[CAUT] he's NOT an engineer

[Willem Blees]

Tuned a piano this morning, and also looked at, (in awe), the shell of a 100 year old Julius Bauer grand piano. The stack, with new hammers, shanks and flanges and wippens, keys without tops and bushings, a new set of bass strings,?the pinblock with all the pins and screws in it, and a box of tuning pins, were sitting inside the shell.?The plate is out on the back porch, and the soundboard, still attached to the bellyrail, is propped up against a wall. Also propped up against another wall is the keyframe, with rusty pins, but no punchings. They are all in a plastic bucket on a bench. The treble strings are also in a box, somewhere. He took them off without measuring the scale. 

I asked the guy what he was planning to do. The piano had termites, so he took it apart, so he could?patched up the holes in inner rim. He not only patched up the holes,?but added a sheet of 3/16" think veneer to the inside of the case on the bass side. He also covered the rest of the outside of the case with the same veneer. (nice job). He also bought 3 brand new brass casters. 

I asked him if he had taken any measurements. His response was "Of what? I have kept?all the parts". He's been at this for over 20 years. The one thing that has kept him from going any further is the pin block. (which is in 2 parts, btw). The top layer is all cracked, so he wanted to add saw dust to wood glue, and just fill in the cracks. I advised him to get a new block cut by Schaff, but that it would still needed to be drilled, at a 7 degree angle. He asked if he could refinish the soundboard before putting it back. Sure, I said, it won't hurt it any. 

As?I was leaving, I asked if he was an engineer. "No, I grew up on a farm, and we had to make do with what we have". 

I am scheduled to go back next year to tune his other piano. A progress report will be sent. 

And we thought we had to go to classes, and ask all sorts of questions of the experts in our field, before we would dare replace a pin block, much less a soundboard. Measurements, what are those for? Just keep all the parts.



Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT
Piano Tuner/Technician
Honolulu, HI
Author of 
The Business of Piano Tuning
available from Potter Press
www.pianotuning.com

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