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<DIV>The Essex is no longer made in Korea, it entirely a Chinese
product. Boston is 100% built by Kawai but is not 100% Kawai's
specifications. For example, Kawai is now exclusively using the carbon
composite actions which have shown to be far more stable. The Bostons have
traditional maple actions. A while back I had the opportunity to ask one
of the Kawai marketing executives why that was. The explanation was
simple. Kawai sunk huge amounts of capital in research, development, and
putting into production the fully carbon composite action, (Yamaha is using
some of these type parts but mostly just flanges right now). When an
agreement was reached for Kawai to manufacture the Boston, a condition
was they flatly refused to share their efforts in developing the new
components with a competitor. I also asked why they had agreed to build
them at all for a competitor. The bottom line was that it keeps the
factory busy and boosts their production numbers. Given the
choice many are not particularly excited about it, but business is
business.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Rob Goodale, RPT</DIV>
<DIV>Las Vegas, NV</DIV></BODY></HTML>