[CAUT] To buy New or Rebuilt?

[Brent Fischer]

--- On Mon, 10/11/10, Dennis Johnson <johnsond at stolaf.edu> wrote:

From: Dennis Johnson <johnsond at stolaf.edu>
Subject: [CAUT] To buy New or Rebuilt?
To: "College and University Technicians" <caut at ptg.org>
Date: Monday, October 11, 2010, 11:38 AM

Hello Dennis,
   While factory specs are attainable it is the re-builder far andfew between that believes adhering to them is appropriaterather than attempting to re-invent the wheel,  not to beconfused
 with improving the wheel that is already there. WithSteinway it means forced-crowned boards and double-crowningwith a bridge that is crowned to factory spec. It also meansusing lacquer up not needle down hammers. Are we going tospec what artists have come to known as the Steinway soundare something homogenized?
Plates do not last forever nor do rims. Any Steinway with an oakinner rim should not be rebuilt in my opinion, I have worked toomany punky oak rims to know better. Bridges, I being one of fewthat have obtained new bridges from the factory can factually statethat a plugged bridge does not or cannot have the tenacity whendrilled and
 pinned as new wood. That will leave you scratchingyour head as to what constitutes  factory or better. The onlysolution is to rout to the root and replace with vertical laminateand cap. Now you have three glue joints to the board instead oftwo. Is that good enough to be factory spec?  Plus you have toincrease the bridge crown because old roots lose at least half.
We have all re-profiled v-bars and front duplex bars but I knowof very few that can case harden with consistent success. CurrentlyKelly throws out a plate a week because of the difficulty in usinga tig-welder to case harden. If you know the rebuilder can properlyharden
 your bearing points and build a Steinway board and bridgeset that meets factory criteria then your school is way ahead ofpurchasing new. Factory specs have changed, they do not caseharden front duplex bars now which is where I would deviate fromfactory because I like to believe some lessons of the past areworth keeping.  good luck and best regards.
" Up again, you shall never be so afraid of a tumble"  Emerson
Brent




      
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20101013/10b9cb43/attachment.htm>