Relocating Knuckles

[Phillip Ford]

>I can't find a benefit spending so much hours of work to produce
>second hand parts.
>
>Unless the flange shape is really something special, or the action is
>asking for a particular placement of the roller, I see no real
>advantage. Indeed we don't pay so much than you for the parts I
>presume.
>
>Best
>
>Isaac OLEG

Isaac,

To give one example:

I was recently hired by a dealer to fix a Steinway action that had been 
'rebuilt' by another technician.  They complained that it played like a 
truck, but liked the way it sounded.  The rebuild had only been done a 
couple of months before, so all the parts were essentially new.  New 
Steinway hammers on new Renner shanks and flanges with 15.5 mm knuckle 
location.  After looking at the action numbers it was apparent that the 
action was never going to play well with those hammers and that knuckle 
location.  Since they liked the sound I didn't think I should alter the 
hammer weight.  So, the knuckle location had to be changed.  Since I don't 
have experience relocating knuckles on existing parts, and am not set up to 
do it, I quoted them a price for extracting the hammers and rehanging them 
on new shanks and flanges with a different knuckle location.  This was a 
lot more money than 2 or 3 hours of my time and a set of knuckles.  Since I 
don't yet charge $150/hour, just the cost of the shanks and flanges alone 
is more than 2 hours of my time and a set of knuckles.  I've done a couple 
of these jobs now.  If I had a setup such as David describes I could do it 
more cheaply.  And in the interest of full disclosure, since the customers 
seemed happy to pay for extracting hammers and rehanging them on new parts 
(if your piano doesn't play, what are you going to do?), if I could instead 
spend 2 or 3 hours of my time, I don't think I'd feel guilty about charging 
a bit more than my usual hourly rate for those 2 or 3 hours (I'd feel even 
less guilty when I considered the fact that they didn't hire me to do the 
work in the first place, but got someone else who was 'cheaper').

Regards,

Phil Ford