Old Packard upright

[Susan Kline]

Gordon, instead of letting that Packard sit derelict till it
is hauled to the landfill, in the meantime doing the little
girl no good at all, why not take an intermediate approach?
Instead of "doing it all the right way", why not just get
it playing? Tune it at pitch, replace the broken bridle
tapes but leave the rest for now, replace the broken hammer
shanks, get the notes working, ignore the chipped ivories
but slap on some recycled ivories for the missing
ones (CA glue has certainly helped that work!)

For me, the trouble with Packards is likely to be failing
butt plates (a nuisance ...) or broken tongues (much worse.)
I hate repair clips, but sometimes they are the only practical
answer I've found.

The broken shanks are in the top section? This would provide
you with an opportunity for tonal research, which I took with
a Packard I worked on. In the high treble, check out the hammer
shanks -- you will probably find that they are shaved narrow,
not on the sides like in grands, but on the backs. This
makes the shank flex more, and improves the tone in the high
treble, as I found out. Someone had replaced one of these
with a full round shank, and the tone on that note was
noticeably worse than its neighbors. (Also the fitting was klutzy ...)
So I did it over, and sanded the back of the shank to match
the others -- and the tone sprang back to life! It was fun.

Do you think you could do this basic "make it play" work for
$150 or $200? Maybe they could manage that -- you'd have saved
that Packard for someone to fully restore 50 years from now,
and the family would benefit now. So often "the best" drives
out "the good", and one is left with nothing but dust and ashes.
If they could keep and use the piano for a few years now, they
might gradually come up with more cash to deal with some of
the rest later on, piecemeal.

(Just my take on it ... there are a limited number of Packard
uprights in the world, and I don't like seeing that number decline
because of temporary difficulties.)

Susan

At 10:35 AM 5/23/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>Hello Susan and List.  I was asked by a neighbor with 4 children, one
>girl 9 years old that had been taking piano lessons, to look at their
>old piano that wasn't playing right and needed some work.  It turned
>out to be a Packard, 1912, with many ailements.  Hammers needed to be
>filed, a couple broken shanks, a few keys not playable but did have
>the hammers and shanks, many, many bridal straps gone or broken, and
>most key top front edges were chipped with a few key tops completely
>gone.  The case wasn't that bad, it varied from 25 cents flat to 5
>cents sharp.  No new strings or replacement parts that I could find.
>Did not check the sound board for cracks.  Father asked what it would
>take to get it into playing condition as the little girl stood there
>listening to the conversation.  She said she had stopped taking
>lessons some time back and that was understandable.  I've know the
>family for some 10 years and they just seem to squeek by, now with a
>son graduating from high school wanting to go to college.  He plays
>the drums and the other kids seem to have a little musical talent
>also.  The father and I talked quietly, while mother and the children
>stood around. As I verbally walked through the estimated costs to
>rework what was apparent without "digging" further, I reached the
>$500 mark and the father said "well times are a little strained right
>now so I believe we'll wait until later".  Boy, the look of
>disappointment on the little girls face was enough to really tug on
>the ole heart.  He said to wrap up our conversation, "well, if and
>when we every move from here, we'll just leave the piano with the
>house".  This is the second time that I've visited a home with an old
>upright that the owner just didn't have the money to "do it right".
>With grandfathers like me with 7 grown children and 14 grandchildren,
>who many are very musically gifted (taking after grampa) there are
>times I wished I had a trust fund I could dip into and help some of
>these "Old Upright Families".  Have a great holiday weekend.  Best
>regards, Gordon Holley, Goshen, Indiana.
>
>On 22 May 2002 at 12:42, Susan Kline wrote:
> > <snip>
> > Some of my other upright favorites are Packard,