Hi Les, Hmm I guess it is spelled Schaaf, at least in Pierce and Doldge. There is a Schaff Bros. Were they related to Schaff Co. of today. Also did Joseph Hale have anything to do with Hale tools? I am going to pull one pin and look. If I get hold an otoscope, I might for sh*ts and giggles pull a few more to have fun with the thing. If things look ok, I am gonna tilt'er on the tilter, (more on that) and lay on the Garfields. Have estimated an hour service call for that which the owner has agreed. They understand that we need to see if the remedy holds or fails and are willing to put up an hour fee to find out. If it fails I will remove the piano at my cost, (a $60 estimate as four steps are involved.) I like to sweeten the kitty as gamblers say. It was bought for $30 at a community consignment auction in Kimball SD. (pop 750) I had tuned it a year earlier in the private school it belonged to. The pins were holding then. In fact on the invoice I had written "Tuning pins OK". Hmm and now the bottom row is loose a year later?? Still I will bet $100 in labor Garfields will work. This time Les can't be right again from hundreds of miles away. : ) I know the garage the piano spent the summer of 96 in after it was moved from the school basement. The school moved and sold its surplus including 2 old uprights. The other one a Price and Teeple with "cracked B bridge chewed damper felts FR felts missing on many notes at 438." The Schaaf had to be left 50 cents flat. The reason it bought $30 at the sale is because I bid "$25 and go" and the person who asked me which one was better bid $30. Every body knows everyone in a small town right? Well the person who bought the Schaaf happens to be my ISP, (he is manager of the local phone co.) so if I mysteriously disappear from the list, you can guess the Garfields didn't work. :) The Adam Schaaf ain't that bottom of the line. The case is simulated Rosewood, (can't be real Rosewood can it?) decent organ type music rack, the muffler strip long gone was attached to the end brackets and simply swings up and back for the tuner. (something like Samick and Yahama should do). The action has steel butt plates (ages since I have seen one of those) which were loose, but tightened up easily because the damper arms were spaced so that the plate screws were accessable. Nice thought. Of course these plates cannot be seen before the action is removed, so at first (while at the school) I thought the action had to be repinned. The invoice shows my estimate for repinning went from 200-300 to 30 to tighten butt plates. Of course we'll worry about the grooves later, and three or four notes will have to be repinned. (When she gets to those in her lessons) So now its time to look for an otoscope or see what the macro setting on the handy cam does. Also build that dream tilter because I'm too cheep to spend 300 on a nice wooden one. No I'd rather spend 30 on materials and 500 worth of time trying to build my own, that probably won't be as good as the factory made one. ---------- > From: Les Smith <lessmith@buffnet.net> > To: pianotech@byu.edu > Subject: Re: Loose pinblock > Date: Tuesday, April 15, 1997 10:22 AM > > Hi, Richard! > > Here's perhaps a somewhat different take on the old Schaaf upright. > Kenny Roger's said it best, "Ya gotta know when to hold...know when > to fold." This might be one of those situations in which you'd be > better off folding. First of all, quality-wise, if that old Schaaf > upright wasn't right on the very bottom of the barrel, it was sure > close. Secondly, from the way you describe it, it sounnds like the > pinblock, itself, is shot and way beyond any help that Garfield's, > or CA glue might be able to give. It also sounds like the problem > has been around for a while, because you said that the pins had al- > ready been set it so close to the plate that there was no more room > to set them any further. While you *could* attempt a repair with > either boat resin or epoxy, consider how much time it's going to > take and how much you're going to have to charge to make any profit > at all. Is the piano worth it? Will the owner go fot it? What if it > doesn't work? Will you still get paid? Really? > > Someone mentioned a while ago that "there are some pianos out there > that will make you look like a bum, no matter how good you are. Stay > away from them." This sounds like one of those pianos. Walk away. Fast! > > Les Smith > lessmith@buffnet.net >
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