Servicing new players

[Larry Fisher]

HI all,

>From: "Brian L. Daley" <tunerselbow@earthlink.net>

>Dear List,
>        To anyone out there contend with/service pianos that have =
>pnodsk, pnomation, cncertmstr etc., installations:  I'm wondering about =
>the effects on the  piano others are finding this ever growing factor of =
>piano servicing. 
>    For example, one customer has an upright Baldwin E250 w/QRS(?) I =
>believe, and there ain't no way of replacing bass strings without =
>creating a nightmare, 

I disagree.  If you think there's too much in the way on one of these
babies, try your luck on a pneumatic type player with all the bellows in the
way.  IT CAN BE DONE!!  If the string it still in place, (rare I realize)
use it to thread the new string through and pretend your body is like soft
taffy so it bends in places it wasn't intended to.  On the modern players,
there's only a rail of solenoids in the way and there is room for your hand
to help guide the string past that rail and on down to the hitch pins which
should be in the open are quite accessable.  (this description is in line
with the model E250 you mentioned)  There's no reason to remove anything,
providing the installed used some consideration when installing the power
supply.  In short, installing a bass string on one of these is far easier
than installing the lowest tenor strings on any piano.

>   I think that alot of =
>people who buy pianos with these systems are either uniformed or give no =
>consideration of servicing down the road. 

Now really!!  Do think the sales person would warn the buyer of servicing
"nightmares" when it could mean the loss of the sale??  Might I suggest that
it's not the buyer that is uninformed here.

> Another problem would include =
>blocking any chance of the installation of a proper climate control =
>system, particularly on grands, especially if a humidifier is needed.

Plenty of room on all the ones I've done.  (Over 100 now)  I don't
understand what your concern is.  Even the small pianos that have the
speakers mounted under the piano, can have enough room for the water bucket
providing the speakers are mounted accomodatingly.  (if that's a word)

>    Another issue with grands.  Certain brands of piano use materials =
>that do not allow for a quiet action, and a new player installation can =
>greatly magnify existing action noise simply by the way the pistons play =
>the action.  A lot more noise occurs on an already "noisy"  piano when =
>the system plays it, as opposed to a person activating the action.  I've =
>spoken with a system installer on a particularly troublesome piano, and =
>have come to the conclusion that if he's confident that it's not the =
>system, all I can do is recuce action noise as best as possible.

That's true.  That is all you do.  Expensive pianos, better actions.  Lesser
priced pianos, noisey actions.  Player activation allows for customer to
notice the noise especially at low playback volumes.  A certain level of
buyers' remorse comes into play as well.  I've not had this complaint come
to a head.  I usually blow it off with, "Well yes, the piano is a physical
instrument, and the laws of physics must be satisfied to get proper piano
response and so there will be some mechanical noise.  This is normal."
Pianos located in small carpeted rooms generate the most complaints.

 >Any =
>thoughts on these or other problems with servicing these pianos?  Much =
>appreciated! =20

Well, Brian, you're located right in the middle of QRS/Pianomation
domination.  I'd expect that the majority of the players you're finding are
Pianomation.  They have had the longest history of playing the quietest.  If
they strike the notes with less velocity creating less volume, they will
generate the most mechanical noise noticed by the customer since that's when
it's noticed the most ....... when there isn't any piano tone to cover it
up.  Their solenoid action is very quiet and I'd doubt if it's contributing
any additonal noise.  So we're back to square one.  Make the piano action
play as quiet as possible, especially on key release.  Hard knuckles were a
contributing factor for a few years.

The problems I've seen out there are technicians trying to service these
instruments with out a clue as to what to do first, or how.  That's a
comment that could be taken with some ill feelings perhaps, but it's true.
If that's all you want to do is tune the beast, be my guest.  If you want to
provide full service on player pianos, expect to learn lots, and not make
much of an hourly wage doing so until you've spent countless hours learning
the quirks and kinks of that end of the business.  It's not just a matter of
whipping out your electric Crescent wrench and smiling a  lot for the
customer pal, it's lots of hours learning the product, making mistakes,
going down the wrong fjord, and frustrating yourself into a brainless frenzy
getting absolutely nowhere.  THAT'S PLAYER REPAIR AT IT'S FINEST!!!  After
you've been in that end of the piano business for awhile actively persueing
the nuances and gnarly details that abound in that field, you'll see that
you've still got lots more to learn.  The more you know, the more you
realize you don't know.  Got it??

Lar

                                    Larry Fisher RPT
   specialist in players, retrofits, and other complicated stuff
      phone 360-256-2999 or email larryf@pacifier.com
         http://www.pacifier.com/~larryf/ (revised 10/96)
           Beau Dahnker pianos work best under water