<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.5730.11" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>  Hi Jesse</EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>  Yes the problem was from some years back. Good parts, nicely made. I'm not a big fan of hornbeam shanks.  Some are great & others twist like rubber during burn in</EM></STRONG> <FONT size=4><EM><U>& <FONT size=3><STRONG>it doesn't matter who makes</STRONG></FONT> them.</U></EM> <FONT size=3> <STRONG><EM>Abels maple Shanks are my current favorite. Stiffer too.</EM></STRONG></FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3><STRONG><EM>  Dale</EM></STRONG></FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV>I never had any trouble with Tokiwa parts --they always seemed like a very decent replacement for Steinway parts, especially the grand hammer shanks with flanges. The cutout in the Tokiwa hammer flange is a bit larger than that of the original, making the flange position easier to adjust. Hammer alignment is therefore a breeze.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Jesse Gitnik</DIV> <DIV>NYC</DIV> <DIV>Tech. since 1980</DIV></FONT></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>