Dear Pianotech Group: Some of you are aware that I do personally monitor this list as time allows and know that we take a very sincere interest in your concerns and do act on many of your suggestions. I do not respond directly because I don't want to take advantage of this forum in a commercial way. I find the list an important source of product information and general feedback on how we're doing, however, and I appreciate the candor and professionalism most of you demonstrate. The reason for this response has to do with the answers I've observed to Avery Todd's latest request for hammer recommendations for his Steinway B and Marshall & Wendell grand pianos and someone requesting opinions on Renner action parts. In a couple of the answers, mention was made of the advantages of the Renner USA Sample Parts Kit, and the difficulty in getting one. I'm afraid we have to plead guilty on both counts, and would like to clarify our position on this. First, the demand for this Sample Parts Kit did exceed our expectations both in the quantity we would need and the cost to create them. We have also decided to continue to provide Upgrades to this Kit at no charge, which has added thousands of dollars to our investment in this program and added some additional delays as well. We have maintained a special list of those of you who own the Sample Kit and are active customers, and it is our intention to continue to provide you with Update Kits as improvements or new products are created. The next upgrade is being produced now, and those of you who currently own and use this Kit will be receiving this upgrade at no charge in about 10 days. This Upgrade will reflect all of the latest refinements we have made, and will contain four new wippens, a new modified shank & flange for the New York Steinway, and some additional sizes of damper felt strips you have been requesting. We've also increased the width of our replacement backcheck leather, as some of you have requested, for the older Steinway backchecks which were larger than current production. We have already been shipping the improved parts for several months now. We just haven't been able to provide the Parts Kit Upgrade until now. Unfortunately, this has delayed the next production run of the Sample Parts Kits which will already contain all of the improvements. If we are able to complete the Upgrades as scheduled, then we would expect to have some complete Sample Parts Kits available before the end of June. So, we're almost there. I trust this message will not be viewed as too commercial, I just felt you deserved a response to the questions being raised. If you find this kind of message objectionable, please let me know and it won't be repeated. Again, we appreciate your continued support and wish you all the best as we approach what for many of you is a very busy season. Lloyd Meyer
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