I'm sorry to report that I'll be increasing LinnStrument prices on January 1, 2026. Why? Two reasons:
1) Inflation
Regarding LinnStrument (200), I released it in October of 2014 at a pre-tax US price of $1499 and haven't raised my price since then, yet my manufacturing cost has increased at the 37% rate of inflation since 2014. If I had increased the pre-tax sales price to keep pace with my cost to make it, I'd now be selling it for 37% more, which would be US$2,054.
Regarding LinnStrument 128, I released it in November of 2016 at a pre-tax US price of $999, then raised it to $1099 in May of 2022, yet my manufacturing cost has increased at the 35% rate of US inflation since 2016. If I had increased the pre-tax price to keep pace with my cost to make it, I'd now be selling it for 35% more, which would be US$1,349.
As a result of the above inflation, I've been steadily making less profit. Note that current my annual income from both LinnStrument models is about the same as an engineer's salary, so I'm not getting rich and have no employees, but I am having a lot of fun.
2) The Trump tariffs
I manufacture LinnStruments in the US because a) I believe in supporting the US economy, b) I don't sell enough to benefit from Asian manufacturing, and c) I'm better able to maintain quality by driving out to my local manufacturer after each production to personally inspect every unit before it ships.
However, many of the parts used in LinnStrument--even those bought from US chip companies-- are unavoidably manufactured in Taiwan or China, so I must pay those tariffs. (Despite Trump's false claim that foreign companies pay the tariffs, US companies pay 100% of the tariffs.) It's difficult to predict what new tariffs Trump will suddenly threaten on any given day, and equally difficult to run a small business with such erratic government policies, but my best guess is that the tariffs will add an additional 10% to my manufacturing cost. If I were to increase my prices to compensate for both the inflation increases (#1 above) plus this 10% estimated tariff, my LinnStrument prices would be:
LinnStrument: US$2,259
LinnStrument 128: US$1,484
Unfortunately, fewer people would be able to afford LinnStruments at these prices. While I must increase my prices to stay in business, I've decided to limit my increases and simply earn less profit. So as of January 1, 2026, I will raise my US pre-tax prices to the following:
LinnStrument: from the current $1499 to US$1,649
LinnStrument 128: from the current $1099 to US$1149
Export dealers set their own prices, but will likely increase them by the same percentage.
It's also important to note that sensing three continuous dimensions of touch, polyphonically on 200 or 128 touch zones, with high accuracy, high sensitivity, low latency and on a large playing surface, is simply expensive to do.
- Roger Linn
