a 
>cheaper price,  I will be real interested. So far, it seems the inverse is true.  
>   The restorable Steinways are the cheapest investment when purchase price 
>is plotted against years of use and the cost of  service.   They get even 
>cheaper with each restoration, since one can effectively have a piano that lasts 
>forever on one purchase price.  Just put a new board and action in every 50 
>years,  and pretty soon, the original cost is a neglible part of the equation.  
>Regards, 
>Ed Foote RPT 
>http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html
>www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html
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