Prepping new pianos

[Avery Todd]

Hi Rob and Lance,

    I guess that's an advantage of me only having to do the work at the
store. I (so far) have not had any of the problems you mention. (Except
for occasional damper problems in the store.) Probably because I
haven't had to follow them up in the field. YET! :-)
    But a C153 has just recently been sold to a restaurant next to a
Marina close to Houston and because of the people involved (a
Baldwin rep. AND the dealer), I'm probably going to have to service
it. Plus, the owner of the restaurant and his wife (both play) liked it so
much that they bought another one for their home!
    Maybe I'll get lucky. Think? :-)

Avery

At 04:55 PM 12/26/00 -0600, you wrote:
>Hey Rob,
>Ease dropping....  I used to work for a Samick dealer and now still run into
>lots of Korean pianos in the field.  Your experiences are typical in my
>experience.  The pianos just are not stable.  If the piano is left in the
>field unchecked it will get so bad that removal of all dampers and complete
>action easing is often necessary.  Under levers, guide rail, flanges, jacks,
>balance rail holes, key bushings....all of it.  Steinway and other makers
>lean the damper wire to one side, the problem here is that the bushing is
>just too tight.  Ideally, ironing the bushings with a bridge pin in a
>electric key easing tool (with thermostat) permanently fixes the bushings,
>also key ease the bushings.  I use the chuck side of a drill bit to size the
>balance rail holes (mic to size slightly larger than pins) and use methanol
>and a hair drier on the rest.  If the these pianos are received and kept dry
>these problems are minimized, but they are usually allowed to swell up and
>you have these problems.
>
>You may also have action noise, string voicing problems, damper seating
>problems, and false beats. When I see one in the field for the first time I
>always recommend a Dampp-Chaser.  Good Luck,
>
>Lance Lafargue, RPT
>Mandeville, LA
>New Orleans Chapter, PTG
>lancelafargue@bellsouth.net
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: owner-pianotech@ptg.org [mailto:owner-pianotech@ptg.org]On Behalf
>Of Rob Kiddell
>Sent: Tuesday, December 26, 2000 1:02 PM
>To: pianotech@ptg.org
>Subject: Prepping new pianos
>
>
>Avery wrote:
>
> > my university job, I don't really have the time to do a lot of that
> > kind of work. Most of my time there is spent prepping new
> > Baldwin's, Wurlitzer's and Yamaha's. Plus some tuning. <snip>
>
>And Rob replies,
>
>Hi Avery! I work at a Baldwin dealership, and lately it seems that
>I've been having a lot of problems with new Wurlitzer (Samick)
>grands. Two specific problem areas:
>
>1) sluggish jack centres that result in a non-returning jack, but only
>after about a half-hour of continous playing. I replace the offending
>pins, which are invariably tight in the flange and loose in the
>birdseye. Not easy to spot during floor prep - do you experience
>this and have appropriate early detection remedies?
>
>and 2)
>
>@#$%@#$% dampers that hang up into space. Again, they
>usually manifest themselves once in the field. They are usually just
>brushing one side of the guide rail bushing, and a gentle wire bend
>accompianied with guide rail bushing reaming cures it. However,
>any preventatitive preparation techniques would be appreciated.
>
>Happy non-denominational winter festivities.
>
>Regards,
>
>Rob Kiddell RPT
>Atonal Piano Service
>http://www.telusplanet.net/public/atonal/