Ron, I welcome back you humor. Joe Goss BSMusEd MMusEd RPT imatunr at srvinet.com www.mothergoosetools.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ron Nossaman" <rnossaman at cox.net> To: <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Monday, August 15, 2011 6:14 PM Subject: [pianotech] HFM encounters of the third kind > > It all started out on one of those "trapped" notes, when an old friend and > long time customer referred one of her students to me for piano service. > While it wasn't her fault, it WAS a Henry F Miller spinet. Strike one. > When I arrived, the piano was sitting about three feet out from the wall, > with all the stuff that was on top now piled on the bench, which was > against the wall next to the piano. Strike two, and a foul down the first > base line. We muscled it back to the wall, I unloaded and retrieved the > bench, and got a look inside. Right smack in the middle, there was a > broken hammer shank. Now here's where it starts to get interesting. There > are people, and I was one of them once or twice many years ago, who can > get a hammer assembly out of a spinet through a superhuman series of > contortions and incantations. This, I can still do, but it's one way > magic. The problem is getting the bloody thing back in when you can't see > what's happening, can't tell enough by feel to make up for that, and have > a demonically possessed jack spring loaded into the very center of any > attempts to get around it. So I, slow learner that I am, eventually gave > up trying and in more recent years, just pull the action. JUST pull the > action, he says, as if there were anything "just" about it. Unhook all the > hangers, and pull all the keys out, since there isn't clearance with them > in. Remove the front board stops and brackets from the sides, because the > action won't clear them. Remove three screws on top, and five at the > bottom of the action to separate it from the piano. Verbally fend off well > meaning but scary offers to help just as I was getting the thing past the > last obstacle (the damper lifter lever under the bass plate strut), and > set it down on the dark entry path rug rather than the beige carpet. So > far so good, or I've overlooked something deadly. With the action > nominally at my temporary mercy, I pulled the offending hammer assembly. > > There it is - strike three. I was rewarded with a vision of a floppy > hammer and a wad of Scotch Magic Mending tape as big as my thumb randomly > and loosely packed around the break. I'm here to tell you folks, Magic > Mending Tape isn't, and doesn't. Cutting the MMT off, I found one of the > most wonderfully insane things I've ever seen in a piano, which is no > small thing, as the competition is pretty steep. It was a Band-Aid (Curad, > actually, I think), complete with center pad. No glue whatsoever. So when > the band-aid didn't heal it, and the MMT didn't mend it, it was considered > beyond further attempts, with all the best shots already used up. Oh, I > didn't mention, someone at his church gave the piano to him. Gee! The > break was about a third of the way down the shank, and proved to be > straight across once I got all the pressure sensitive tool kit scraped > off, which I thought very weird. But then... > > Out to the truck, pull the shank from both parts, grab a new shank, and > head back inside. Putting the butt back in, I once again verified that, > even with the thing lying on the floor where I can see it and reach > everything, the jack is still demonically possessed and spring loaded > against successful access and that makes all the difference. Eventually, I > got the thing in, set the action in the piano, and glued in the shank. As > that dried, I installed all the screws, stops, brackets, and pedal rods, > and reconnected the action to the keys. Sigh. Tuning time. > > Oddly enough, it was pretty close to pitch, on average, but the tuning was > all over the place. Made me consider again that the tuner possibly WAS > responsible for the "repair", both displaying similar skill levels. > Matters not, it's less bad now. > > I was about cooked by then, at 82°, put the box back together and > submitted a considerably bigger bill than I had originally anticipated. I > hadn't quoted him anything specific on repairs, but he watched some of the > gladitorializing from the dining room, so he understood the reason for the > total. > > Back home for lunch. Another morning in paradise. > Ron N >
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