>Oh, man, you just about bring a tear to my eye. In my post on damper lever >rebuilding, I throw in a complaint about shoddy "rebuilders" who only >replace hammers, damper felt, and bass strings. That scope of work sounds >like a complete remanufacture compared to your unfortunate experience. New >bridle straps? HA! So, so, sad. > >Except for at the annual PTG conventions, I have yet to come across a >reasonably properly "rebuilt" piano. Am I right to think that greater than >95% of the "rebuilt" pianos out there are no better than slightly improved >poorly playing worn out pianos whose miserable lives have MAYBE been >extended another ten or so torturous years? > >Terry Farrell It's considerably better with the grands, but with the old uprights around here, 95% is generous. The problem is, of course, that so few people will spend the money to rebuild an old upright when, since pianos are immortal anyway, and Ima Hack will "fix it up" for them for a whole lot less money, there are more attractive alternatives. Somehow though, Mr Hack doesn't seem to want to tune and service the piano afterward. In all fairness, there's now way of knowing what Ima told her regarding the work done. It's almost a certainty that "this isn't a fix, but it will get you going temporarily", will morph in the customer's mind until it glows in the dark as "COMPLETE REBUILD". In this case, with little attempt at fixing anything but the cosmetic stuff, she didn't seem to have gotten a real good deal whatever he might have told her. Ron N
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