<html> Mr. Barnard,   Although he's not with the company anymore, you can reach him at 915-727-4138. His name is Salvador Ortiz, and he was with the company for 29 years. He didn't design the part you're whining about, but he was in charge of manufacturing. He's a real nice fellow, and has several great stories about the company that built more American pianos than all the rest for many years, and provided a livelihood for a lot of musicians, teachers, technicians, and vendors. Go ahead.... give him a call. I think you may find that he is neither spineless or dung-brained. Inconsiderate? No.... never. Pin-headed? Not at all. Short-sighted? Well.... he wasn't the owner, so his sight was sometimes .... constrained.... not necessarily short. Cost-cutting and pencil-pushing? You bet. That's how it works, you know. Just try to build something without cutting a few costs and pushing a few pencils. Regards, Guy Nichols, RPT Ft. Stinkin' Desert Chapter 799 At 09:00 PM 12/9/2003 -0600, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Who the %&#@* were the cost-cutting, short-sighted, pencil-pushing, inconsiderate, spineless, dung-brained, pin-headed little engineering/management weenies at Baldwin who put those stupid small, thin, weak, poorly-designed brownish grey plastic flanges on their console/spinet dampers in 1981???   No special reason for asking; just curious  ...   Alan R. Barnard Salem, MO   --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (<a href="http://www.grisoft.com/" eudora="autourl">http://www.grisoft.com</a>). Version: 6.0.525 / Virus Database: 322 - Release Date: 10/9/2003</blockquote></html>