Next week, my daughter will have the opportunity to play an Estonia 5'4" side by side with a 5'6". (we are in the beginnings of piano shopping.) The 5'4" has a Schwander Action, the 5'6" a Renner. Now I know it is more complicated than this, as both companies build several different actions. But is there anything we should particularly be looking for, other than how they play. Are there technical reasons why Estonia might have changed from Schwander to Renner, or is simply marque value?

Inquiring minds want to know.... (I put this on the tech board as I suspect this is a technical question.)

In general terms, Renner is commonly regarded to be a premium action - where Schwander is above average. As in any action, the quality of the regulation job determines the quality of the touch. The better quality actions are made to exacting standards, thus make it possible to do a nicer regulation on them. I would not discount the Schwander action - I've seen plenty of nice ones that performed flawlessly.