> I was just trying to figure out what you would have to fix _before_ you
> started to rebuild.??
In a word, structure. Ron N said that rewhatevering is much better that it
used to be and I heartily agree. He also qualified it with "as long as the
case and structure is there." It's all about structure. We can do much more
with pianos than we could 20 years ago with the new materials and techniques
we have today. And the quality of replacement parts has never been higher,
but all the Renner parts and CA glue in the world won't make a marshmallow
into a piano. Structure is hard to explain, perhaps because I don't
understand it well myself (and I invite those who do to start the thread),
but it's step one in rebuilding. If you don't preserve or restore structure
before doing the rest, you might as well skip the rest.
I've seen pianos that left the factory without structure, and 100 year old
pianos that still have structure. A large portion of the rebuilding done in
the past in the Chicago area ignored or destroyed structure in the process
of cosmetics oriented rebuilding.
There are 3 guiding principles in my shop;
1, don't fix it if it's not broken,
2, if you fix it, fix it right,
3, and unless there is compelling reason not to,
duplicate what appears to, or you know to be original factory work.
Don't read too much into #1. If something can't be expected to perform
properly for the projected life of the job, it needs to be fixed. I tend to
find more to fix than most folks, but try avoid "improving" something while
I'm at it. Most of the pianos that come through my shop simply need to be
put back to the original factory condition, or what you know to be the
proper original condition, to meet the needs of my customers. I try to make
every piano the best it can be, but I can go only as far as the limiting
factor (which is usually money), and any work beyond that is superfluous at
best, and can be harmful. I admire folks like Del who are in the position to
have far fewer limiting factors that I, but there is always a limiting
factor and it's important to keep that in focus during the job to preserve
your sanity and profitability. We had a good tech in this area that thought
he would be extra kind to his customers by doing a little extra improvement
on each job, but he got carried away and improved himself out of the
business.
#2 is pretty obvious, but this is where structure comes in. I take a
structural approach to rebuilding as opposed to what I call a cosmetic
approach. I don't ignore cosmetics, but that's secondary to function. Make
it work, than make it pretty. This area is where most of the structural
damage I'm referring to occurs. Soundboard repair is a good example. I see a
lot of boards that could have been repaired but were ruined by a previous
repair. It's almost to the point that I automatically replace any previously
repaired board. We have one rebuilder who does the prettiest shimming you
would ever hope to see, but ignores the structural aspects of soundboard
repair and his boards sound worse than if he hade left them alone. We have
another who false grains every sb to hide the hideous repairs he does. Most
owners of his pianos and even some techs who have done an evaluation on them
make a point of telling me what great shape the board is in because it looks
so good. They're very surprised when I have them look at the bottom. Here's
a hint, if the grain of the soundboard follows the treble bridge line have a
closer look. Step one in my technical evaluation is take a good long look
underneath.
#3 is a tricky area. A very good rebuilder here recently had a customer
(piano teacher, no less) claim that he ruined her piano because there wasn't
string braid in the tenor section after he restrung the piano. She was sure
there was some there before, and don't all pianos have that? On the other
hand, I strongly believe in rebuilder's prerogative, and I'm not shy to make
a change that will obviously help. And yes, there are even a couple of
modifications that I routinely make to every Steinway I do. But I have a
tendency to get needlessly complex, and I'm a bit of a perfectionist as well
(I'm NOT saying I'm perfect, perfectionism is pretty much the opposite), so
I constantly need to ask myself if I'm doing something that will actually
improve the piano or just satisfy my ego.
Rework falls into 3 categories;
rebuilding a previously well rebuilt piano that's ready for rebuilding
again,
redoing a poor rebuild that needs to be straightened out right away,
and rebuilding a piano that wasn't quite right out of the factory.
The biggest problem in rework is that you can't assume what you see is
correct and can be duplicated. You have to "start from scratch" and keep an
eye out for any modifications. It's like detective work, and I enjoy it, I
just wish I had a dollar for every time I've shook my head and wondered "why
in the world did he do that?"
But this not what you asked, so here we go, Richard's Hall of Shame. Not all
are structural concerns, but they all require some sort of undo work or
extra time prior to the regular work.
One fellow must have had a grand rim strut that was buzzing after a rebuild
so he fixed it - by removing it.
One rebuilder in this area routinely removes the tension resonator from
every M&H. Have you ever made one of those from scratch? (M&H was not in
business at the time.)
One M&H BB came in with both plate wedges missing, not fallen out and laying
in the action (seen that more than once), but gone as in never there.
Lots of pianos come in with broken plate fasteners. They usually just glue
the top half back on so it won't fall out when the piano gets moved.
Many rebuilders in this area haven't grasped the fact that not all the plate
screws, rim bolts, and nose bolts are the same length in every piano. One
came in with the different length nose bolts reversed. He must have figured
it out after bolting down the plate, and didn't want to pull it again,
because he broke the nose bolt anchor blocks off the struts and moved them.
One was almost touching the sb, and the other hung down below the strut.
Why do some folks have so much trouble counting to three? I've seen legs
rearranged and leg plates swapped and remounted every which way. I wish I
had a buck for every leg that's had the factory mark replaced with a chalk
mark or magic marker. I'm not talking about a miss-mark at the factory
that's been neatly x,ed out and remarked, or legs from other pianos getting
mix up, but the original legs that someone thought should be in a different
configuration.
One rebuilder must honestly feel that the secret to tuning stability is to
have all the tuning pins leaning up against the plate. His blocks are so
poor that you can't use them for a pattern.
I've seen plates lowered so far the bosses were touching the liner and the
sb had holes at the edge.
Many rebuilders in this area haven't figured out that not all the individual
aliquots on a M&H are the same size, and that the end two of each section
have been radiused on the bottom to fit against the plate strut.
One rebuilder always glues the damper wire into the top flange on flanges
without barrels. Doesn't want to split the flanges I guess.
One rebuilder who recovers his own keys must trim the keytops with a chain
saw. The keys are so narrow and jagged that the keys can't be recovered
again without significant repair.
Which hitch pin gets the single loop seems to give a lot of guys trouble,
are those wires really supposed to cross?
One fellow hung his hammers too far out and had to move the action farther
forward than the keyblock would allow, so he changed the dowel and screw
hole in the keyblock to move it forward. Of course the keyslip stuck out
past the arm, and the fallboard wouldn't close, but he got the strike point
right.
I've seen trapwork mounting blocks "reconfigured" because the rebuilder
didn't consider the possibility that they don't fit because he got them
mixed up.
Same for lid butts, they come in pairs and they're not interchangable.
And, like you all, I run across lots of creative action work that deserves
long hours of admiration and study.
That's all I can remember at the moment. Sorry for the excessive length.
Richard Anderson
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