Piano Tilters

[Susan Kline]

Dear List,

>David Ilvey Wrote:
>   <<  "I have a tilter .. "

"I had a tilter" just as described below. A wing-nut (dinky) failed, a weld
failed; it turned to spaghetti under my very own upright in my very own
living room. One pointy piece of angle-iron missed the soundboard by 1/2 inch.

Bob and Marcia Davis can corroborate this: they (and 4 jack stands) helped
me get the piano on its feet again.

I called Tuners (lamented Tuners, I miss them), told them nothing and no one
had been damaged, and asked for a replacement tilter. I got a letter
starting (first words): "Dear Ms. Kline: We are so glad to hear that no one
was hurt." (Get it in writing, right away!)

They replaced the tilter, which I took to a welder, who added two vertical
pieces of strapping to the triangular section, just behind the wing nuts, so
that it could never collapse again, whatever the condition of the fasteners.

Yes, it's a lot handier if it is tied together when folded up. I use twine,
which also ties on the two backpost clamps so I can't leave them behind.
I've seen a tilter used without bothering to clamp it to the backposts, but
I feel safer if it's secured.

>One-man capable operation
One-woman capable, too, especially for smaller pianos. For monster uprights
I like to have a man or two standing around, though they always say "Is that
all?" when we are done. What I particularly like is that I can carry this
tilter to the car and not wake up feeling like a truck ran over me the next
morning. The Schaff one weighed 52 pounds, which is just too darned much.

Regards,

Susan



>     I have the same tilter with the same problem! Amazing! I assume we're
>talking about the unit with the angle-iron construction with the 2 small tabs
>that catch about 1 1/2" at the bottom of the piano and roll smoothly
>backwards on large curved pieces to bring the piano horizontal? Shaped like a
>triangle when folded? One-man capable operation? Three dinky wheels, two
>fixed & one mounted on ballbearings, that actually work pretty well?
>(Oh...suggest you use a small bungee cord to hold the thing together when
>folded. Works.)

<big snips>

>Jeffrey T. Hickey, RPT
>Oregon Coast Piano Services
>TunerJeff @ aol.com

Susan Kline
skline@proaxis.com
P.O. Box 1651,
Philomath, OR 97370

Variables won't; constants aren't.