removing lids on performance pianos

Tom Cole tcole@cruzio.com
Thu, 02 Jul 1998 12:16:14 -0700


Robert Goodale wrote:
> 
> It looks like
> the main issue here is how to get the lid off and on quickly and easily
> without damage to anything. Any thoughts/ideas would be appreciated.
> 

Rob,

Since you'd rather not be rousted out every time someone wants to remove
the lid, it would probably be better to make it easy to remove. If you
cut the exposed part of the hinge pins, as suggested, then it's
inevitable that someone with a screwdriver will remove the hinge screws,
putting same in a "safe" place and making things difficult for you.

To minimize damage, maybe a few key people could be given some fairly
strict guidelines for R & R-ing the lid, including a secure storage
location - a large closet or the piano "barn", if there is one. My
experience with removed case parts is that they tend to wind up as
student dorm furniture. The main saving grace here is that a concert
grand lid would not fit well in most dorms.

Your thought, I believe it was, to ream out the hinge pin holes for an
easy slip fit is the best one. You might also drill holes for storing
the pins in the top of the rim. And then, again, educating music faculty
and stage people as to the importance of lid protocol might save the lid
some day.

The reason I write is that I recently discovered a dining commons grand
that had one pin missing and the other hinge is twisted, some screws are
pulled out and the wood is damaged. It can be fixed, of course, but I
hate to see that happen to a fine instrument.

Tom
-- 
Thomas A. Cole, RPT
Santa Cruz, CA



This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC