Altenburg/Samick Grand action problems

[Kevin E. Ramsey]

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    Mike, I work at a dealership that carries several brands made by =
Samick. I'm not sure if I've ever seen a piano in which the problem was =
"wood binding",,,,, well, maybe on one flange years ago. Having flanges =
of all kinds bind up in Samick pianos is their number one problem =
though, especially with underlevers for some reason. I have called =
Samick and gotten the runaround a couple of times. Nobody seems to know =
there's a problem, yet I've talked to quite a few other techs that have =
had this same problem. I even called up and asked if there was someone =
who I could send in detailed information as to the recurring problems =
with pinning that we were seeing here. Someone named Shyuen told me I =
could just send any reports I had in an email. Sorry, that delete button =
is just too convenient.
    It's always something like, "We have an agreement with our dealers, =
they take care of the first $250 of any warranty work", or "Oh, that's a =
Hyundai? There's no warranty on those, and the dealer knows it."

    Anyway, I finally got someone who seems like he actually cares about =
what he does for a living, and I tell him that it looks like they're =
using plated pins, and the plating is peeling off and contaminating the =
bushing cloth. He told me they don't use plated pins, they're stainless =
steel, and that there is tallow in the bushing cloth that when exposed =
to heat (What? Like a hot day? Huh?)  can come out of the cloth and bond =
to the pin.=20
    I may live in Phoenix, but every house and business is kept at a =
comfortable temperature, if not cold, so my BS meter started buzzing. =
Could it be during the move, in a hot truck? That wouldn't explain why =
the problem doesn't occur until after the piano's been in the home for a =
couple years. I had kept some of the pins that I had taken out of this =
one piano to take home and put under the microscope, sure looked like =
plating coming off to me, but you cut them with nippers and they don't =
cut like they're made of brass, they snap like they're made of stainless =
steel. So maybe he wasn't pulling my leg after all. What he suggested I =
do was to get a hair dryer and heat the flanges up while I worked them =
back and forth, as if I were trying to convince the tallow to go back =
into the wool. Haven't had the opportunity to try it yet. That =
particular piano I used the methanol/ water trick on. Seemed to do the =
job, but the only real quality job would be to re-pin every flange in =
the piano.=20
    If nobody wants to pay for that, then I guess it's not going to get =
done. Trying to be the customers advocate with a company which is doing =
everything to produce something as complex as a piano for a really =
reasonable price will get you stuck in the middle every time.=20

    Kevin E. Ramsey



---- Original Message -----=20
  From: Mike McCoy=20
  To: Pianotech=20
  Sent: Friday, January 03, 2003 2:16 PM
  Subject: Altenburg/Samick Grand action problems
   Two weeks pass and she called me again stating it is a single key =
"not bouncing", I asked her to have her son mark the offending key, =
which he did and it was failing when I arrived. The problem was a =
severely tight jack/flange.. it was taking 1-3 minutes for the jack to =
get back under the knuckle, again, pinning was not the issue but a wood =
binding problem. All was well. I didn't charge anyone this trip. Temp =
70deg, humidity 43%.
   Today she called back again, 3 weeks later, with the same issue, =
different keys. The dealer made it clear to me last time they would not =
put any more money into this piano so I told the cust I would be happy =
to fix the offenders or take the action home but I would have to charge =
for it this time. She told me it had a lifetime warranty and the dealer =
would have to pay me.
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