[pianotech] another old PSO

[Ryan Sowers]

I love 25 year old Samicks! They are the perfect piano to make you look like
genius! In my experience they have a usual set of problems that are not that
difficult to overcome:

Hammers were often way to hard giving them a harsh metallic tone, and making
them stressful to voice.
Regulation is off
Friction is high

Order a new set of prehung hammers from Brooks with some Abel hammers. It
will take all of a couple of hours to put them on, travel and burn in the
shanks. Double the cost of the parts and pay yourself for a couple of hours
for the install.

Rebush the keys, and make sure the keypins are clean and lubed: 4-5 hours.

Regulate the action: 12 hours

Tuning and voicing: 4 hours

Based on $100 per hour this work would cost around 4K. The transformation
will most likely dazzle the client.

Darrel Fandrich used to use Samicks as the platform for his Fandrich & Sons
pianos. After he was done with his upgrades they were terrific pianos. Most
of the benefit came from his throwing out the hammers & shanks and replacing
them with good parts of the proper weight.

If it is typical, it shouldn't be too big a deal to change this beast into a
beauty.

Ryan Sowers, RPT
Puget Sound Chapter
Olympia, WA
www.pianova.net



On Wed, Sep 1, 2010 at 3:55 PM, Paul T Williams <pwilliams4 at unlnotes.unl.edu
> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Just went to a usual customer with a beautiful 9'2" Bluthner at a church -
> 3 years old which I love to take care of.  the pastor's sister asked me to
> check out her DH Baldwin about 25 years old and its a POS or PSO as you may
> wish to term it.  She is willing to spend thousands on it rather than
> getting a new piano as $4-5K is better than $15K for  a new PSO.
>
> What do I tell her?.  Its a DH Baldwin, somebody filed the hammers off
> flat, somebody else ruined the shanks, the hammer bushings are shot, it
> barely plays, etc.
>
> Is it toast, or would $4-5K fix it if she reallyy wants to keep this thing
> as she's very attached to it? The geometry is way out, and you know....it's
> a mid '80's Samick.  I didn't check the action brackets, or anything
> really...I just wanted to leave! I just looked for free and told her I would
> get back to her with some good techs in the not so near area (there are
> none) that might have time to do this sort of thing.  I'm too busy at UNL to
> handle this sort of thing, and our director would not look nicely on my
> bringing in a "stray" piano from the wilderness unless.......$$$$$ donated
> to the SOM (maybe then, so) this is an "In Shop" project, to be sure.
>
> Is it worth it? Believe me the Bluthner is my favorite in NE!  If you were
> a mechanic working on Fords, would you drive 1.5 hours to work on a Ferrari?
> what a fantasic piano! I LOVE working on this piano. It's my favorite in the
> state! It might truely be the best piano in NE.
>
> Best, Paul




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