Schiedmayer Pinblock

[Graeme Harvey]

Hi David,

>I'm currently estimating a job involving restringing and replacing the
>pinblock on a 100-year-old Schiedmayer Grand.  I have not opened one of
>these up before and would like to know if anybody has experience with this
>piano to know if there is anything unusual about the fitting.


I did work to one of these last year. The plate had little clearance
especially near the prop stick area.
Otherwise no problem. I replaced plank in sections, ie routed out old plank
and epoxied inserts in.
The bass section is stepped slightly from the remainder, the plank (on the
model I worked on) was very well attached to the stretcher and checked into
the case at each side hence my decision to replace sections. I have photos
(non-digital) of the process. I fitted sections (must be firm fit) dry and
replaced plate to mark for drilling which was then done on the drill press
outside the piano.
For this method I don't drill right through at first so glue doesn't squeeze
up into holes, epoxy into place and finish drilling by hand.

Overall it turned out well. I also photographed the large decal and had a
friend refine on a computer then produced as a water transfer. It was fun
fitting such a large water transfer as they are super-fragile but after 4 or
5 transfers I had it laid out well. (I had 15 or so run off knowing it would
be tricky) I still have some left if they are of interest or I could get the
image scanned and send it if you want to get one produced. Decals Unlimited
were going to charge way too much especially as our $ only buys US$0.42c.
We refinished the case, replaced the action stack (Renner) restrung etc.
Customer is very happy and is thinking of getting another old piano but
bigger for similar work to be done.

Other than that I don't recall any out of the ordinary problems, except low
pinblock meaning action clearance was less than in most modern grands.

Hope this helps. Email privately for any further info.

Regards,

Graeme Harvey
New Plymouth
New Zealand