From: Joseph Garrett To: Terry Farrell Sent: 5/17/2012 3:54:21 PM Subject: Re: [pianotech] Guess what I have in my shop?! See below: ----- Original Message ----- From: Terry Farrell To: joegarrett at earthlink.net;pianotech at ptg.org Sent: 5/17/2012 3:19:20 PM Subject: Re: [pianotech] Guess what I have in my shop?! Hi Joe - comments interspersed below: Terry the Farrell said: "HOT DOG! 1867 Steinway square. Likely will not be pulling plate. Doing some bridge repairs, restringing, dampers, full action rebuild. Case is nearly flawless. Should be nice when done....." Joe Garrett wrote: I would strongly suggest you pull the plate and do pinblock route/replace! Well, I hadn't decided what I'm gonna do there. The pins are original with maybe 30 in-lbs. torgue (not tight, but good enough to tune it). I could just go one size up, or I was thinking of maybe plugging through the plate. Never done that before, but I was toying with trying it. I've plugged square blocks before when I've pulled the plate out - I like doing that - but I am not planning on yanking the plate on this one. Hmmm? I wouldn't trust what ya can't see. Please, at least pull the plate to get a look-see. Do Not plug through the plate! That's a no-no with those thin webbed plates. If the block looks o.k. after you pull it..put the plate back in and get with the stringing. Would suggest going up two sizes. There's plenty of bulk in those pinblocks, but they're mabe 3 laminations at best and old! Please use blued pins only. Any comments on this? Cap the bridges..don't just "mess with it"! Well, being that this is sort-of an economy job, and I wasn't intending on pulling the plate, I was thinking more along the lines of a good epoxy repair. An "economy job" on a Steinway. Unhuh! Save that for the cheap stuff please?? As for the epoxy thang, yeah, you could do it, but it is a Steinway, which is capable of a whole lot more than most squares. I've always told Steinway owners: If you can't afford to have me fix it right, then go buy something else, because you can't afford to own this piano. That's my reality. If the dampers are reasonably functional..leave them alone. If not, then duplicate EXACTLY what is there. DO NOT put modern Wedge type dampers on it! (PLEASE???!!!) Sounds reasonable. Curious though - why not use wedges? Check out the actual Geometry! There's a 3 dimensional thing going on there that makes them interact with each other! I've corrected that mess, I can't tell how many! Besides, here's the straight poop: At the time that piano was manufactured, (right along side of modern uprights and Grands), they had figured out what/how to get dampers to work efficiently. They were duplicating the SOUND of what we call Ancient Instruments. Hence, the "over-ring" is INTENTIONAL! That is what makes these sound unique. Don't screw that up or let the client(s) convince you that they need to have it dampen like a modern piano! It WILL NOT WORK, take my word on that. Do a scale evaluation and reset it for 440cps. Use 435cps as your criteria for the initial scale run...then change that perameter. Yup. Already planning on that. Hmmm? And where are you going to get the action parts for this "full action rebuild"???Hmmmm?<G> Well, okay, I guess I was exaggerating a bit - how 'bout "fairly thorough"? Hammer butts and jacks are in pretty good shape - I think it will regulate quite well with the originals. New hammers though. Somebody replaced the hammers - looks like normal grand hammers and some grade-schooler went at them with a dull knife to shape them....... :-( The major thing is the Jack Spring Cords. Make sure those are good, if not replace ALL of them, not just a few. After all, that flax cord is 145 years old. Do not expect it to hold up with, even, light playing! If you are going to replace the hammers get them from Ray/Ronsen. Since you don't have the originals, trust him to make them from his archives data. He's really on top of that. Also, REPLACE the hammer shanks..ALL of them, please. You'll not regret that either. Save yourself some grief. The "existing hammers" Sounds like the same moron that was around here for a while! YIKES!<G> Oh, BTW, you will need to custom fit, (shape) each hammer, even tho they will come pre-trimmed from Ray. I suggest you do every other one kind of thing. It will save you much grief on that account too.<G> Hammer shanks can be obtained from Schaff....look under "pallet rods". They are 3/16" spinet shanks, just longer. The quality is pretty poor, so order, at least, 200. DAMHIK! If you get a full 90 out of that many, consider yourself lucky. (even though you only need 85<G>...yeah, I noticed.) I can give ya the specs/particulars on the butt boring jig, so not to panic there. Yes, it will be "nice when done"....properly. Try a Victorian Temperament to really get the full enchilada.<G> Like what? You pick,<G> Makes the instrument sound "bigger". BTW, I wouldn't get up on replacing the board, since that thing was flat 2 days after it was installed. (scope out the ribbing//rim mounting, etc. and you'll get what I mean. On those, it really doesn't matter. Ya gets what ya gets. Oh, come on, I was just about to head out to my shop and start laminating some 4 M ribs for the new board! Let's see...... 4M ribs up by the treble, 15M ribs in the bass area - oh, wait a minute - the bass IS at the treble end!!!!!! What to do????? Yeah, original board will stay. I've torn into a few of these before and very quickly realized that there never was any crown to those boards - at least not after they were strung in the factory. Board is in good shape - no cracks - besides, why would I want to tear the soul of the piano out? ;-) Well, it's good to know you haven't gone completely around the bend!<G> If ya needs help, just holler. Best, Joe Terry Farrell -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20120517/7d9580e1/attachment.htm>
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