[pianotech] pick-a-little-talk-a-little

[David Andersen]

Great post, Paul. And a good finale to this thread. The takeaway?

"I probably would have shot myself in the eye by now except, shortly  
after Mr. Jeffers' pronouncement; I learned to think for myself."

Perfection Kills. Dogmatism kills. Excellence is freedom. Do your best  
efforts and the universe will reward you. Every practice is custom;  
every life is custom.

DA
(stepping away from the soapbox.....)



On Oct 6, 2009, at 9:15 AM, Dempsey Jr., Paul E wrote:

> My, my, my. Who would have thought that there would be this much to  
> say about beckets?
> When I was 17, one of my mentors was Mr. U. Glenn Jeffers, who was a  
> former VP of the old NAPT, or was it ASPT? Don't matter. By then it  
> was PTG and he was in that.
>
> He was the first person to say to me that one of the highest levels  
> of craftsmanship was to have all the beckets at the same  
> position...preferably, at three o'clock. Being a neophyte I took him  
> at his word and have spent the last 45 YEARS trying to get all my  
> beckets to lie at 3:00. A frustrating 45 years.
>
> I have re-strung hundreds of pianos, large and small, upright and  
> grand, countless single string replacements, and not one of them  
> have had every becket end up at the magic 3:00 position.
>
> Mow, many have, many at 2:00 and 1:00,1:30, 3:20, even 4:30.
> Failure after failure. Woe.
>
> At least they always end up on the right hand side of the pin,  
> always the correct number of coils, coils always tight and square to  
> the pin, excellent torque....but those freakin' beckets.
>
> I probably would have shot myself in the eye by now except, shortly  
> after Mr. Jeffers'
> pronouncement; I learned to think for myself.
>
>
> Precision placement of the beckets is nice if you can get it. If  
> you're  compelled for it, go for it. I don't think it means squat.
>
> I just replaced a set of bass strings on a Yamaha grand that the  
> owner had killed with Pledge or something. I looked at every becket  
> on the factory stringing and they all were in the 1:00 to 4:00  
> position.
>
> My new Bass strings were all in the 1:00 to 3:00 spot.
>
> I doubt that the customer will notice. I don't remember ever having  
> a client even say the word becket.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Paul E. Dempsey, RPT
> Piano Technician Sr.
> Marshall University
> Huntington, WV
> 304-696-5418
> 304-617-1149
>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20091006/b39859cc/attachment-0001.htm>