class rebuild work

[David Ilvedson]

You might want to make sure Ron Overs sees that in case he wants to add it too his action design...sort of an Overs and Under repair...;-]
Actually, not a bad theme...Overs DownUnder Inc.

David Ilvedson, RPT
Pacifica, CA  94044


----- Original message ----------------------------------------
From: "Ron Nossaman" <rnossaman at cox.net>
To: Pianotech <Pianotech at ptg.org>
Received: 9/1/2006 1:30:13 PM
Subject: class rebuild work



>I tuned a 6 1/2' Chickering today. It had been patched up at 
>some time in the distant past, with new strings, pinblock, and 
>hammers. Original dampers, and otherwise original action. A 
>total basket case now, board shot and action worn clear out. I 
>pulled the action at one point to clear rubbing adjacent 
>hammers and found what's almost shown in the alleged photo. 
>Sorry, my phone camera isn't exactly state of the art, nor is 
>the operator. The finest set of resonating shank patches I've 
>ever seen, with a hammer hanging job to match. The brass 
>sleeved shank was the one that was the problem. The shank 
>pieces were square cut and butted together inside the brass 
>sleeve without benefit of glue to keep the hammer pointing in 
>the right direction. The keys were numbered from 1 at C-8, to 
>88 at A-0, which I thought was fun. She said they got the 
>piano so she and the kids could learn to play on it. I told 
>her to be ready, because the piano is DOA, and the kids will 
>start pointing that out far sooner than she would like. So 
>start getting used to the idea of either rebuilding this one, 
>which could make a terrific piano, or replacing it with 
>something newer. I suppose we'll see.

>My last one was a Baldwin the movers had dropped off the ramp 
>(she watched it happen), and broke off both front legs. "We'll 
>fix it", they said, and spirited it away to the elves workshop 
>where they applied some unidentified glue, and stuck the 
>broken ends back together. There - fixed! The two broken legs 
>I looked at indicated that they weren't, in fact, all that 
>fixed, so I made her an estimate to submit to the moving 
>company for somewhat more extensive repairs. They had moved 
>with this company twice before with no problems at all, so she 
>was pretty sure they would be cooperative in getting this over 
>with. So again, I suppose we'll see. Sorry, no poor quality 
>pictures of that one.

>Tomorrow, I go look at a Story & Clark grand in an estate sale 
>for someone before I get to go out in the shop and start 
>priming a plate. Man, the fun just never ends! Makes me wonder 
>what all those poor souls out there with "real" jobs do for 
>entertainment.  <G>

>Ron N