You are likely right Susan. I've just had a few very unpleasant recent run-ins with 90 year-old pianos that I might be a little gun-shy. I was wrong to use the term disaster with this particular piano, because it would have likely worked OK with the new parts. I just had in mind the 90 year old job that when you fix one part, three others fall apart. I guess I'm getting like some other techs in that I'm getting to the point where I will refuse to do certain jobs on pianos when I know there is a high probability of ultimate failure. But it was probably not the case with this piano - but still it would not have been worth it to spend more than $500 on it (like $800 to $1000). Terry Farrell ----- Original Message ----- From: "Susan Kline" <sckline@home.com> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2001 8:57 PM Subject: Re: SCARY plastic flanges > At 08:14 PM 08/12/2001 -0400, you wrote: > >. I absolutely did NOT want to do the work. The > >piano had DISASTER written all over it. > > > Actually, I've retrieved several of these S-2 pianos > by replacing every bit of plastic in them. They are sort > of a pain, but not a disaster by any means. Put the wood > parts in and they will work (assuming your center > pinning and spacing skills are adequate.) I don't think > that they will blindside you, like some truly awful > instruments. The parts are available, and they'll fit. > > I also don't agree with the general impression that I've > been getting from the list recently, that the Betsy Ross > is the absolute nadir of spinets. If they hadn't had the > plastic elbows, I feel that we'd consider them one of the > better spinets out there. The elbows just aren't that big > a problem -- easily replaced in a few hours. When they have > the plastic flanges, that's certainly an added layer of > aggravation, but still, the rest of the piano is okay. > The scaling isn't too bad, the geometry works, the case is > adequate, etc. > > (Conrad, did you remember to send me that brochure about > your newest line of flamesuits?) > > Susan > >
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