STEINWAY SALE:
If you are an optimistic sort, I think you could say that the
$100 million sale of Steinway is clear assurance that hard-nosed
profit-oriented businessmen see a long and profitable future in the
piano business.
If you are a pessimistic type, you might say that the snob-appeal
of the Steinway name, clearly one of the most prestigious brand names
ever known, attracted "one more sucker," in spite of the realities of
the long-term outlook.
As for myself, I haven't a clue.
SOUNDBOARD REPAIRS:
The Wichita and KC PTG chapters have been poking a bit of fun
ately at Samick for saying that their grands are now built with a
"solid spruce soundboard stabilized by veneers on both sides. " (This
was in the October 1994 Piano Technicians Journal, in an article on
piano manufacturers that were represented at the Kansas City
convention last July.)
I've had to deal a bit lately with delaminating soundboards, and
wonder who else has any experience in this area.
I have been using soundboard buttons as clamping blocks in
re-gluing the delaminations. Stock soundboard buttons are poor for
clamping because of the fact that they are counter-sunk for a
flat-head wood screw; if you tighten a flat-head wood screw too tight
in a regular soundboard button, you can easily split it out.
However, if you take a 3/8" Forstner bit and turn the
counter-sink into a flat bottomed hole, you can use an oval-headed
wood screw and tighten the screw as tight as you like without fear of
breaking the button.
And, for laminated soundboards, you can use a (modified) button
on both sides of the board with a 1/8" or so bolt. If you use locking
washers in both buttons (or maybe a locking washer at the head of the
bolt and a lock nut on the other side), the assembly will "grab" and
you can easily tighten the clamp down from just one side of the board
with no need for an assistant on the other side.
Kent Swafford
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