Customizing a piano

[Pianoman]

The Handsome Hardwood Caster Cups I make can be made at whatever thickness 
you like to raise or lower the entire piano..
James
James Grebe
Since 1962
Piano Tuning & Repair
Creator of Handsome Hardwood Products(
314) 608-4137   1526 Raspberry Lane   Arnold, MO 63010
Researcher of St. Louis Theatre History
BECOME WHAT YOU BELIEVE!
www.grebepiano.com
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "A E" <eve_ane at hotmail.co.uk>
To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2008 10:18 AM
Subject: Customizing a piano



Hello all,

I have recently crossed a customer who asked me to make some custom changes 
to his S&S model B. Such as raising the lyre height alittle (he says he has 
big feet and its unfomfortable for him to use the height set), so i found a 
couple of big guys with hairy palms to lift the piano, and put some larger 
casters in, which raised the piano by about almost an inch, which he said 
was just right.... That got me thinking... I'm 6ft tall (unfortunately) and 
one of the pianos I have, the keybed was so low i couldnt fit my knees 
underneath and it was a very... shall we say loosly uncomfortable experience 
playing it, as well as the same problem as the customer, i have biger feet 
than most and pedal height was unfomfortable, so i took up larger grand 
sized casters. The piano im talking about is a  43inch console which i wrote 
about before, (the one i fell in love with). But after i carried away on a 
spree with customizing it for myself, i changed entire regulation, let off 
is not set at about 3mm in bass and 5mm in trebble, basically as close as it 
will get without bouncing, put on a very tight set of hammer springs, and 
made a drastic change of puting in a set of hammers that normally would go 
into a 290 Bösey... Adjusting capstains i didnt leave the hammer resting on 
the hammer rest rail, instead, i adjusted them so that theyr about 5mm off 
the rail, in other words the butt is resting on the jack. (adjusted the 
action brakets to make sure hammers keep the same blow distance as if they 
were rested on the rail)... Shokingly the action became as heavy as on a new 
grand piano.. however, it has also became intensely sencitive, and 
repetition is fast and clean (atleast as far as i can play).... it almost 
feels like im playing my old Bosey 290...
While i was as it i lubricated center pins and front rail pins with some oil 
for guns... yes for guns :-)... and i was astonished and what a diference 
this experiment made....
Now my question is, is making such experiments ok? and if so why dont most 
manufacturers today who make good quality uprights dont mess around more 
with the actions they make?


Alicia Evans
Philadelphia
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