It just so happened that I had a tuning a few blocks away from the Premier Piano retail store in Boston, (which, by the way, is the old Falcone retail outlet location) and so I stopped in. I got the following information from Peter Murphy and Wolf Flippen, who are the owners of Premier: Premier Piano is now in complete control of Mason & Hamlin which is in the process of reorganization. The company (M&H, not Premier) is currently in Chapter 7 bankruptcy and they are moving it to Chapter 11. (Maybe someone out there who is familiar with the terms can explain them - I've always been too broke to afford bankruptcy proceedings. Otherwise I'll look them up as soon as I can load my new Legal software). Their plans are to continue building Masons in Haverhill, MA and they hope to hire back 20-25 key employees from the original Mason/Falcone workforce. There currently is no time frame for this - it depends entirely on what kind of settlement can be reached with the creditors and how much money needs to be raised to satisfy this. They intend to plow all the profits from Premier into M&H. They are looking for support and ideas from the piano technicians community and from the PTG and anyone interested in contacting them can do so at (617) 542-4525. They should soon have internet access. I so far haven't been able to reach anyone who was at the meeting Bill Ballard was asking about, so I can't as of yet perpetuate any rumors... Israel Stein
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