pinblocks and materials

[Carl Meyer]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "gordon stelter" <lclgcnp@yahoo.com>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, February 09, 2004 1:42 PM
Subject: Re: pinblocks and materials


> Hi Mark, I too am interested in the replacement of
> traditional piano materials with new ones. But, in the
> past, manufacturers who did this were usually aiming
> for CHEAP, not enhanced performance. So when their
> substitutions caused preoblems a backlash against all
> innovative material substitution ensued. And that's
> where we are today, basically.
>      Thump


You get no argument from me.  When you go for CHEAP you don't do much
research or engineering.  Cuts into you short term profit.

I'd like to contrast this  with the medical/drug trade (notice I did not use
the word profession).
No, none, zip money is spent finding cheaper and more effective medical
procedures or drugs, but much is spent supressing what alternative medicine
has done. That includes traditional therapies that work.

Millions are spent researching things that are more expensive of course.
More profitable you see.

Could I suggest that the difference is that the piano market is one that is
suported by discretionary spending, cultural values etc. whereas health is
where the money is and we can milk it for all its worth.  I'm thinking that
it will soon be so out of control that noone will be able to afford the cost
of medical care that has been inflated by everyone (government, doctors,
drug companies, lawyers, accountants, insurance companies etc etc).  When
only the patient and the doctor was involved, it worked and was so much
simpler.

End of rant.

Carl Meyer Ptg assoc
Santa Clara, Ca.




>
> aused
> --- Mark Kinsler <kinsler33@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > Since my training is in electric power, I understand
> > the conservatism in
> > piano manufacturing and maintenance.  The history
> > of, say, plastics in piano
> > building seems to have been one of unmitigated
> > disaster.
> >
> > I'm fascinated with how well the wooden action parts
> > function.  There's
> > really no better material for these.  And the
> > felt/polished-steel bearing
> > surfaces in the action are equally interesting to a
> > fan of mechanisms and
> > materials.  No lubricant needed, a bit of
> > flexibility added to the works,
> > nothing much to maintain.  Marvelous.
> >
> > But I really wonder if the pinblock couldn't use
> > some better engineering.
> > The traditional laminated pinblocks are marvels of
> > craftsmanship, but my
> > reading of Reblitz' text makes it sound like they're
> > an eternal cause of
> > grief.  Have other schemes been tried?  I'm thinking
> > of a brass block with
> > tapered steel pins held tight by nuts underneath the
> > block.  Or a cast-iron
> > pinblock with brass bushings and the tapered pins.
> > I'm sure that this has
> > been thought of many times.  What were the problems?
> >  Were there ever plates
> > that had an integrated iron pinblock cast into them?
> >
> > Mr Bullock's analysis of the failure of felt also
> > led me to wonder if
> > synthetic felts have ever been used for hammers or
> > bearings.  I believe that
> > there are nylon and dacron felts.  There's no great
> > guarantee that these
> > would be vastly more stable over sixty years or so
> > than traditional wool
> > felts, but perhaps they have been tried.
> >
> > M Kinsler
> >
> >
> _________________________________________________________________
> > Choose now from 4 levels of MSN Hotmail Extra
> > Storage - no more account
> > overload!
> >
> http://click.atdmt.com/AVE/go/onm00200362ave/direct/01/
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > pianotech list info:
> https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
>
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Finance: Get your refund fast by filing online.
> http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html
> _______________________________________________
> pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives