some days you get what you ask for

[David Love]

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
West Coast, where the summers are hot and dry and the winters are cold =
and
wet.  Isn't that normal?

=20

David Love
davidlovepianos@comcast.net=20

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On =
Behalf
Of David Skolnik
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2005 5:12 AM
To: Pianotech
Subject: Re: some days you get what you ask for

=20

David Stahl wrote:




I was hoping for the best, but it was the usual 8-10 cent late-summer =
pitch
raise.=20


David...where do you live?  What scenario would require that you RAISE =
pitch
in the late summer?  I think it more common to have to lower pitch by =
that
time.


David Skolnik


At 01:39 AM 10/3/2005 -0400, you wrote:



List,
=20
Friday was certainly an interesting day on the job.  First piano was an =
old
Erhard upright, a nice old box made in 1919, pretty good shape.  It had =
a
broken high treble string on it, which I'd been aware of, and I replaced =
it
no problem.
=20
Next piano, Acrosonic, circa 1950s.  Pitch raise, twang, G#2 wound =
bicord
snapped. A perfect candidate for one of the universal bass strings a lug
around.  As usual, spinning off excess copper was the most time =
consuming
part of this job.  Again, no real problem.
=20
I was thinking about how much I've improved in various repairs, thanks =
to
many tips gleaned from this list and elsewhere in the PTG.  This type of
repair was once something I dreaded, now it's just something I do in the
line of duty.  "But," I told myself, "don't get cocky.  How long's it =
been
since you've replaced a long wire in an understrung section of a piano?" =
 It
had been awhile.
=20
Which brings me to the next piano:  Steinway, a regular client, a =
nemesis
piano that always finds a way to lengthen the appointment beyond an
acceptable length.  A 1915 or so M re-whatevered badly a couple of =
decades
ago.  I was hoping for the best, but it was the usual 8-10 cent =
late-summer
pitch raise.  No problem, at least until I got to A3.  Twang.  The =
A#3-A3
wire snapped.  Went to the car, got stringing stuff including tube to =
get
string onto hitch pin.  In the failing light of the day, I got the job =
done,
but time would have been saved had I brought in my shop light so I could =
see
better to route the wire through the bridge pins.
=20
The upside:  3 strings on the day, no bloody finger tips.
=20
The weirdness:  Haven't had a string break in a few months.  Why did =
they
all gang up on me on one day???
=20
Tip #1:  putting some tension on the wire makes it MUCH easier to get =
the
string placed properly around the bridge pins in the understrung areas.  =

=20
Tip #2:  Lighting is a good thing when doing this sort of job!
=20
Thanks for reading,
=20
Dave Stahl


---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/de/67/8b/c3/attachment.htm

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--