Word to the wise - brittle plastic

[Clyde Hollinger]

Friends,

Yes, I knew about the brittle plastic flanges, backchecks and jacks in
this 1949 Gordon Laughead spinet.  I had already dealt with the thing in
91, 92, 95 and 97.  What possesses a normally sane person like me to be
willing to work on this piano *again*?

It's a long story, but in any case I agreed to tune and repair it, after
clearly warning the lady that I may break additional parts in the
process of making repairs.  She said she understood and was willing to
pay, so I scheduled the job.

When I arrived two jacks were broken, A1 and A4, and the D#5 damper
lever wouldn't damp properly because the flange was broken.  I removed
the action and got the two jacks replaced okay.  And I thought I should
be able to replace the D#5 damper without causing further harm, but no
such luck.  All I had to do was *look* at a flange and it would break.
So I had to replace the two neighboring flanges to the left, then put
the action back in the piano.  That's when I noticed that A4 had had not
only a broken jack but also a broken damper flange.  Grrrr!  I wasn't
surprised that, as I fixed that flange, the G#4 flange went, but the
felt was crooked enough to damp well enough to not be obnoxious, so I
quit.

Oh yes, the piano was almost sitting on top of a large floor vent, which
was spouting a high level of heat!  We talked about that, too, and I
wrote on the invoice, "Too close to the heat to stay in tune."  The
piano sounded terrible when I was finished but was greatly improved over
the way it was when I arrived.

I hope I have the courage never to touch this piano again.  The lady was
satisfied, didn't get bent out of shape over the bill, and I was happy
to be driving out of the driveway.  For the newbies out there, be sure
to give all your disclaimers before you start on such beasties, or
everyone is going to be mad by the time you walk out the door.

Peace,
Clyde