1980 Mason Hamlin BB

[Wimblees@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 12/24/00 9:52:54 AM Central Standard Time, 
BopPiano@AOL.COM writes:

<< I have been servicing a BB that was one of the last from Aeolian  
 (1980-1985)- the hammer felt is peeling from some of the moldings and the 
 tuning pins are loose.  The tone is not good although needling down the 
 hammers has helped some.  I am prepared to replace the hammers and pinblock 
 but have never seen one of these rebuilt and am wondering about the real 
 potential. I haven't yet seen one of these that was a terrific piano.   
 Anybody turned one of these into a really nice piano?    What are the 
chances 
 of replacing the stack with a current production one and getting rid of 
those 
 awful Aeolian wippins?      Thanks.
 
 Gary Ford,  Boston
  >>


A church I serviced bought a similar vintage M&H BB, and for 20 years one 
tuner after another tried to help this thing along. It wouldn't stay in tune 
and the tone was awful. Part of the problem was that the tone was very weak, 
so piano players were pounding the daylights out of to get some volume. As 
result, strings kept breaking, which also didn't help the tuning any. 
Finally, the church got a new choir director who asked me if I could do 
something with it. 

The pins were tight, but I discovered a wide gap (at least 1/8") between the 
pin block and flange. On Paul Manachino's recommendation, I released the 
tension on the whole piano, and drove maple wedges in the gap, about 6" 
apart. It took about 3 tunings, but the piano stayed in tune, at least for 
the 3 years or so while I was there. The choir director left 2 years ago, and 
I haven't been back to that church. But I presume it is doing OK. 

I also put on a new set of Renner hammers, and regulated the action. This 
helped the tone. The piano finally has some guts, and piano players don't 
have to pound to get some volume out of the treble. The bass is also very 
full. 

I think the piano itself has potential. I believe the factory workers just 
didn't care about the finer things. If you put in a new pin block, and 
especially replace the hammers, (the wipps are your call), I think yoo'll 
wind up with a nice instrument. 

Willem