"Standards" stranded in isolation

[David Renaud]

Our mission is to raise standards by improving
ourselves and promote awareness of a sometimes
illusive "standard".

I wonder if I am amiss in my duty to avoid facing a 
technician.....Would anyone bother persuing this?

Client has a $5000 rebuild job done on a 6" Hientzman.
(Canadian$)

Nice shims. Strings,pins.hmmm... Action does not work.

Client complained and the "store" had $1000 of
regulation done under consultation with yet another 
"technician" to "fix it"....I have no idea what was
done. I was called in for a second opinion.

I charged aprox. $500 Canadian to improve what
I found as follows......

1) Able hammers with massive rectangular tails 
   glued on out of the box, no attempt at tail
shaping.
   I shaped them. Absolutely no repetition spring
   action, tails too heavy....now they work.  

2)Drop screws turned ALL the way up, so the rep.
  lever would lift the hammer at least 1/4 to 1/2
  inch above the string level if they could have.

3) New rollers, some glued on at 30 to 40 degree   
angles, I  reglued about dozen or so. 

4) Hammer strike line crooked in top half of piano.
 I did not start removing and regluing hammers. 
 Nothing regular about the "regulation" at all,
 At least now the hammers don't look like the
 rocky mountains, and there is now let-off,drop,rep.  
springs, and even checking, burned in shanks so      
they are at least strait up and down. Leveled some
string (really opened up the bass), taped some sting  
,little bit of voicing in the top end, lube
things a bit. Sounds much, much better. Could do
more fitting of hammers to strings.

5) Nothing done to dampers/pedals...noisy.

6) Should have had new pinblock...new pins are
   at different hights, some flush with plate
   to compensate. 

In all about 5 hrs in shop & 7 hours in home,
plus transport of action.

What has me somewhat amazed is that a $5000 bill
was collected followed by a $1000 "service".
Forget being fussy, as far as I'm concerned it
actually did not even work.

They did bother to repin all the flanges....
good and tight.                  

Lets remind ourselves not to be too shy to ask for 
help....there is lots left to learn.   

                              Cheers
                              Dave Renaud  
                              RPT
                           


















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