High quality?

[Ned Swift]

OK.  What I have is a Baldwin Hamilton 5'2" that was built in the 20s.  It 
belongs to a customer/friend of mine.  Her father bought it shortly after 
entering the ministry so the piano holds a lot of memories for her.

The bridge needs to be recapped so, replacing the strings is a requirement.  
The case is in excellent condition as it was refinished by someone about 20 
years ago.  The hammers are badly worn and need to be replaced.  Some are 
down to the wood.

I am basically concerned about the bace strings and the hammers.  I could 
put on Mapes bace strings or something more expensive.  Likewise with the 
hammers.  I could put on stock Schaff hammer or something like Renners.

Since she is a friend of mine, she will be getting the parts at cost and the 
labor will be at a reduced rate and done during my spare time. So, will the 
expensive parts make the piano sound better or will it just be a waste of 
money?

Ned Swift aka Swifty aka Nettles
Lowell, MI







>From: Susan Kline <sckline@attbi.com>
>Reply-To: Pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>
>To: Pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>
>Subject: Re: High quality?
>Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2003 13:27:53 -0800
>
>Hi, Cuz
>
>I agree with what you've written.
>
>Part of the discussion should be the breakdown between
>the cost of parts and the cost of labor. Usually labor is
>a lot more than parts, which is why people usually buy new
>parts like wippens instead of painstakingly refurbishing
>the old ones (which I did once, but only once.)
>
>If a cheap grand is worth rebuilding at _all_, one would
>think it was worth at least _adequate_ (if not elegant) parts.
>
>Susan
>
>At 04:14 PM 1/24/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>>  Define "high quality". :-)
>>
>>  The better the quality of material used in any rebuild the better the
>>overall outcome will be. The question really is whether it is worth the 
>>extra
>>cost 'usually' associated with "better quality". Said another way will the
>>gain in tonal qualities equal the gain in expense??? Don't know the answer 
>>to
>>this one...What kind of grand, i.e., make/model are we hypothetically
>>speaking of?
>>Jim Bryant (FL)
>
>_______________________________________________
>pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives


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