>Thanks Ron.. the reason I asked is that I get questioned about the feasability >from time to time about taking an old instrument case and plate, and ripping out >absolutely everything and essentially building a brand new piano inside an old >case, and around the constraints of the origional plate. Aside from the ...er... >ethical sides to this question, I have always been curious myself as to the >feasibility of this. I get from your post that this is not something that can be >generally done ??.. What would be the physical stoppers for such an operation ?? > >Richard Brekne Well, perhaps I'm just a heathen, but I don't think there is all that much of an ethical side to the process, any more than in Team Toyota's entry in the Baja not remotely resembling anything the customer can purchase in the showroom. In the case of the piano, it's being done with the customer's blessing, and the hope of improving performance over what the "stock" hardware capable of, so I really don't see a problem. Then again, it seems like a shame to see the piano manufacturer get the credit for the higher performance level if the tech produces a better piano redesigned and remanufactured, than it originally was. Where does ethics come down on that issue? Limiting factors would be the rim construction (material, method), shape and solidity, plate configuration (as you mentioned, including scale breaks, thickness, hitch pin placement, and such), dimensions of the action cavity in case you had to re engineer the action from something weird to something more standard, The customer's (remarkable) faith in your ability to do the job, your own (hopefully realistic) faith in your ability to do the job, and enough of the customer's money to do the job. Not necessarily in that order. Oh yes, the technician's lack of good judgement, or attention to detail, in accepting, planning, and pricing a job like this can make the rest of the process even more interesting. It wasn't my intention to imply that this couldn't, generally, be done. Del's been doing this very thing for some time, and I've gotten into it in the last couple of years. Yes, it is quite possible to build an entirely new, and sometimes dramatically better, piano in an existing carcass. It's also WAY more fun than normal restorative rebuilding, but a bit more stressful too. My comments about the Broadwood meant just what I said. Restringing it won't make it into a modern piano, no matter what the customer wishes. Trying to remanufacture it into a modern piano would, like Dale indicated, probably be more trouble, and cost more money, than it is worth for what you would get out of it. Not everything is a good candidate for this kind of work. Too often, we discover these things the hard way. Ron N
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC