<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1"> <title></title> </head> <body text="#000000" bgcolor="#ccccff"> Hello Rick, <div class="moz-text-html" lang="x-western"> <div class="moz-text-html" lang="x-western"> Thanks for the good wishes.  About the name: my piano tuning/restoration business has been Piano Forte for many years.  When I added the supply business, the name Piano Forte Supply was a natural.  I would direct anyone looking for fortepiano parts to fortepiano.com, although I can supply specialty tools and materials for vintage  pianos as well.  My intention Rick, is to take the best European tools, parts and supplies and to make them available to other technicians in North America.  Instead of facing barriers such as  language, currency exchange, minimum order, shipping delays and high shipping costs, technicians can call me toll free, ask questions, receive free felt samples, have the order within a few days, and pay with a personal check.  It doesn't get much more convenient than that. Many items I carry are not available anywhere else in North America.  As well, I have been able to source special items for clients from overseas.  Specialties are my specialty, you might say. I am working with ten source companies in five countries.  I had my training in Germany and as such am very comfortable in the language and the culture.  I also have many contacts, some go back many years.  I try to buy directly at the source where I can. In my six months of doing business, have begun to sell tools and other items to my suppliers in Europe.  Also, I work with them to develop new products.  The next time you open a European supply catalog and see some items listed as "new",  the idea or the item itself may have originated here. Having one foot on each side of the Atlantic, you and I know that there are differences in approach and in techniques here and there, and I think that technicians are always eager to learn about a "new" way to do a job better and more efficiently.  I am trying to introduce the best of each world to the other side, and the response I am getting tells me my hunch was correct. End of shameless self-promotion :-X Jurgen Goering <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://WWW.PIANOFORTESUPPLY.COM">WWW.PIANOFORTESUPPLY.COM</a> >RicB  wrote: >I thought personally the name was misleading.  Piano Forte Supply >would prompt many to think Historical Instruments.   I eagerly clicked >the link looking for a potential piano oriented resource such things and >found only materials I can order from Pianotec, Jahn, or the rest of them. >Good luck with the enterprise tho... :) >Cheers >RicB </div> </div> </body> </html>