Congrats Jeff ! At least so far so good. I'm going to vote away from the frey here and suggest you opt for factory hung CFIII hammers. These are now made of Wurzen AA felt and are far from being too hard. They will require some needling, but the hammers are very pliable and easy to needle. I'd also suggest you offer your administration a couple alternatives in the light of the events of your past few days. Offer to do the job yourself with 1: Ronzens and new shanks, price x amount of dollars 2: Prehung origional Yamaha parts, price x time 2 amount of dollars. 3: Bringing in a regional concert CFIII tech from Yamaha America to do the job and hold a private seminar for you and perhaps a select very few other (paying) techs. price x times 4 amount of dollars minus what comes in from whatever participants you hold. Express all the confidence in all three options, yet hold out the virtues of each individual option. Make your presentation short and sweet and let them decide. This will also show your bosses that you are capable of arranging far more then simple piano tech work... but that you are able to take over significant areas of responsibilities for the whole piano section. I've arranged 4 pianotechnical seminars now these and one class for a major convention here at the UiB. It wows em every time. Cheers RicB List, Wow, knock me over with a feather. I was called by the adjunct today and received an apology, and we had a lengthy conversation about extending his concern for the Yamaha to include the whole piano inventory (among many other things). At this point, it looks like things may turn out well after all, or at least as well as can be expected. The jury is still out over whether I will hang in there at this university, but at least this situation has not forced me to leave under negative circumstances. I have a meeting later today with the adjunct and other piano faculty. Maybe we'll all plot to overthrow the Dean. Oops, I didn't say that. Thanks again to all of you for your input - any more ideas about new hammers would be great. That will be happening no matter what. Jeff Stickney
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