Hello friends and colleagues (providing I have any of either after this reply), Thursday, March 4, 2004, 3:06:33 AM, Susan wrote: SK> Part II of Anton Kuerti's article, "What Pianists Should Know About Pianos." This response is particularly for newer technicians, whether CAUT or otherwise. Due to the way my mailer preferences are set up, I started reading Susan's post from Part II without even seeing Part I. At that time, I thought she was 'baiting' us with a couple quotes from the article. I then realized it was complete, that there were two parts, and so on. Please recognize that, as technicians, we have garnered more knowledge about the workings and proper servicing of pianos during the past decade or so than at any point in history. This is largely due to sharing information instead of taking it to our respective graves. I don't remember what initiated the search for this article, but without violating any due respect to Anton (explained in a moment), I would suggest by all means reading it, but *seriously* scrutinize each and every method of corrective procedure for a particular operation. Just because something is in print doesn't necessarily mean it is gospel. In a technical area of any kind, one's "best advice" stars to grow whisker rather quickly. Since I started reading Part II, the first things that appeared were references to knuckles and key friction, and the recommended correction methods. I didn't have to read any further -- the chest pains were already getting pretty intense. Using only these couple of items for reference, some of this information is quite dated, but was accepted as general practice at the time. [Copyright and printed in Clavier, 1973; reprinted Journal 1975. Disallowing for the author's time in generating the article, getting in the holding pattern for publishing, etc., this makes the article a *minimum* of 31 years old!] With this in mind: Examples: 1. We don't apply graphite to knuckles. This same recommendation had even more distribution, since it duplicates the same procedure (and error) mentioned in Reblitz' book. 2. We don't use WD-40 on action centers (or anywhere else) Well, maybe on castors, but even then the practice is questionable (WD = water displacement, 40 = formula #40; no mention of long-term lubricant). The source of this is also in the archives. It appeared in the Journal, and worse, it appeared in the initial Kawai service manual. As best I can determine, that manual was distributed to anyone who asked, whether PTG member, piano "tuner" or Baptist preacher. Whether George Defebaugh began endorsing this or picked it up from elsewhere is not known. What *is* known is that he later recanted on this, but thousands of those manuals remain on bookshelves today around the world, with George's endorsement "in cement". 3. We don't use awls to ease balance holes. Again, the origins of this practice are unknown to me, but this is close to one that was also endorsed by Kawai. The difference is that the Kawai method used 4" Nicholson round bastard file(s), specially miked and chosen to match the Kawai balance pins (they are different diameters in the same box), and with two opposing sides ground FLAT to avoid 'pulley' keys. Lest this reply become longer than the original article, I'll stop with the above references. I don't want to disrespect the works of any authors, nor do I want to challenge the integrity of anyone reading this message. These authors were providing what could have been considered 'leading edge' information at the time. However, I for one would like to go back and change the way I did certain things 30-plus years ago. I believe these authors, including Mr. Kuerti, likely feel the same way. -- Regards, Jim mailto:harvey@greenwood.net
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