Man, I actually agree with 100 percent of what Ric says. I must need another glass of wine..ha! Owen -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of RicB Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 6:36 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Playing cards aren't just made for poker Steven. Just a couple of points. Many here know pianos from the inside out and there is not a lot that sneaks past attentions when it comes to tricks of the trade. Your <<card trick>> comes in many varieties and is really as old as the shift pedal I would think. As for your assessment of the purpose of the soft pedal, well ... there are those who agree with its name and there are those who line up with your view... either way its cool. As for attacks for your "unscientific empirical and amature methods".... piano techs have been listening heads up to pianists experiences ever since we went our separate ways way back when. I rely on pianists expressions of experience daily it sometimes seems. But there are some established things thats been gone over and over, The industry has by and large after some 150 + years of the more or less modern piano come to be in agreement on many of these. If you recommend something like timing dampers to start at the beginning of key stroke for example, you can expect to hear disagreement... because if there is such a thing as a <<wrong way of doing things>> in piano work... this certainly falls into that catagory. Of course personal individual preference can allow for a much wider window of acceptability then standard practice... but then sometimes even these are way out on the fringe. I dont mean any discouragement with this. Quite the opposite really. But then again, folks here were not born yesterday either. What you personally find to work on your piano is dandy. But advice that goes contrary to what is known as good practice will indeed get shot down... not because anyone has a desire to attack you... but ... well because wrong is wrong after all. And yes.. Ketchup has some vinegar in it. When you copper into the ketchup, the vinegar in the ketchup combines with the copper oxide (the dirty looking stuff) to form a chemical called copper acetate. When you wash it off with cold water the copper acetate dissolves, so you wind up with a nice, bright shiny piece of copper. I think that one goes around in science experiments for first year junior high or something like that. Cheers RicB I am presenting this method with some trepidation, following a proven successful personal experience. (I am not a technician, but a classical pianist. After all, who has ever heard of a respectable RPT using playing cards inside a piano !!!!!!!) I have another good trick with cards to report, and some more quick and dirty ideas but I will save them for later, if I survive the attacks from my 'unscientific empirical and amateur' methods being tested successfully on my two beloved grand pianos. (They have no choice but to succumb to my surgery, fortunately with good results). All the best Steve P.S. Is it true that ketchup cleans and restores copper?
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