Servicing new players

[Brian L. Daley]

-----Original Message-----
From: Larry Fisher <larryf@pacifier.com>
To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org>
Date: Monday, July 06, 1998 2:01 AM
Subject: Servicing new players


>HI all,
>
>>From: "Brian L. Daley" <tunerselbow@earthlink.net>
>
>>Dear List,
>>        To anyone out there contend with/service pianos that have =
>>pnodsk, pnomation, cncertmstr etc., installations:  I'm wondering about =
>>the effects on the  piano others are finding this ever growing factor of =
>>piano servicing.
>>    For example, one customer has an upright Baldwin E250 w/QRS(?) I =
>>believe, and there ain't no way of replacing bass strings without =
>>creating a nightmare,
>
>I disagree.  If you think there's too much in the way on one of these
>babies, try your luck on a pneumatic type player with all the bellows in
the
>way.

No thanks, but hats off to you.

IT CAN BE DONE!!  If the string it still in place, (rare I realize)
>use it to thread the new string through and pretend your body is like soft
>taffy so it bends in places it wasn't intended to.  On the modern players,
>there's only a rail of solenoids in the way and there is room for your hand
>to help guide the string past that rail and on down to the hitch pins which
>should be in the open are quite accessable.  (this description is in line
>with the model E250 you mentioned)  There's no reason to remove anything,
>providing the installed used some consideration when installing the power
>supply.  In short, installing a bass string on one of these is far easier
>than installing the lowest tenor strings on any piano.
>
>>   I think that alot of =
>>people who buy pianos with these systems are either uniformed or give no =
>>consideration of servicing down the road.
>
>Now really!!  Do think the sales person would warn the buyer of servicing
>"nightmares" when it could mean the loss of the sale??  Might I suggest
that
>it's not the buyer that is uninformed here.

Yep, probably true.  Guilty.  Lock me up.  Probably wishful thinking on my
part that customers would not be totally clueless
>
>> Another problem would include =
>>blocking any chance of the installation of a proper climate control =
>>system, particularly on grands, especially if a humidifier is needed.
>
>Plenty of room on all the ones I've done.  (Over 100 now)  I don't
>understand what your concern is.  Even the small pianos that have the
>speakers mounted under the piano, can have enough room for the water bucket
>providing the speakers are mounted accomodatingly.  (if that's a word)
>

What are your thoughts on this salespeak:  "You don't need a dampp chaser,
Mr Muckenfuss, because the heat produced by the system ='s sufficient
dehumidification"

>>    Another issue with grands.  Certain brands of piano use materials =
>>that do not allow for a quiet action, and a new player installation can =
>>greatly magnify existing action noise simply by the way the pistons play =
>>the action.  A lot more noise occurs on an already "noisy"  piano when =
>>the system plays it, as opposed to a person activating the action.  I've =
>>spoken with a system installer on a particularly troublesome piano, and =
>>have come to the conclusion that if he's confident that it's not the =
>>system, all I can do is recuce action noise as best as possible.
>
>That's true.  That is all you do.  Expensive pianos, better actions.
Lesser
>priced pianos, noisey actions.  Player activation allows for customer to
>notice the noise especially at low playback volumes.  A certain level of
>buyers' remorse comes into play as well.  I've not had this complaint come
>to a head.  I usually blow it off with, "Well yes, the piano is a physical
>instrument, and the laws of physics must be satisfied to get proper piano
>response and so there will be some mechanical noise.  This is normal."
>Pianos located in small carpeted rooms generate the most complaints.
>
> >Any =
>>thoughts on these or other problems with servicing these pianos?  Much =
>>appreciated! =20
>
>Well, Brian, you're located right in the middle of QRS/Pianomation
>domination.  I'd expect that the majority of the players you're finding are
>Pianomation.  They have had the longest history of playing the quietest.
If
>they strike the notes with less velocity creating less volume, they will
>generate the most mechanical noise noticed by the customer since that's
when
>it's noticed the most ....... when there isn't any piano tone to cover it
>up.  Their solenoid action is very quiet and I'd doubt if it's contributing
>any additonal noise.  So we're back to square one.  Make the piano action
>play as quiet as possible, especially on key release.  Hard knuckles were a
>contributing factor for a few years.
>
>The problems I've seen out there are technicians trying to service these
>instruments with out a clue as to what to do first, or how.  That's a
>comment that could be taken with some ill feelings perhaps,

None taken.

but it's true.
>If that's all you want to do is tune the beast, be my guest.  If you want
to
>provide full service on player pianos, expect to learn lots, and not make
>much of an hourly wage doing so until you've spent countless hours learning
>the quirks and kinks of that end of the business.  It's not just a matter
of
>whipping out your electric Crescent wrench and smiling a  lot for the
>customer pal,

No, that wouldn't work :^)

it's lots of hours learning the product, making mistakes,
>going down the wrong fjord, and frustrating yourself into a brainless
frenzy
>getting absolutely nowhere.  THAT'S PLAYER REPAIR AT IT'S FINEST!!!  After
>you've been in that end of the piano business for awhile actively persueing
>the nuances and gnarly details that abound in that field, you'll see that
>you've still got lots more to learn.  The more you know, the more you
>realize you don't know.  Got it??

Well I hope that your not too frazzled about it all.    Thanks very much for
your response.  Very helpful.  I'm just tryin' to weed my way through it
all.

Brian
>
>Lar
>
>                                    Larry Fisher RPT
>   specialist in players, retrofits, and other complicated stuff
>      phone 360-256-2999 or email larryf@pacifier.com
>         http://www.pacifier.com/~larryf/ (revised 10/96)
>           Beau Dahnker pianos work best under water
>
>