Jeff, Speaking of "destroying" an old upright ( which MANY think they should have disappeared with the Model - T Fords ), GoTo : www.PianoDesk.com These guys are doing JUST that, but they KNOW the dangers of dismantling an old upright and rebuilding them BACK into what they are calling Entertainment, or Computer Desk. It's really neat. I'm going to sell them ALL the old high uprights I have so they can get rich off the "junk" I refuse to rebuild back into a piano. It's not easy doing what they are doing, but then again, it's not real hard either. Most "any" piano tech that's been in the business for some years can do this, too. But, you have to enjoy refinishing. I tell most customers that call me with pianos like this in their living room that THIS is the best way to get use out of an old "Junker Clunker" that they don't want to get rid of. ALL the technicians across the country should be doing this, too. There are TOO many piano owners that think that old Junkers are an " Antique " and should sound like a Steinway after a $50 dollar tuning. [ NOT !!! ] You won't believe how many "dumb" people there still are out there in "Grandma Land" that think THIS is the piano we got for "free" that little Susie or Little Johnny is going to play on and take piano lessons. " But, we only want to see if she/he has an interest in playing before we go out and buy a better use piano for $100 bucks ! " ( go figure ... ) Until ALL the world can get RID of ALL the old HIGH UPrights and all the Spinet pianos that are still out there in " Repair - Land, " we'll still have "junk" to work on, and I've UP'd my prices 3 times as much to work on them, or I don't want the job. I'm tired of working on Junk Pianos !!! I'm sure you, next door in the next state, are TIRED of running into the same thing. Are there any other techs out there running into this, or do most of you College/Univ. techs (like me) stay away from work like that and let the NEW Associates have it for fun and experience ?? Annon. from down South ... On Wednesday, January 5, 2005, at 03:11 PM, Erwinspiano@aol.com wrote: > Yes a minimum wage worker can get an upright un -strung in 1 & 1/2 > hours strings & pins removed & or just loosen the tension so it > doesn't explode when the post get removed. Speaking of, I saw a program on the Discovery Channel a few weeks back where they disassembled what appeared to be a NEW (high polish ebony) vertical piano in order to convert it into some kind of wet bar. I watched in horror as these improvement "EXPERTS" took the bolts out of the plate without letting down the tension. They weren't even wearing safety glasses. You can just imagine their conversations: "Hey, I think I see how it works! It looks like you just take the bolts out of this harp thing and it will lean over and lift right out. Hey, get me the electric screwdriver." Meanwhile the guy on the other side is chopping into the soundboard and backposts with an axe. Luckily, the plate still wouldn't come out. They finally decided to take wire cutters and go along under the tuning pins cutting them all loose in just a minute or so. I was glad to see them get that done before someone got hurt, but am still concerned that people around the country who saw the program might try to duplicate the project and not be as fortunate. I wrote the show, but haven't heard back from them. And why they didn't use an old upright with one of those beautiful cabinets which would have otherwise been bound for a junk yard is still baffling me. Jeff Jeff Tanner, RPT School Of Music University of South Carolina
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