[pianotech] Petrof grands

[Paul T Williams]

Thanks, Dale,

Yes, strange design. why add weight and then add weight? There's got to be 
some sort of law!!  It was pretty tough getting the action out of the 
piano to the bench!  I thought I was grabbing an old Mason and Hamlin 
concert grand action or the very worst Steinway action from the late 70's. 
I'll have Arnold biceps by the time this project is done :>)

My plan is remove as much hammer weight and shank weight (these are 
baseball bats with a very large hammer attached!) as I can and see where I 
am there.  These are really monster hammers...lots of felt I can remove. 
Wondering what might happen to the tone, though.  Would you suggest the 
hammers you've been talking about?  Or Renner ultra lights, or something 
else?  Silly, of course youre going to suggest yours!  My bad. 

It's all on the Lied's budget, which of course, is also crushed by our 
current budget cuts, so I need to try to save the originals.  I'm now 
putting the proposal forth to them and will also include the option of new 
ham-shanks.  I didn't ask you privately before, but could you send me your 
price list for pre-hung ham-shanks to pwilliams4 at unl.edu ? I'll have 
another piano I really want to do for my own inventory after this project 
is finished. (Yamaha C-2)

I need this as soon as you can, so I have something to work with.

Thanks!

Paul T. Williams RPT
Piano Technician
School of Music
5 Westbrook Bldg.
University of Nebraska
Lincoln, NE 68588-0100
pwilliams4 at unl.edu



From:
Dale Erwin <erwinspiano at aol.com>
To:
pianotech at ptg.org
Date:
06/29/2011 01:28 PM
Subject:
Re: [pianotech] Petrof grands



Hey Paul
  I like these pianos tonally but the action guys ...what were they 
thinking?  Here is the short version. 
  Nice action ratio. Its 5 or 5.3 to 1. Then they shot themselves in the 
foot by installing hammers that weigh over 1o grams in the bass and on 
into the trebles. SO they over powered the action ratio with hammer 
weight. Then added lots of lead and maybe a wippen assist spring and viola 
....an action that's heavy aaaaand there's no up-weight either.
 Solution :....remove hammer weight or install new lighter  hammers. Then 
with the hammers lifted out of the way.... weaken wippen springs till the 
weight of the wippen is barely supported, Or just starting to show that it 
wants to rise.....then re-weight keys with springs engaged.
 Now it works


Dale S. Erwin
www.Erwinspiano.com
209-577-8397
209-985-0990
Ronsen hammers/prep
Sitka Sound boards
Belly packages




-----Original Message-----
From: Paul T Williams <pwilliams4 at unlnotes.unl.edu>
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Sent: Wed, Jun 29, 2011 9:30 am
Subject: [pianotech] Petrof grands

Hi All, 

What do you folks think about Petrof Grands?  We were just donated a 1985 
6'5" Walnut Polish grand.  It's been maintained extremely well, but is 
about the heaviest playing piano I've ever come across.  I've never worked 
on a Petrof grand, only a couple of uprights in my 20 years in this crazy 
business. It was delivered to my shop this morning and will probably live 
in our University's "welcome center" lobby, so only played a few times per 
year.  It's really heavy and built like a tank like old Mason and Hamlins. 
  

I'm considering trying the TouchRail system from PitchLock Co.  Has anyone 
tried it out? 

Thanks 
Paul 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20110629/b83ea2c2/attachment.htm>