[CAUT] monkey hanger

[Jeff Tanner]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Ross" <jrpiano at win.eastlink.ca>
To: <caut at ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2009 6:49 PM
Subject: Re: [CAUT] monkey hanger


> You don't pass any hardware stores on your way to work, or home.
> I don't know how that would take much driving around.

You don't always have time to stop.  Even so, you're still investing your 
time in a particular repair.  It's either costing you or you're passing it 
along to the customer.  In this case, a recital was to happen later that 
afternoon, and access to the piano was limited.  There was not time to go to 
a hardware store.  I temporarily robbed another piano.

> You should already have small cost tools like that. As someone else said,
> the hangers on uprights are another use.

No.  They're not.  Again, another repair one runs into once in a lifetime, 
and the one I last did probably 23 years ago was not soldered.  I scored a 
nail, like a pedal pin, wedged it in the hole, and it worked perfectly.

I actually have never had a need for a torch other than this, can't imagine 
another one, and the only use I have for a soldering iron is the 40 watt one 
with the hammer iron attachment.

> I have a small clamp on vice as well.

The university had a vice, but there wasn't a decent work bench to mount it 
on.  Hence, holding the rod with one hand, the wire with another hand, the 
heat source my right foot, the solder with my teeth, etc., got a bit 
cumbersome.

> Then again, I might have been at it longer than you, because, when I 
> started
> I didn't have a lot of tools.

I've been at it for 25 years.  But my acquisition of tools has been limited 
due to the nature of the work I have done over the years.  The majority of 
my time has been spent as a maintenance tech -- tuning, normal repair, and 
regulation.  I consider this type of repair way out of the ordinary for 
piano work, and metal repair not something I have enough experience in to 
have any confidence in.  About the only thing I do know about soldering is 
that you heat the part, not the solder.

> Now I have too many, as I just 'think' I might need it.

And the other thing is, you buy all these tools, and 15 years later when you 
next need it, you have no idea where you last laid it down.

There are some repairs where you have to make a judgement call.  I can 
"repair" it but the repair may not last, or I can replace it.  We recommend 
replacing the hammer shank rather than splicing it for a reason.  Not 
knowing what kind of solder to use, what kind of wire to replace the broken 
part with, I felt more confident in this particular situation in replacing 
the whole part.

I really don't appreciate the smart aleck remarks inferring that I am 
somehow less of a piano technician because I didn't have confidence in my 
soldering skills in this one situation.  Part of being a technician is 
making the right decision, and in this case, I still am confident it was.

Tanner