Action Retrofit

[Michiel van Loon]

Stan wrote:

>Query:  Has anyone pursued the possibility of retrofitting a modern action
>into one of these things

>Am I nuts?

>I would appreciate your opinions on all but the last question.

>Best regards,
>
>Stan Kroeker

To the first I say yes.
The second is already answered by Del.

Last summer I did such a project.
It concerned an English birdcage NOT cross stringed.( What is the right word
for that in your lingo)
I sent an E-mail to Herburger-Brooks in England and I am still waiting for
their answer.
I sent fax to Renner in Germany, they replied within a few days and sent me
four paged form to fill in with all kind of details.
In a few weeks they two offers, one for an action with brass capstan screws
and one with wooden capstans.
I chose for the wooden capstans,  because then I would have less work on the
keys.
The price was DM 2294.50 without tax and DM 135 for shipping to Holland.
I dried and shimmed the soundboard, lacquered it, restringed and fitted the
action when it arrived after 4 1/2 month.
The action arrived in a big box.
It was completely assembled , except for the damperknuckles, the damper felt
, the hammershanks and the hammerheads.
Together with the confirmation of my order I got a drawing with all the
measures I needed.
The fitting of a Renner is a piece of cake to any experienced tech.
The most work on the keys.: plugging the screwholes, glueing on a piece of
wood on each key, drilling holes, making a tool to hammer in the wooden
capstans without damaging them and hammering them in.
The result was, given the size and origin of the piano , good.
I got paid NFL 9000 for the job, transport, first tuning and one service
regulation after a year included.
1 NFL = $ 0.5
1 DM = NFL 1.12

O yes I also changed the scale a bit so there are less Newton's pulling each
string.

Vriendelijke groeten,

Michiel van Loon
Meppel
Nederland
http://www.xs4all.nl/~mvanloon
tel/fax ++31 522 255160