Wanna Guess? NPR (Not Politically Related)

[Kevin E. Ramsey RPT]

Smoke-fire damage.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mitch Ruth" <mitch_ruth@hotmail.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, November 13, 2000 7:10 AM
Subject: Wanna Guess? NPR (Not Politically Related)


> Hey List,
>
> I had an interesting call on Saturday and I wanted to see if you wanted to
> have a little fun with it.
>
> I went out into the hinterlands (not far for me)to a home with an Everett
> spinet sized piano.  I turned out to be an early 50's model with a
bent-key
> direct blow action (I don't know the proper tech term for it.) It was
given
> to this family by "a friend" so that the little girl there might learn to
> play.
>
> Of course this piano was about 130 cents flat.  However I am a hearty
soul,
> who reads his pianotech posts, and will tackle this in stride. Upon
> inspection I discovered that the upper portion of the strings were ENCASED
> in rust (not just a little corrosion, rust)and the bass windings were
black.
>   The plate was a blackish color and the felt was a little gray.  Puzzled
I
> looked behind the kick plate and discovered everything normal for this
> piano...no rust, windings,plate, and bridges looked good.  The lid on the
> piano was a little scarred but not badly.  there was a small place on the
> side of the piano that was blistered.
>
> I determined that the piano would be impossible to tune without a
> restringing and I could not recommend restringing this instrument.  After
a
> discussion with the parents, I found they could not afford a better
> instrument at this time, so I fixed a few ringing dampers so the piano
could
> at least make noise.  While I was doing that, I came up with what I
thought
> was what happened to this piano that created the problem.
> I thought it might be fun to see if you can guess what happened to it.  I
> don't know for sure but I think I've got it down.
>
> Now "It's an Everett" is not an acceptable answer for the purposes of my
> game.  The only prize with be the satisfaction of a job well done and the
> joy of participating in a string that does not include American politics
(By
> the way I hear we are going to change our national motto to "Just Keep
> Counting").
>
> Have at it
>
> Mitch Ruth
> DeMossville, KY
>
> "Hold on to your dreams, unless you dream of porcupines..."
>
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