Not a Bummer Old Upright/Decker

[Ritchiepiano@AOL.COM]

 to:   Terry Beckingham & list
 Hi Terry,
Actually the last post was in regard to "Terry Farrells" post on
the 1918 Starr, but thanks for the note.  
Since you mentioned that this Decker,
(IMO quite a bit better piano than the Starr of Terry F., and 
sounds like a lot better condition overall)
is an open face block, which I thought it might be, that opens
up the possibility of drilling out and plugging the old block.
It will probably make you and the customer feel a lot better
about the re-stringing job. You don't have to pull the plate,
(unless you want to) and opens up possibilities to do a 
more thorough restoration down the road. If you think you
may have to drill the block deeper anyway, why not
just take it to the next step. 
Through the course of 30 years I have "saved" quite a few 
old uprights. Mostly to the chagrin of some of my peers.
I think many on this list would agree that these pianos were
well built, with the highest quality of materials. It never
ceases to amaze me that to this day, I see a few that the
leathers are soft and supple, much of the felt is still perfectly
good, or at least better than some I could replace it with.
Bridges show little sign of deterioration, action parts line up
like "ducks in a row." No warped shanks or twisted hammers.
These are the ones worth preserving. I humbly feel that I have
done some small part in saving a little history for future
generations of families and even technicians. Something
that works and can be touched and used- not in a museum.
I haven't made much in the way of monetary reward for these
jobs, with refinishing and all, but some of the reward was
personal and some from the thanks of the owners.

Best Regards,
Mark Ritchie RPT

     Re: Bummer Old Upright
Date:   4/11/01 12:19:59 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From:   beckingt@mb.sympatico.ca (Terry Beckingham)
Sender: owner-pianotech@ptg.org
Reply-to:   pianotech@ptg.org
To: pianotech@ptg.org

Mark,

I haven't done any shimming yet. I drove in one 3/0 pin and got a torque of 
about 60 inch pounds. The old pins are only 2 inches long. Perhaps drilling 
the holes deeper and using a 2 1/4 inch pin would give some extra bite. 
This is an open block. On the surface it looks good, but who knows what the 
other plies are like.

Cheers

Terry

At 10:24 PM 4/10/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>Good Day-  Terry
>
>  IMHO - I think that it probably relates to the pin block being shot.
>Pins driven to the plate by the last person should have
>been a good clue. :) What are you shimming pins with?
>
>
>have worked on bummers
>Mark Ritchie RPT
>
>
>In a message dated 4/10/01 8:36:45 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
>mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com writes:
>Snip
><<
>  What puzzled me was that I went quickly through the pins in the center of
>  the piano and they seemed weak, but good enough for now. After shimming a
>  number of the pins, I noticed that a bunch of tuning pins that had not been
>  identified as being loose, now had the characteristic of jumping about a
>  half step down when trying to just move the pitch down a hair. Could this 
be
>  related to the fact that the coils were squished up to the plate?
>
>  Terry Farrell
>  Piano Tuning & Service
>  Tampa, Florida
>  mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com
>   >>