ramp

[Jon Page]

At 07:12 PM 04/26/2000 -0400, you wrote:
>In a message dated 4/26/00 7:03:08 AM Central Daylight Time,
>jonpage@mediaone.net writes:
>
><< I have a project to make a ramp for a church to get a D
>  from the seating level up to the center 12" riser .
>
>  A truck is a good start. I figure a ramp of 8' x 6' would do the
>  trick for 3 or 4 guys to make the transition.
>
>  The ramp would consist of four 4' x 3' sections.
>
>  Thanks,
>  Jon Page,   piano technician >>
>
>
>Jon:
>
>If the piano is only going to be moved once, and stay there, I would
>recommend you tell the church to hire a moving company, and under your
>guidance, move the piano onto the stage the "normal" way, (put it on a skid
>board and let the movers do the heavy lifting). If this is going to be a
>regular occurrence, like every week or so, get a professional carpenter to
>built a ramp.
>
>In other words. Let "professionals" do their jobs, and make the church pay
>for it. This is not intended as a put down of you. Maybe you are perfectly
>capable of moving 9' Steinways and building ramps. But unless you are, don't
>try to do everything having to do with pianos, just because you tune and
>rebuild them.  :)
>
>Wim

Wim,
It's projects like this which keep things interesting. The first time the 
ramp will be utilized,
the piano will make the journey twice that day. Movers do not work on Sundays.

The same performance group (who owns the piano and let it reside at this 
church)
has a summer music series in August at various locations on the Cape. Last 
year,
at a different church, just after tuning at 11:30, the musicians came in to 
rehearse.
Lo and behold, the risers were too small to fit the 7 or so cellos.  TA-DA, 
Mr. Can-do
to the rescue. Custom fitted to the stairs, stained and delivered, 2 hours 
before
performance that evening.  The saw dust was flying.

One of my helpers worked in a millwork for years so there is more than a little
understanding of construction available. No shortage of tools :-)

I'd rather build a ramp than hunch under a grand and install a DC humidifier.
This piano is getting one of those too. I got half way done and put it off. 
PITA.

I suppose I could jack up the back leg of a 9'er on a truck to an angle 
where the
pedals would remain out of trouble, measure the height and calculate the slope
required.

Just another day in the shop. . .

Regards,



Jon Page,   piano technician
Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass.
mailto:jonpage@mediaone.net
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