Birdcages

[John Ross]

Hi Tony,
I realize, that for a price, anything can be made, to work better.
At the conventions I have attended, there has only been one class
on 'birdcage' pianos that I can remember. It was filled to overflowing,
and everyone was saying, at last, the birdcage will be explained. It was
an English technician, from England giving the class. I can't remeber
specifics, but after the class, no one had a better understanding of the
piano than before. May'be it is just the lower end ones that I have seen.
The pianos had been purchased, cheaply, with the intension of a child
learning.
To get them working at any level, of efficiency, would have cost more than
they had paid
for the piano, and they couldn't afford it. So the best answer I could give
people, who
asked me, was, don't buy them. I suppose a lot of them may have had the
wrong orientation of damper felt, I didn't check as I didn't know they had
to be damped on the end grain.
These birdcage over here, have not had anywork done on them for years, and
arefor the most part down in pitch, a tone or a tone and a half.
Last but not least, they were not made for theNorth American climate, with
our extremes, of humidity. The pins are almost always loose. Even Yamaha, up
until the 70's, had a problem with loose pins, till they changed the
moisture content of their wood in the manufacturing.
So yes, I will still say to a client, NEVER buy a birdcage. I had just given
a superficial answer as to why, in the previous post. They are not worth the
money required to bring them up to standard, and a customer would be better
off buying one that can be brought up to standard for less money. Most of
the clientel in my rural area, have a problem coming up with the monet to
buy a piano in the first place, and don't need a major expense for repairs
to make it work.
They do have lovely cabinetry though, would make a lovely bar, or bookcase
:-)
Regards,

John M. Ross
jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Caught" <caute@optusnet.com.au>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2001 4:13 AM
Subject: Re: Birdcages


> John, are you saying that you can't regulate an overdamper piano and do
the
> minor work that may be needed to get a note working ?. Try new dampers to
> get it to dampen properly.
>
> Your the technical. It is your responsibility to make the piano play
> properly, be it restringing, fixing a sticky note or replacing the
dampers.
> Don't say to the customer "buy a new piano" give customer an option. Its
not
> a perfect world but to say  NEVER   tut tut tut.
>
> Tony Caught
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John Ross" <jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca>
> To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2001 8:24 AM
> Subject: Re: Birdcages
>
>
> > Snip
> > tunable and not even bad-sounding.  I told
> > her to advertise it in the paper and it will be perfect for a
> > beginner and give no trouble.
> >
> > I completely disagree, with the above statement, at least regarding the
> > majority of the "birdcage" pianos, that I have run accross.
> > A beginner, needs a piano, that is up to pitch, and all the notes work
> > with no apparent problem. The majority of the above mentioned pianos
> > over here, leave much to be desired, in their ability, to damp
> efficiently.
> > I would NEVER recommend a birdcage for a beginner, unless, I was wanting
> > to discourage them, from sticking to piano lessons.
> > Regards,
> > John M. Ross
> > jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca
> >
> >
>
>