Rebuild Standards - Warning: Major Rant

[Dean May]

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Okay, Terry. Give us a workable standard- what you'd like to see. 
 
Dean
Dean May             cell 812.239.3359
PianoRebuilders.com   812.235.5272
Terre Haute IN  47802
 
-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On
Behalf Of Farrell
Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 7:54 PM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: Rebuild Standards - Warning: Major Rant
 
Oh I wish there were some standards for the "rebuilt" piano.
 
I know this has been covered before, but I just got slapped in the face
with it today and it is so fresh in my mind. I can't resist. Delete now
if you prefer.
 
Appointment to tune an "old" piano out in the country - I figured either
an old upright or a 1940s Acrosonic spinet. 
 
Wrong. About a 1910 Chickering 5' 8" grand. Just rebuilt about 6 years
ago. Family heirloom.
 
Very nice new million-dollar-plus home. Nobody plays the piano. They are
hiring a college student pianist to play for an upcoming party.
 
"Rebuild" consisted of the all-too-common minimum - case refinish, plate
refinish, new strings (wound tricords and all), new tuning pins (various
heights and many loose string coils - and the damn becket end sticking
out a half inch), new damper felt (twice as wide as the damper heads, of
course), new hammers (at every angle under the sun) and new keytops.
That's it. Nothing else.
 
The keytops weren't too bad.
 
The action had not been regulated. New hammers, and not regulated.
Original key bushings so worn that they allow keys to bang into one
another. Key level all over the place. All original front rail paper and
felt punchings (no doubt center rail also)! Original worn out backchecks
(yup, and new hammers). Original shank/flange/knuckles - knuckles are
like little squares (let-off is definitely an "event"). Soundboard
cracked to smithereenes. Original cracked bridge cap with original pins.
This piano is almost completely devoid of sound - it is soooooo quiet.
Talk about a killer octave - this thing has a killer keyboard - 88 of
'em. The entire high treble section hasn't one string that rings - the
best ones sound like a little electric wire shorting out -
zszszszsszszszszt! The action is as slow and mushy and heavy as any
trash action I have run across.
 
I asked the lady if the rebuilder talked to her about rebuild task
options - she said no - she just told the guy to do everything that it
needed. She paid $7K - a little high for the work done - but that's not
the point. The lady wanted a piano that worked well. She got a
decent-looking 600 lb. cow pie.
 
I didn't say anything else to her. But I sure wanted to. Is there some
way to tell her what a crap piano she has?
 
Then I went to a funeral home in a poor neighborhood of Tampa. Tuned a
typical crap little 1960s Aeolian spinet - fair bit of wear, about a
dozen universal bass strings, etc., etc. With absolutely no
exaggeration, that Aeolian spinet was easily more than ten times the
musical instrument than the Chickering grand. The spinet played way
better, it sounded way better, it was 10 times louder, the treble
actually rang a little. Think about it. That is amazing.
 
If I ever service that grand again I'm going to bring my Lowell gauge
and crown-measuring string and try to figure out how a piano could
possibly sound that bad. 
 
Sorry. End of rant. I was just so blown away by the crap work done on
the grand and this contrast between the two pianos.
 
Terry Farrell

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