Gina & List: Thanks for your detailed post about helping piano shoppers find a piano. I do much the same thing and I do spend quite a bit of time on the phone with them. Sometimes I wish I could be doing something else, but whenever I find a piano like I did yesterday I determine to redouble my educational efforts. We have people here in the area that do beautiful work making very old pianos look great. Unfortunately, musical instruments they are not. These are not old birdcages or "antiques" but old turn of the century Baldwins, Knabes, Chickerings etc. (the one I saw yesterday was a Weber.) Only the obvious is restored. The finish is beautiful. Strings are often replaced, but soundboard and bridges are original and sound bad. Actions are poor. Because they look so good they are sold for big prices. I have yet to develop the appropriate speech to gently inform customers that they have a beautiful piece of furniture and nothing more. I won't knock the seller, and I don't want to make the customer feel stupid or "taken." I just try to explain the limitations of the furniture/instrument and let them decide what they want to do about procuring a real piano. Does anyone have a good way to handle these situations? dave _______________________________________________ David M. Porritt, RPT Meadows School of the Arts Southern Methodist University Dallas, Texas _______________________________________________
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