Hi Paul, Valid concerns, I'd say. Steinway has, for most of recorded history, presented themselves as the de facto standard for the rest of the industry. The fact that virtually all of the uneducated public, and what appears to be most of the technical community accepts this without question or qualm is what we're up against here, regardless of any body of evidence to the contrary regarding such pesky criteria as performance and value for the money. Assuming that this is a reasonably accurate assessment of the status quo, rather than the random ravings of yet another unenlightened soul not getting what he thinks is his due, using the S&S rebuilding facility as a price benchmark serves quite admirably as an unquestionably authoritative validation of the new price increases we all have coming (since it's universally agreed that we work too cheap for the magic we produce). No matter how many wretched killer octaves, honking low tenors, dinking trebles, and flat soundboards folks encounter in these pianos, the entrenched mystique will carry the day and these defects will become features before the ink even dries on the marketing copy. They barely even have to try anymore, so why shouldn't we take some advantage of a psychological aberration we couldn't correct if we lived forever, and use it to put a few more bucks in our own pockets? We are underpaid, after all... or did I just imagine I heard that somewhere? Wanna buy a duck? Ron N
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