Louis Renner hammer heads on grey market.

[J Patrick Draine]

Ages ago, 1978 to be precise, I was working as a piano technician in  
Taiwan. There were a variety of low quality brands with names like  
"Schiller" and "Beethoven", also equipped with Renner labeled parts  
(Apollo, Toyo, and Atlas really weren't all that bad). While it is  
conceivable that they were knock-off pirate parts, I think it was  
simply the case that Renner made parts to the specs requested by the  
manufacturers (inexpensive and loud).
Patrick Draine

On Jan 26, 2006, at 11:45 AM, Quentin Codevelle wrote:

> Hello list,
>
> I have a question:
>
> A few years ago, I was working for a dealer who distributes lots of  
> grey market Yamaha, Kawai but also other almost unknown brands (for  
> the majority of people) like Apollo, Toyo, Atlas, etc...
>
> I remarked that on many grey market pianos (except Yamahas &  
> Kawais), there was the label "Louis Renner" on the heads, although  
> these heads seemed totally different from the heads we find on  
> european pianos, which are labeled "Louis Renner- Stuttgart".
>
> Does someone know if there is a hammerhead factory in asia that  
> produces heads named "Louis Renner" but aren't the real Renner  
> hammer heads produced in Germany, in Stuttgart?
>
> Otherwise, is there a lower Renner quality for these asian pianos  
> (very very bright sound, strange impregnation color, ...).
>
> What puzzles me is the fact that the word "Stuttgart" misses on  
> these heads, which makes me think it is a mere copy, but no  
> original ones.
>
> Thanks !
>
> Quentin
>