Bridging the cap

[Farrell]

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
Hi Phil. You mention that there is little falseness present. Repinning =
the bridge in epoxy and resurfacing/renotching will do three things for =
you - it will tend to correct falseness (maybe not important here), add =
longevity to a clean sound (perhaps worthwhile here), and make the =
bridge look like new (almost always important to the piano owner).

I wish to address a concept I find interesting and have made my policy =
regarding rebuilding recommendations. I always address the issue of =
whether it makes financial and musical sense to =
repair/refurbish/rebuild/remanufacture a piano. I think we all know what =
the rules are here - 1950s spinets are rarely worth doing more than an =
elbow replacement and a regulation - while Bosendorfers and Mason & =
Hamlins are almost always worth a complete remanufacturing effort. Many =
pianos fall somewhere in between these two extremes.

But there is another consideration. An owner may decide that THIS piano =
is THE piano the WILL stay in this room forever and it will be the ONLY =
piano that will ever be in this house (or whereever). Reasons can be =
many: our old favorite - sentimental value; the antique piano case goes =
so well with the antique furniture; Tiny Tim once played this piano; or =
I have even heard that because a prominent church member donated the =
miserable little spinet to the church, they will have no other piano to =
replace it. For what ever reason, the piano owner has decided that piano =
X is THE piano. Now the task has changed - you need to do what you can =
to make what they have into the piano they need (obviously, there will =
be limitations here, but you have gotten around the issue of "is the =
piano worth it" - you've got a different set of rules to go by).

At this point the fun begins because you have stripped away the =
investment logic thing. Now you are simply faced with what can be done =
with this piano and how much are they willing to spend on a piano. It =
can make for fun projects. I have done refurbishings on a couple family =
heirloom spinets for $2,000+ - refinish, refurbish action, etc. - make =
'em look like new and play as good as they can - VERY happy customers. =
My first couple grand "rebuilds" (maybe major refurbishings would be =
better term) were much like you are looking at with your Howard =
(refurbish bridge, rescale, restring, plug pinblock, refurbish action, =
refinish, deliver & watch smiles - collect check & feel smile - pianos =
look like a million bucks, sound better than most spinets, and play, =
well, er, ah, better than most spinets).

Getting back to this particular case, you may want to feel your customer =
out a bit more and see if she is interested in going further with the =
piano. If it is older - maybe more than 40 or 50 years, you may want to =
consider more action work. If you are contemplating new hammers, it =
almost always makes BIG TIME sense to replace shanks, knuckles, and =
flanges at the same time (folks like Wally Brooks make this real easy =
for newbies like us - personally, someone would have to push me real =
hard to replace just hammers). Wippens are amazingly durable when only =
talking reasonable function.=20

Anyway, I'll stop rambling now. Just some thoughts. Good luck! Let us =
know what goes here Phil.

Terry Farrell
  ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Phil Bondi=20
  To: pianotech@ptg.org=20
  Sent: Friday, December 14, 2001 8:39 PM
  Subject: Re: Bridging the cap


  Terry, Wim, Sir Newton, and Roger:

  Thanks.

  This person wants to put some money into this piano because:

  She loves the size..it fits in her living room.
  She likes the idea of bringing something back to life.
  She trusts my opinion.

  I told her to do a complete restoration, she's looking at spending =
more than what the piano will ever be worth..that got the ball rolling =
as far as what to do. Re-capping the bridge was something that I thought =
might enhance this little devil.=20

  Your opinions matter, and I have decided that re-capping in this case =
is not necessary.=20

  I agree that re-surfacing and re-pinning the bridge(there's very =
little falseness going on now) is the right approach in this instance.

  Now let's see which 'road' she follows(my recommendations are based on =
'must do', 'should do', and 'could do'). Something tells me the =
perennial 'path of least resistance' will be followed.

  Phil






---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/8c/f0/c0/e6/attachment.htm

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--