Why is it that many people on the forum say that they don't care if a keyboard is made of plastic, if the materials aren't on par with other high end arrangers, and that all they care about is if it sounds OK? Is just OK good enough? It's that type of mentality that allows companies like Yamaha to make cheap PSR and Tyros "toys" and still have you pay thousands of dollars for them. If you were buying a home, car, furniture, or major appliance I'll bet you wouldn't accept sub par build materials or quality now would you? Of course not!

Keyboards don't have to be made out of cheap materials to be lightweight, that's a farce. Even in plastics and lightweight metals there are higher grade materials but most companies aren't using them in their keyboards. Not because they can't but because they won't (only wanting to increase their profit margin). If we accept the fact they are using cheap materials and we are still willing to spend multi-thousands of dollars on a plastic toy, then whose being fooled? Not the manufacturer that's for sure.

I'm not one that wants to lug around a heavy keyboard any more than the next guy, I won't however spend my hard earned money on an instrument that I have to question how road worthy it is or if it's going to last me 10 years or more. I have a large array of vintage instruments and not a one of them has ever let me down or have I had to question their build quality. The adage holds true, they just don't build things like they use to. There are exceptions but they are very few and far between.

Use whatever works for you but realize that by accepting and buying a keyboard or any other instrument that uses sub par materials, you are perpetuating the manufacture of sub par instruments from those manufacturers that do so.

Also, I'm not one that believes that just because something is made of plastic it isn't a viable instrument. If a Yamaha PSR or Tyros II sounded like my Wersi Abacus, I'd buy one in a second. Of course that isn't the case and it's not likely Yamaha is going to come out with a keyboard for under $4,000.00 that's going to compete on the same level as the Wersi. For now I am left with buying what's available that's the cutting edge of what arranger and workstation technology should be. It just so happens that Wersi packages the Abacus into an all metal case with wood sides. What the hell were they thinking?