D-1

[Les Huckins <jhuckins@xxxx>]

It has been well documented that Steve and Ed worked together at one
time. Ed is a little hard to explain. Basically he has his own
clientele and from all that I can gather he does very well and there is
a long waiting period if you wish to utilize his services. He has the
reputation of being very thorough and quite expensive. He can be quite
rude at times and he can be very friendly at other times. He was the
first president of the DOA and has a very strong ongoing influence in
shaping it's destiny. As to DMC Houston, very straight arrow, willingly
helps anyone who asks, has the largest supply of parts and works at
creating replacement parts where original items are no longer
available. There is much cooperation between all of the vendors, except
for D-1. I think that's common knowledge. As to where to go for
service, it has been suggested that several factors determine. Most who
deal with D-1 are very pleased with their dealings, not everyone, but
not everyone would be pleased by anyone. That's also true of Houston.
Now, as to who is top gun, it depends upon your individual experience
with a given vendor. Most are regular contributors on the list and
advertise regularly in the World. In CA, along with D-1, there is Don
Steger who has a lot of experience and a well pleased following. In the
east is PJ Grady where seldom a bad word is heard (except today on a
posting). There is also DMC Joe with a tremendous amount of
experience. I think these are the biggest of the big guns. For
information and parts, Darryl Tinnerstet (Washington) is one of the most
knowledgeable; John Hervey (Texas), especially in electrical parts (but
not solely) is very responsive; Bob Miller also has a lot of smarts and
parts. The usual disclaimer, I haven't dealt with everyone, these are
the ones I have first hand knowledge of, all have treated me well..

[Moderator Note: just to be clear, this was posted by Les Huskins]