The BEST part in a situation like this is telling the customer that the former "technician" did useless and crappy work. USUALLY the customer gets mad at YOU instead of them! ( And doesn't believe you, i.e. "That nice old man, xxxxx, worked on MY piano!" ( Smiling, with beaming eyes. ) Does anyone here have suggestions on how to handle telling a customer that the work they just paid for is absolutely worthless garbage ? Thump P.S. I played a small private reception for a celebrity you'd all recognize last night, in a big mansion.......... on a Wurlitzer console. The owner came up to me, beaming, "How do you like it ?" I rejected the first 10 answers that came to mind, bit my lip and politely said "It's OK ". ( I'm not good at lying ) "When was it tuned ?" " Sometime in the last year!" he beamed again. Sheesh! --- Farrell <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com> wrote: > Of course! But it's ok because the originals are > those really nice ones with the knuckle integrated > into the shank! > > I'm sure you all have seen this kind of crap > workmanship before, but last night I thought I would > turn my attention to the backchecks and putting a > radius on the hammer tails. The guy also put new > backchecks on. Every one at a unique height. Many > pushing up adjacent hammers upon key stroke. The > hammer tails hit the backcheck at about a 45 degree > angle (tails don't check, they clunk!). Then I try > to gang sand the tails for a radius. Tails are > angled every which way. In, out, rotated. > > If you took all the loose parts, thew them in a box > and shook it up and then looked inside, you would > have something that looks pretty close to this > action. I am exaggerating only slightly. > > Arrrrggggg! It would have been less work to try and > make the original parts function, rather than trying > to make this hodge-podge of parts function. :-( > > Ain't there a law????? > > Terry Farrell > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Avery Todd > To: Pianotech > Sent: Saturday, November 13, 2004 5:47 PM > Subject: Re: Front Rail Punching Interference > > > Just wondering, but did "they" also install those > new hammers on old shanks/knuckles? :-) > > Avery > > At 03:56 PM 11/13/04, you wrote: > > I think I found part of the problem already. The > tooner before me "rebuilt the piano" - you know, the > full monty - new strings, hammers, damper felts (yes > indeed, hanging way out past the damper heads) and > keytops - none of which were installed > straight/aligned, etc. I imagine this thing had > ivory keytops originally. The new keytops are thick > plastic (~2mm), and yup, you guessed it, he didn't > plane the keytops down to compensate for the thicker > keytops - so now I have keys that are one or two > millimeters thicker than original..... > > Oh well, back to the drawing board ........ er, > a, regulating table...... > > Terry Farrell > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: antares > > To: Pianotech > > Sent: Saturday, November 13, 2004 4:04 PM > > Subject: Re: Front Rail Punching Interference > > > Terry, > > > First of all, you need to know the exact key > height of your key board. > > This is the key to your regulation. > > For instance.... the key height for Steinway > model S-B (measured from the key bed to the > underside of the key top covering) is 63 mm. > > For Yamaha's this 64 mm. > > It is the only way to get your basis straight. > > After that, we're talking. > > > André Oorebeek > > > On 13-nov-04, at 20:47, Farrell wrote: > > > <?fontfamily><?param > Arial><?smaller>Help!<?/smaller><?/fontfamily> > > > > <?fontfamily><?param Arial><?smaller>I'm > trying to regulate a Baldwin "Monarch" microgrand > action. I haven't looked up the piano's age (can't > find my Pierce Atlas), but it is from the first half > of the 20th Century. I've run into this before. I > level keys (1/2" sharp height), regulate blow, > let-off, etc., and then go to set aftertouch. When I > have the proper aftertouch on the sharps, the > adjacent naturals hit the sharp front rail punching > before they hit their own front rail punching when > depressing the natural.<?/smaller><?/fontfamily> > > > > <?fontfamily><?param Arial><?smaller>That's > bad.<?/smaller><?/fontfamily> > > > > <?fontfamily><?param Arial><?smaller>What > gives? Have I done something stupid? Have I simply > overlooked something?<?/smaller><?/fontfamily> > > > > <?fontfamily><?param Arial><?smaller>Another > thing - I have to reduce blow to 1-3/4 inches to > provide sufficient key travel (about 3/8 inches - > way less than spec) to allow let-off and a tad of > aftertouch. I replaced the back rail felt with > original thickness (which is the thinnest sold by > the supply houses), I am using the thinnest front > rail punchings available, and I even have key height > a little bit higher than they were (and above spec - > more than 2-1/2 inches - I'm quite sure I'm still OK > with the fallboard).<?/smaller><?/fontfamily> > > > > <?fontfamily><?param Arial><?smaller>Again, > what gives? Action clearly appears all > original.<?/smaller><?/fontfamily> > > > > <?fontfamily><?param Arial><?smaller>This is > all a lot easier when you rebuild the action, go > through the Stanwood and geometry stuff, and have it > all correct from the get-go! Because, as in this > case, it can't be me, it's gotta be the action! > Right? ;-)<?/smaller><?/fontfamily> > > > > <?fontfamily><?param Arial><?smaller>Thanks > for anything anyone has to > offer.<?/smaller><?/fontfamily> > > > > <?fontfamily><?param Arial><?smaller>Terry > Farrell<?/smaller><?/fontfamily> > > > friendly greetings > > from > > André Oorebeek > > > "where Music is, no harm can be" > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Check out the new Yahoo! Front Page. www.yahoo.com
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