At 06:46 -0700 23/6/10, David Love wrote: >OK but others describe continuing problems. Unlike you I have used >Renner parts continuously for a long time now and rarely have >problems (I can't remember the last time). Available configurations >vary as well so I'm still wondering, what's the advantage that >compensates for some production and design items that still seem >unresolved. I'm all for updated technology and have no qualms about >the next best thing, but only if it is. So, is it? Well, it might be when they've sorted out the teething problems, as they seem to be doing. I understand that they still have a few wooden actions for the Mason and Hamlin production and when they are used up all M&H will be fitted with the plastic actions, so they have every reason to make sure they get things right very soon in their own interests. I get the impression that there have been blind spots in the design process, but the market will very quickly throw light on these and force improvements. After all, you're not going to make such a huge design decision and invest that much effort and money in a new thing only to let the project fail through plain pig-headedness, are you? As to whether it's the next best thing, I would have preferred not to have to deal with a certain degree of hype and just get the plain facts, but perhaps that's not the way things are sold. For example in order to sell the carbon tube shanks, they give the implicit impression that wooden shanks are unpredictable and inferior -- in effect that all grand actions since the year dot have been sub-standard. When you read the blurb more carefully, you discover that they claim only that the carbon tube shanks are as good as the best wooden shanks, and more consistent. It would be interesting to know why Kawai, who have used plastic parts for 20 years, with all the resources at their disposal still use wooden shanks. As Ron pointed out, it would be obvious to any experienced technician that to rely on white glue to secure a wooden hammer-head to a nylon shank, relying on a purely mechanical glue bond is not going to work. It seems odd that they've only just discovered it when a lot of people would have seen the design of the joint as fundamental. I've also expressed surprise at the fact that the drill bit supplied by WNG is not brad-pointed. I shall not be using their bit, which cannot fail to wander, and shall be using a Fuller bit with the brad point. The fact that at least two people have found the stainless steel spring unmanageable also seems to point to a certain thoughtlessness. I wish them well, and I'll also look forward to seeing the new Mason & Hamlins at Frankfurt next year. All I wish is that they'd been a bit more adventurous and actually innovated or copied better things rather than stick rigidly to the tired old Steinway design. The thing is new as regards materials, but far from innovative or revolutionary, just like everything else in today's boring old piano industry. JD
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC