APOLLO 2014/02/05 　　　　　　 　　　　 APOLLO pianos are manufactured by Toyo Piano Company since 1948. We believe it is a famous piano brand next to Yamaha and Kawai, even at overseas. Toyo Piano has developed many unique piano mechanisms, and among these the M.O.T. (Mute One Touch) system and S.S.S (Slide Soft System) are well known. As opposed to the mute pedal of an ordinary upright pianos (which is pushed down and shifted to the side to keep its position), the M.O.T. system raises efficiency by requiring a single push of the mute pedal to keep its position. An upright with a S.S.S. is built with the same function of grand piano soft pedal (left pedal), which shifts the keys and inner action to the side to soften the notes (ordinary upright pianos move the hammers' resting position closer to the strings). This function is recommended for advanced piano students. As mentioned, some models of APOLLO have special mechanisms not present in Yamaha or Kawai Pianos. At Takemoto Piano, we relatively find many APOLLO used pianos so we encourage you to consider for your order.