Lester

Conrad Hoffsommer hoffsoco@martin.luther.edu
Sat, 24 Jan 1998 18:08:23 -0600


At 14:29 1/24/98 -0700, you wrote:
>Philip Jamison wrote:
 
>> I must defend the Lester Betsey Ross spinet!
 ..... (I tune a lot of them,
>> since I live 18 miles from where they were made... in Lester, PA).

<snip>

>Almost every one that I have come across was
>blessed with those horrible white plastic action components. Not only
>elbows, but flanges, back-checks, damper levers, etc, etc, etc.

Never did I think I would come to the defense of dear ol' Betsy, but my link
is even closer having grown up within 5 miles of Lester and had high school
classmate's parents lose their jobs when they folded. 

Even here in the hinterland I have three which survive. I usually get called
to tune them every two or three years and usually don't have much to do when
I'm there. Very stable.

True, I've replaced elbows with Vagais plastic, but I've noticed that the
ones which had broken/become brittle, were those directly above the factory
installed humidity control rod.  Many plastic problems IMHO were caused by
that rod, WHICH HAD NO CONTROLLER, being left plugged in all year, 24hr/day.
Gordon Laughead and others also had the same setup - yuk.

Flame away.

Conrad



Conrad Hoffsommer, RPT		hoffsoco@martin.luther.edu
Luther College Music Technician	pno2ner@salamander.com
Decorah, Iowa 52101		Voice 	(319)-387-1204
				Fax	(319)-387-1076

Oh wad some power the giftie gie us; to see oursel's as others see us!
It wad some monie a blunder free us, and foolish notion. - Robert Burns



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