Dear List, I had the appointment Friday and replaced 5 elbows with the newer clear elbows. The piano was a Gulbransen spinet and thankfully plastic was only used on the elbows and nowhere else in the action. I demonstrated to the client the fragility of the elbows by crushing one with a pair of pliers. As it turned out, an excitable relative had broken the elbows by playing very forcefully. I tuned the piano gently and having forewarned the client about further breakage, was on my way. She seemed happy that a few could be replaced at a time to minimize the expense of replacing all at once. I did use the vice grip technique to ensure minimum adjustment of lost motion. Maybe I'll have to replace a few more next year or so, but that's part of the business, I suppose. All in all, the experience was much less painful than I feared. Thanks to all that contributed to this thread. Jim Love PTG Associate Midland, Tx.
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